Hello all. I wanted to post this update, as it may help someone else in a similar situation. The past year has been really difficult with hospitalizations, ER visits,Stat-Care visits, Doctors visits, etc. Tons of different antibiotics, at least ten lung x-rays, 3 CT scans, all in an attempt to cure and find out the cause of this suffocating mucus/shortness of breath. After finishing radiation for throat cancer one year ago, and attempting to eat orally for about 4 months, it was finally determined to place a feeding tube to see if aspiration was the cause of the illnesses. Well, the condition did not improve, but at that point the doctors would not give me any more antibiotics, as they claimed it was not an infection. Even though they were all informed--Infectious Disease two different doctors, two different Pulmonologists--that every single time I would come off them, the mucus would become life-threatening.

Fast-forward to one month ago when I had my third "Barium Swallow Study." The doctor watching the screen was amazed, commenting in all his years of experience, he had never seen someone swallow so well after flunking the past two. The first one was almost total aspiration on liquids and solids. Approximately eight weeks later--and many throat exercises--the second study, I aspirated once on a piece of mushed up meat, with the rest being "Deep Penetration." That means the liquids and pudding consistency food was going down to the brink of the separation flap. They informed me that a person can live with that and still eat, with slick foods, thickened fluids, cautiously. The advice was followed, and the lung condition got worse again. At this point, it was getting somewhat clear that aspiration was the cause of the condition, yet having a sputum sample containing E-coli, meant there was indeed infection also present. Which way to turn?

Last week, I was hospitalized for four days, placed on IV Levofloxacin 700 mg. and Prednisone. The third Swallow Study was taken into account when my new Pulmonologist came into my room and bluntly told me these words: It is a quality of life issue here. "If you keep eating you will die. If you choose the feeding tube for all your sustenance, you will live." It now appears that aspiration was the cause of this condition all along, with the infection not helping. It was all like a "Perfect Storm." My Husband and I both contracted COVID last March 2020 while I was still undergoing radiation. The rest all happened like clockwork, one thing after another. At this point, and it is sad to say...I guess you can not trust the results of a Swallow Study. On the other hand, the "Ground Glass Opacity" that showed up on my last lung x-ray, can be caused from Covid and/or aspiration. There just does not seem to be any way to definitively say for sure that the condition is caused by one thing, or a combination of many factors.

The next step is to contact the Swallow- Study Therapist, and ask her if there isn't some kind of 100% definitive test to see if a person is aspirating. There is no way I am going to risk eating or drinking for another test, just to be gasping for life's vital breath. So for now, it is goodbye food, goodbye nice, hot coffee, goodbye cool water on a hot summer day (especially after mowing the lawn!) and learning a new way of life. Then, it will be certain that it is NOT from aspiration. Yesterday, I ate baby food. One hour later, my breath was extremely short, and panic set in. It was a small experiment, which has shown me much. I dare not risk that again, as my 700 mg. Levofloxacin tablets have only a few days left. The steroids run out in about six days. Of course, praying to our creator for an answer gave me that small, still inaudible voice that spoke to my heart. I felt God was telling me that I should not eat. Thank-you, for listening, and if you are interested, I will update after all the medicine runs out.