I have decided to start a blog about my life with a lung disease. I know I have a long road ahead of me but I also know I have A LOT more living to do! I will give a brief explanation of my health to date for those of you that want to follow me through this journey.
In 2005 I was told by my Dr that I had COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) but they didn't understand why with my age (33 at the time) and not smoking. In 2008 my local Dr sent me to Duke University to meet with the Lung transplant team only to determine after a week I was not ready (after many prayers)! This goes to show only the man upstairs knows the full plan. In 2009 I got a call from my local lung Dr that said he thought I had been misdiagnosed. He had been looking over my CT scans and thought I had a rare lung disease called Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM). It affects women in there child bearing years and they think it is caused by estrogen. In October of 2011 I got really sick with a lung infection and my Dr advised me to stop working because my body was so wore down that I couldn't keep up with work, family and take the care I needed of myself. In 2012 I had a lung biopsy to try to determine if I did have LAM. The biopsy didn't show LAM cells but was told they were not ruling it out that if I had an open lung biopsy they could give me a 100% diagnosis. There are many risk that come with having an open lung biopsy because my lungs have so many cyst in them (honeycomb affect) so I have decided at this stage not to have one. In June of 2013 I went to my local lung Dr for a check up which included the normal breathing test and walking test. I was told I now need oxygen and that my Dr is reaching out to the Duke transplant team because my numbers have drop to that level required to possible be put on the transplant list after evaluation. My hopes in doing this blog are not only to keep my friends and family up to date on my journey but I hope God uses me to help other young ladies that may be going through the same issues I am.  If I have learned anything it is God is in control and he works through these awesome Dr's that are trying to make our quality of life better <3.