IN THE BEGINNING-WHO KNEW

" It is said that if you want to know how a person lives walk in their shoes". I never understood this quote until my father was hit with emphysema severely. He would use oxygen on an as needed basis. In his final months alive and his medical condition slowly getting worse our family doctor wanted him to walk our hallway of the apartment building we lived in. I would get so mad when after two strolls in the hall he would have to go and sit and use some oxygen.
There were times he could walk the hall about five times. He passed away in 2003 and in 2004 I had transferred to Tampa, FL with the hotel company I worked for. I was at that hotel for a year before I transferred to another company owned hotel resort not to far from where I started. This was in 2005 and in late winter of 2006. I had gotten my usual bronchial colds and that lasted into the Beginning of 2007. When I saw the doctor he checked me out and had diagnosed me with asthma.
 Yes, I was wheezing and my breathing was labored but not that bad and he gave me medications for an inhaler and singular. I returned to the doctors due to the fact that I was not breathing any better and this was after four months. He had given me the low dose of Adair.This had continued throughout 2007 with the Adair dosage ending at the highest possible 500/50. Still having my fathers death on my mind and my breathing starting to get screwed up at the age of 40, I was a little worried. In January of 2008, I woke up and was having a hard time breathing, the inhaler nor the nebulizers were not helping  my breathing.
 I made my first trip to the hospital and was told I had pneumonia. In February after two visits with my pulmonologist again back in the hospital for no air flow in my right lung, I was discharged 5 days later. My trips to the hospital were frequent, every three months. Finally in August of 2008 I had a biopsy done on my right lung, then to the infectious disease doctor for the diagnosis of Sarcoidosis. He had told me the only treatment for this is prednisone(steroids) I was on 60mg for close to two years. The last three times in the hospital system in the Tampa Florida area was in November(the week of the elections) then the first week of December,discharged on December 9 and readmitted on the 19th.

My mother has always worried to much for me in my eyes. I have felt after 18 she doesn't have to worry about me.I had told her that in my thirties and still tell her, But the last time in the hospital I was there over Christmas and was glad to see my mother and a family friend walk into my hospital room. When I got out of the hospital I had gone to my job and put in for a leave of absence(family medical) In January of 2009 my mother and family friend moved me back to the Boston area for better medical treatment. I had an appointment with my family doctor and he set me up with a pulmonologist.

 I told him what was going on and He had also set me up with a sleep study. I should not be alive to tell you this. In one hour I had stopped breathing 97 times and my oxygen level dropped to 47%. Normal oxygen numbers should be around 97%. I have been in the hospital a few times in 2009 and finally met a pulmonologist at Mass General Hospital. He at the time was in charge of the department and he has since retired for his own medical needs. Yes, I have a new pulmonologist and I am  familiar with her. She is more clinical and does more of the plumbing of the lungs. She knows about Sarcoidosis and she also knows the amount of oxygen I uses during the day and that it increases at night. I am now 43 and understand the quote I stated in the beginning of this article. I miss my father as now I know how he felt. I have never even smoked and now I am on 2 liters of oxygen during the day and my right lung is collapsed.

What is Sarcoidosis? Stay tuned and you will begin your journey with me.     Mike Guerriero