Hi again Everyone,
I had posted a while back regarding a CT scan I had that showed what they believed to be incidentally discovered congenital lobar emphysema. I am a 33 year old female in good health otherwise. I have no symptoms with my breathing at present.
I finally spoke to the pulmonologist and he referred to it as a large cyst in my lower lobe of my right lung. They also found two small nodules on my upper right lung that they suspect will be benign but want to track again in 6 months.
The doctor said that the cyst is likely congenital and the cause is unknown but that it’s at risk for growing or getting infected so I need to be very careful and get all of my vaccines etc. He said that if it grows or effects my breathing in the future, they will cut the cyst out.
He didn’t seem concerned about it at all, but I still am. Its hard to accept that there is no known cause for this. I keep feeling like it has to be something I did to cause this damage.
I took my PFT Monday and the results were uploaded to my patient portal. They are really confusing to me. My pulmo hasn’t called to explain them yet and I am not sure when he will. I left a message for them to call me back as soon as they get the chance.
my results are as follows, most of the results are only posted in Liters instead of percentages so it’s really hard to decipher. But I have tried my best using google, I just still don’t know what they mean.
Here they are ;
Fev1- 3.22 liters (normal, around 88% from what I can tell?)
FVC- 4.61 Liters (This is definitely on the high end for a female my age)
Fev1/FVC- 70%
TLC- 6.61 Liters (seems a bit high)
DLCO sn- 33.26 ml (this one is hard to tell, but it looks good as far as I can tell with my limited understanding)
can anyone help me to understand these at all?
I know the ratio is right at the borderline and that really worries me. Also the high FVC and TLC seem off and I don’t know if that is due to the cyst or what?
I am feeling anxious and hoping my doc calls soon, but any help in the meantime would be so greatly appreciated. You guys have been so helpful and wonderful to me through all of this.
thanks so much and I hope you are all doing well!