Hey guys! It has been a while. I've been chasing diagnoses. Yes, I do have COPD. I finally saw the pulmonologist today. She hasn't done any testing, but says that the "abdominal" ct scan that was done to assess my adrenal gland tumor shows mild centrilobular emphysema and a nodule. She told me that I likely have more nodules, that they are common. So I will have a chest ct scan and PFT testing earlier the same day that I see her again, October 15th.
I'm not worried about the tumors. I have tumors everywhere. I likely have multiple endocrine neoplasia disorder (MEN) 2a. It can cause bullous emphysema I've learned. However, I do have a smoking history. MEN is caused by a mutation in a tumor suppressor gene. It causes benign parathyroid and adrenal gland tumors and thyroid cancer. Yep! That's what it looks like. I can still run a 5K, and my pulmonoligist told me that my lung function will continue to deteriorate because of age, but not because of the emphysema. Quitting smoking put a stop to take. But my lung function is lower than that of a 53 year old who never smoked, and it will be lower than that of a 73 year old who never smoked.
I feel lucky. I was aware of the fact that I was developing emphysema/COPD and quit smoking before it got bad. It took me a lot of tries, but it was easy once I realized that I was a sap and that I was really only smoking because Phillip Morris had me hooked. My father died of lung cancer and was still trying to smoke as he was dying. I decided not me. I might die, but I decided that I would not do so hooked. I also knew that I would have a very difficult time stopping if I waited to hear the words I heard today. I've substituted smoking with exercise. Since I still have very good exercise tolerance, I'm going to just do what I can while going about my business. I will probably need to use an inhaler and maybe something else, depending on the results of the PFT.
