Make Every Breath Count
— Samuel Kirton

This column is scheduled to publish at 10 a.m. Eastern time on July 10, 2025. Four years earlier at this hour, I was undergoing a bilateral lung transplant at Inova Fairfax Hospital here in Virginia. I’d been moved into surgery at 3 a.m., about seven hours earlier. Today, I…

It’s been hotter than usual here in the mid-Atlantic. Temperatures in the upper 90s, flirting with 100 F, plus high humidity made it feel like 107 to 115 F. If I had to sum it up in a single word, I’d pick “miserable.” After my diagnosis of idiopathic…

Being diagnosed in January 2017 with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and learning that the disease is chronic, progressive, and incurable was a lot for one day. Of course, I wanted a cure or better therapies to be available immediately. But what I came to learn during my journey is…

Later this week, summer arrives. Shortly after that come the dog days of summer, usually recognized as July 3-Aug. 11. Those days are typically considered the hottest, most sultry of the year. For most of my life, I welcomed those muggy days of summer. But with my diagnosis…

The pulmonary fibrosis (PF) community is made up of people from all walks of life. This disease does not discriminate at any level. Your skin color, religious preference, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnic background, or the size of your bank account is not a factor known to contribute to…

If your journey with pulmonary fibrosis were a movie, what best describes the genre? Horror? Comedy? Drama? Reality? Wait, how about a Hallmark movie? When I was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) in 2017, it was a complete surprise — and initially, best described…

I couldn’t decide whether to open my column this week with “I hate this disease” or “This disease simply isn’t fair.” It’s been one of those weeks when both statements are true. I hate this disease, and this disease isn’t fair. The first few days after my idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis…

After my mid-May clinic visit, I made my 130th medication change since my bilateral lung transplant in July 2021. Each week I fill my pill boxes with 17 medications. Another 17 have come out of rotation since my transplant. Following my diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in January…

Leave no stone unturned. This is a basic tenet of any investigation, something I learned very early in my career as a special agent. It also seems to be a practice employed by my healthcare team, which now includes an additional doctor. Last week, I added endocrinologist Oksana Davydov…

Disrupting the rhythm of day-to-day life with pulmonary fibrosis comes at a cost. When I was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) in January 2017, my medications changed dramatically. I went from taking only Zyrtec (cetirizine hydrochloride) for seasonal allergies to requiring multiple meds that…

My adventure continues. At this point, regular readers might be thinking, “What now?” Some may even pause to make some popcorn before reading further. I was surprised when I was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in 2017, because I had led a relatively healthy life. Deciding to be positive on…

As of April 11, almost 105,000 people are awaiting an organ transplant in the U.S., according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. Of those, 993 are waiting for a lung transplant. In the past year, 879 lung transplants were performed. When I was diagnosed with idiopathic…