Biography

I found out I had IPF by accident.  On a abdomen cat scan the bases of my lungs showed fibrotic tissue.   This was December 2019.  I went to a pulmonologist and eventually a thoracic surgeon who performed a vats lung biopsy.  This was February 25th 2020.  The biopsy was positive for IPF.  I had an exacerbation and pneumothorax following  the biopsy and spent 5 days in the hospital do to a fluid overload .  After many doses of lasix I finally went home on 4 liters of O2 24/7.  After first being denied I finally was able to start staking Ofev 150 max 2 times a day.   I had a 2nd PFT which showed my lungs were bad but improved from the Ofev.  My recent cat scan and chest X-ray showed more improvement.  I have started the process of a lung transplant since I am a young 60 year old.  I was told I was not sick enough for a transplant but still could start the process.  This terrifies me!  I want to live but I am a very anxious and suffer from panic attacks.  How do people make it through a lung transplant.  I don’t know if I will mentally be able to do it.  I am not a good patient and I have had other surgeries and was a terrible patient.  I was a Xray Tech for 40 years which I stopped working after my biopsy because of corona virus.