The lung function test is pretty much everything you’d expect. If you’d expect breathing exercises into a tube.

You sit in the little box with the thing in your mouth and follow the instructions from the technician sitting at the adjacent computer.

Put this in your mouth

You start by taking a couple of normal breaths (which is one of those things that pretty much impossible to do if you are consciously thinking about your breath, like you do once you start a breathing test…). After a few moments the technician instructs you to take a big deep breath in, hold it for a second, and then “Blow, blow, blow!! Keep blowing! Keep blowing. Empty your lungs! I know it feels like there’s nothing left.. but keep going! Keep pushing! Keep going! Almost there!… AND BIG BREATH IN and HOLD IT! HOLD IT! … and let it go!” Then you can come off the machine and recover.

In my case recovery meant coughing, eyes watering, and a general burning sensation in my lungs.

I instantly recalled the last time I had taken the test (before starting treatment).  I remembered that was almost impossible for me to get through the sequence with out bailing out due to involuntary coughing. You see, I used to have a tumor the size of a large egg pressing back into my lungs! We kept having to do it over and over again because my body just wouldn’t let me get through test. I would take that BIG breath in and I’d try to suppress the tickle in my chest, but ultimately the cough would come out involuntarily. We needed three complete sequences and I’m not exaggerating, I think it took us something like 10 tries. And that whole part about “keep going, empty the lungs” is hard work. (If you want to try it home breath out quickly and then keep breathing out an pushing for about 10 seconds, it’s not a pleasant feeling) This week though, we got through it every time!

The results will be reviewed sometime this week by a pulmonologist who will share the result with oncologist who should theoretically reach out to me at some point and let me know. Then at some point the decision will be made whether or not to put the bleomycin back in the treatment course. Unofficially though, the technician looked at the results and comparing them to my previous baseline test indicated that there is a marked decline, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything.

One thing is for sure, I don’t miss the bleomycin ONE BIT. This latest round of chemo has felt like a cakewalk compared to some of the recent treatments. I was back on my feet with minimal physical side effect by Monday, whereas the last couple of treatments it’s taken me until Wednesday (so a full week) before I felt capable again. The lack of bleo may not be why, but I’m certainly in no hurry to throw it back into the mix.