Lung test - Dec 19, 2022

 December 19, 2022 

At 1:00pm today at St Catharine's Hospital, I had a lung test.  I am always fascinated by the equipment they use.  A very nice attendant named Kaley performed the test.  First, she weighed me at 107 pounds and my height was a little over 5'3". 

 How to prepare for this test.

Before having the test, we are asked to wear loose clothes and not to eat large meals within two hours before the test.

There were 3 tests conducted. 

1.They use a machine called Plethysmograph. 

Plethysmography is a pulmonary function test that measures the health and function of the lungs by determining how much air the lungs can hold. It may be used along with other lung tests to help in the diagnosis of lung disease, to determine disease severity, to see whether treatment is working, or to evaluate the lungs before lung surgery.

Lung plethysmography is also called pulmonary plethysmography or body plethysmography and it differs from impedance plethysmography, which is a test for blood clots in the legs.

How is this body plethysmography conducted? 

During this test, I was seated in an enclosed see-through plastic box. You are then asked to wear a nose clip and given instructions on how to breathe through a mouthpiece. This test typically takes 15-20 minutes to complete.   

2. Spirometry which measures how much air you can inhale and exhale.  It also estimates how much air is in your lungs. 

3. They also did a gas diffusion study which measures how much oxygen and other gases transfer from your lungs to your blood.

Kala said I did very well in the test which encouraged Steve and I.

* While sitting in the waiting room, this poor woman named Diane, was in real bad shape. She tried to apologize for her awful cough. She could hardly speak. Her husband said her tumour was so big in her lungs that she has a hard time breathing. She just finished 5 treatments of radiation to shrink the tumour. In the meantime, she will find out this week whether the cancer spread. The nurse had to wheel her in a wheelchair for her test. She just wanted to go to bed. I told Steve that I am so grateful I am not in that position. We forget how much others have it worse then us. 

Next appointment is Dec 22, 2022.