Micro Spirometer

My post-transplant coordinator taught me how to use my fancy new expensive toy on Friday. Otherwise known as a Micro Spirometer. And honestly, for a machine that cost so much money, it doesn't do very much.

Thanks to everyone who helped me pay for it! Your money bought this tiny piece of plastic that I will begrudgingly treasure for the rest of my life.

As part of my new morning routine, along with all the pills and needles, I now have to measure my fev1 every day with the Micro Spirometer. As I'm sure you remember, the fev1 is a measurement of how much a person can exhale in one second. Or if you want the Internet definition: "This is the percentage of the vital capacity which is expired in the first second of maximal expiration."

I do it three times each morning and record the best result. Right now my numbers are kind of all over the place but the idea is that once I stabilize and am at my 'max health', I'll be able to know my 'normal' number and will be able to easily detect any change. If it starts to decline, I'm suppose to panic and call the doctors.   

I've been getting fev1s ranging from .50 to .90, or when I mess around with it and don't use the mouth piece, 1.15. Even though the coordinator reassured me that I'm doing it right, I can not get any consistent numbers. I still feel as though I'm missing something though. I was .70 pre-transplant so you think I would be way higher than that now seeing as I can actually walk around without oxygen. The fact that I get lower numbers concerned me at first but I've managed to convince myself that this machine just runs super low. I'll find out on Wed when I'm scheduled for my first post-transplant lung function tests. Eek!