CF Clinic Visit - Fun at Vandy

Today, I had a regular Cystic Fibrosis appointment at Vanderbilt. And Gavin was a hit with the nurses. I go in every three months to check all key areas to see where my health is.  I wanted to share the results with all of you and give a brief explanation on what everything means:

Pulmonary Functions Test  (aka PFTs)

Spirometry   Reference    My Results   % of Predicted

FVC                   5.64 L             5.61 L                      99%

FEV1                 4.60 L             3.79 L                      82%

FEF 25-75          4.60 L/sec       2.22 L/sec               48%

PEF                 10.44 L/sec      10.76 L/sec             103%

FVC – Forced vital capacity (FVC) is the volume of air that can forcibly be blown out after full inspiration, measured in liters. This is basically your lung capacity.

FEV1 -  This is the volume of air that can forcibly be blown out in one second, after full inspiration. This is the most important number of the two as it most clearly shows damage, inflammation, plugs and trapped mucus. This is the number that is the focal point of your lung health.

FEF 25/75% - This is the measurement for the small airways farthest from the bronchiole. This is important to see how well your lungs are circulating air and can also be an indicator of inflammation. This figure can be tricky, as it is influenced by your FVC and FEV1 and can report deceptively lower if your FVC is high.

PEF – Peak expiratory flow is the maximal flow (speed) achieved during the forced expiration initiated at full inspiration.

The Reference is a figure derived from what would be expected of a healthy set of lungs based on my age, height and weight. Generally speaking 100% is the goal and anything over 80% is acceptable.

Also, my weight was up 4 pounds to 181, resulting in a BMI of 25.2. Weight is a very important factor for CF health. Due to digestive issues associated with Cystic Fibrosis, putting on and maintaining weight can be a struggle and needs to be monitored closely. Since CFers tend to get sick more often and can potentially lose significant weight because of this, it’s important to have weight to lose as sickness arises. Also, there is a direct positive correlation to healthy heavier weights and pulmonary functions results.

All in all, I was happy with the appointment. I still need to keep pushing my numbers out anyway possible, but happy nonetheless.