@janrn1 I understand the desire to find out quickly what is going on. However, mycobacteria are very slow-growing and it is vital for the docs to know exactly which strain you have and which antibiotic(s) it is susceptible to before commencing treatment. As far as I know there's no way to speed up the culture growth - it takes 6 weeks or more to grow the bacteria then challenge it with a variety of antibiotics to determine effective treatment.

What symptoms are you experiencing? It is possible there are meds, oral, inhaled, or nebulized, that you can begin before the exact diagnosis to help with shortness of breath, chest tightness, etc. The scheduled CT tells me whatever doc you have right now is intent on helping figure things out.

Good luck, let us know what you learn.
Sue