@blm1007blm1007 My time at NJH gets very mixed reviews . ( sorry for the long explanation, complicated ) BTW I’m 64.

I was sent to NJH due to continuous lung infections . Antibiotics& steroids , a few weeks of improvement , then the symptoms world sky rocket again , repeat . I was hopping around specialists , looking for answers for around 1 1/2 yrs. I was house bound . My last pulmonologist referred me to NJH. I was there over 1 week , tested for everything . Nothing was coming up. The very last day during an endoscopy , the GI doctor found an Inlet Patch in my upper esophagus . An Inlet Patch is an area of gastric tissue - should be in your stomach , not high up in your esophagus . Due to the location , whenever I would eat , acids were coming from the Inlet Patch into my airways . The GI Dr & the pulmonologist overseeing my team of doctors were thrilled to discover this finding , believing if I had it removed , my symptoms would dramatically improve. They also informed me damage had been done from all the infections and it would leave me with a permanent lung disease . . Regardless of the lung disease diagnosis , I left NJH with all the excitement of this Inlet Patch discovery . When home, I had the Inlet patch removed & it was life changing . My chronic infections were gone .
2 years ago ( about 4 yrs after NJH) , I had a pneumonia follow up chest CT and saw that it noted Bronchiectasis . I had never heard of this before , so I started looking at all of my prior CT’s. When I first started having the initial inlet patch infections , the chest CT did not show BE. However , every CT after that first one , including the NJH CT, all indicated mild BE in the findings .
I looked back at my all of my paper work from NJH ( you know how you come home with a book) and I found the letter from the lead NJH doctor to my local pulmonologist . The NJH Dr stated amongst other things , the Inlet Patch finding, BE noted in my NJH CT , and no NTMs found from bronchoscopy testing.

*****Here’s the kicker - no time at NJH did anyone ever mention Bronchiectasis to me or my husband . When I came home , my local pulmonologist never used that diagnosis . She always just said I have “ small airway disease “.
So I went for several years not even knowing I had BE! I didn’t even know what it was!
I don’t know what to make of this with NJH…how they didn’t discuss BE with me. The only thing I can determine is we were all getting very frustrated to keep hitting walls with no answers from all the testing . They had me stay an extra 2 days , and it was that last morning the inlet patch was found . I think at that point the inlet patch became the big focus . Maybe they thought I already knew I had BE..? Idk. I met with that NJH pulmonologist after the scope , she gave her recommendations on the inlet patch removal , and we headed to the airport . It was a fast day.
On a side note , I asked my pulmonologist 2 yrs ago after seeing the BE CT finding , and she basically indicated she knew I had it but was using other wording to describe Bronchiectasis to me .
Long answer , but it’s all been very complicated . The entire thing honestly angers me .
NJH & my local pulmonologist all knew I had BE, yet I didn’t .
However , I will be eternally thankful to NJH for turning all the stones & finding the Inlet Patch .