CLEAN BILL OF HEALTH

T'day I got a clean bill of health from all the tests the Doctor gave me last week. The blood glucose is moderately high, the cholesterol is below 200, I do not have prostrate cancer, and as of tonight at 1800 it is official. I DO NOT - REPEAT DO NOT - HAVE COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder). I have told the Doctor several times that my lungs are fine and the only place I have any remaining problems associated with 40 years of smoking is in my bronchial tubes and on my vocal cords. The diagnosis and the breathing test I took last week confirms it - I am clean and my lungs are clear - I still have to stay on the prescriptions he has me on because they help with the swelling in the bronchial tubes but it is a good feeling to get that diagnosis out of my files.

OK so it is two years, five months, thirteen days, eighteen hours, forty five minutes and 25 seconds since I quit smoking (but who's counting?) and I have finally cleaned out my lungs. The doctor told me that it was very likely that I would be completely clear by two years - I was pretty disappointed when that didn't happen but guess I am ok with it now.

When I went in for the breathing test the technician asked me why I was there and I told him I thought I had been mis-diagnosed - he said well when we are through here we'll let your doctor know and he can decide. We went through the test and my oxygen saturation was 103, I breathed in 5 times more air when told to inhale deeply and breathed out 25 percent more air when told to breath out than I did in the normal breathing mode. They tested me also after a treatment of albuterol - which is supposed to help a lot - and every single response was worse than before I was treated. As I was getting ready to leave the technician said "You may be right." TURNS OUT I WAS RIGHT AND HAVE BEEN RIGHT FOR SEVERAL MONTHS.

I am ecstatic - I DON'T HAVE COPD - can't get much better than that!!!