@beatrixflower HI! Was this the only time you've coughed up blood in the 3 years?

I've coughed up about 2-3 TBS blood twice over the past 3 years. Both times it was a combination of red blood and clots, and I felt it come up. I don’t recall “hearing” it, but I’m also older and don’t hear as well as I used to.:-) The first time, I went to the ER and that, eventually, led (after about 1 ½ yrs) to the diagnosis of bronchiectasis and MAC. The second time was last year when I was in another state from my infectious disease doctor. She (my ID doctor) suggested I go to my PCP there and have her check my vitals, especially my oxygen levels. They turned out to be fine and I felt fine except for being scared because of the blood. I now have a pulse oximeter and check my own oxygen level periodically. I cough and bring up minor sputum in the mornings, but don’t really have any other symptoms. I don’t take any antibiotics. I exercise/walk 2-3 miles daily. Recently, I started nebulizing 7% saline once daily in order to, hopefully, keep my condition from getting worse. I agree with Bill (@poodledoc) that you aren't likely to choke from the mucous--it just feels icky until you get used to it.

I've been investigating whether coughing up blood may actually be a good thing in MAC. In my reading of MAC articles, I found one called "Retrospective study of the predictors of mortality and radiographic deterioration in 782 patients with nodular/brochiectatic MAC lung disease" by Gochi et al. ( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26246077) From the article, the women with bloody sputum fared the best. I've been trying to find out why.