Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

I had the pulmonary function test, and then the follow-up appointment with the pulmonologist.

The PFT was annoying and uncomfortable, in part because I had a lot of trouble breathing in and out smoothly, while only through my mouth. fAfter I tried that for a while, with three different mouthpieces, we gave up and went to the next test. Somewhere in there I muttered that it shouldn't be possible for me to fail a medical/lab test. For the second test, the technician had me put the mouthpiece in my mouth again, gave me (extra) oxygen through the mouthpice, and measured my breathing. Test three was using my albuterol inhaler, waiting ten minutees, and redoing the first set of measurements, and it was significantly easier after the inhaler.

They sent those results to the doctor, and I went upstairs to her office. Based on the PFT, there is definitely some obstruction in the lungs. The albuterol improved the results by significantly more than for the average person.

I do not have the weird infection (Mycobacterium avium complex) that they were culturing for, nor any other infection beyond the staph aureus that she treated with an antibiotic in January. Dr. Koster was going over this morning's results and what they mean, and I had to ask about that culture, which I guess means that yes it was that boring. She referred to it as "testing negative for tuberculosis," a word she was carefully avoiding at the first visit (most people wouldn't recognized the name "mycobacterium"), but "we are sure you don't have TB" isn't going to worry people the way anything that sounds like "possible TB, we'll known in three months" might.

The doctor suggested restarting the steroid inhaler, but when I said I didn't want to because of the increased risk of lung infections, she didn't try to persuade me. I have a follow-up appointment in three months, but if I'm feeling the same or better than I am now, we will reschedule that for September.

Also, I should wait longer between using the inhaler and using the flutter valve, for better results.

I asked about the neurologist's recommendation of a sleep study, and the pulmonologist said that she can't put that through without any relevant symptoms, just a comorbidity. cattitude was in the room with me, and confirmed that I am not snoring, and do not sound as though I'm having trouble breathing, only coughing, so no sleep study.

Cattitude, who came along to keep me company, and I stopped in the hospital cafeteria for lunch afterwards, and ate our lunch on a bench outside the hospital. I had roast squash and roast potatoes, those being what looked appealing. We stopped at Lizzy's on the way home, because I felt like I deserved ice cream after all that.

I had telemedicine with my pulmonologist this morning. It transpired that I was supposed to have had bloodwork at the same time as the sputum samples, but neither I nor the Mt. Auburn registration office noticed. So, I'll be doing that next week, when I'm in that part of Cambridge anyhow.

One of the three samples showed some S. aureus, so Dr. Koster prescribed a course of antibiotics. When she asked what antibiotics I should, or shouldn't, be taking, I told her that I've done well with tetracycline, based on which she is prescribing the related doxycycline. I will need to be careful about what I eat when for the next ten days. The list of things to be particularly careful about includes yogurt, which will be inconvenient.

Doxycycline is commonly used to prevent malaria, so the instructions and notes include "avoid being bitten by mosquitos when trying to avoid malaria," followed by advice on how to avoid contact with mosquitos. I am also supposed to minimize exposure to direct sunlight, which will be fairly easy this time of year.

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