Today I had my first doctors appointment of 2015. The year is starting off with a bang! Just like in the story of The Tortoise and the Hare, slow and steady wins the race, I’m in it for the long haul! My lung functions are slowly but surely continuing to rise. They were the highest they have been since surgery, the highest in many many years!

There are quite a few numbers they concentrate on when looking at PFT’s (pulmonary function tests). One of them is called FEV1. It stands for “Forced Expiratory Volume” in one second. It is the volume exhaled during the first second of an expiratory effort. It is one of the most frequent indicators of airway obstruction.

In my phone I have all my PFT’s recorded from 2004 to current date.  In January 2004, my FEV1 number was 1.15 which was 42% of predicted. They were that low even back then, I had lived well below 50% for years. Before my transplant, January 2013, my number was .72, 25% predicted, no wonder I had trouble breathing! Today, I couldn’t believe my eyes. January 2015, my FEV1 is 2.31, with 81% of predicted!! I am well on my way of my goal of surpassing 100%!

It couldn’t have been more perfect, I was walking to my car and I ran into one of my surgeons, Dr. Loor. I was able to share the excellent news with the man who placed these new pretty pink lungs in my chest!

My primary doctor, Dr. Dunitz, also gave me permission to start a new exercise. Back when I was having my surgery, Travis had posted some of the things that I wanted to do after my surgery. One of my goals was to learn to play the bagpipes. Looks like I will really be exercising these new pipes of mine.

Dr. Dunitz also told me I wouldn’t have to return to see him in clinic for a whole three months. I was allowed to stop one of my drugs, one less off my list is great. He wants me to do PFT’s once a month to keep an eye on everything as a precaution. NO BIG DEAL!

Also, it was my brother’s birthday the other day. Happy 50th John! I love you. He was sick and wasn’t able to spend the holidays with us. I’m just glad we were together to celebrate the big 5-0!