@1478 welcome! OMG that is a major operation.  I feel so bad for you.  My brother a both lung transplant and it was a long major operation but I think that was worst.  He caught a bacteria and needed to have surgery a second time within a month.  He nearly

died then.  Take good care and see a nutritionist to get the proper vitamine to get your immune system on a high performance again.  I will keep you in my prayer to get well soon!

@1478 Hi. I was just reading over older posts. I am glad your mother refused the lonbectomy. Did this happen in Denver by any chance?

Hi again. It has been a long year!! My mother lives in Vegas and was visiting Flaggstaff, AZ when she started coughing up a cup of blood at a time. The hospital had her scheduled 3 times to get a lobectomy, "on her lower left lobe" and she refused because she could tell the bleeding had slowed way down and stopped. After 4 days in the hospital they sent her down to Mayo-AZ in Pheonix area. When the doctor at Mayo did a scope told her "Good thing you refused the lobectomy, you bleed was from your right middle lobe". This is how my Mother's MAC started showing symptoms for the 1st time. Please understand I have been a Paramedic in Emergency Medicine for the last 10 years and this one even boggles my mind.

@1478 LOL, Mac boggles everybody's minds. Doctors and scientists too. Mac tends to morph so it is difficult to stay ahead of it. It is an evil bacteria, but it intriques me.

@1478 As I had said before, I am glad that your mother refused the lobectomy. There is another treatment for badly bleeding lungs that we discussed before on here. It had the word xray in it. Lets ask the others if they recall that info. In the meantime, I will try to find it. I believe it may be some type of cauterizing. So, how did they stop the bleeding, or did it just stop on it's own?

Yes, it did stop on its own for the most part. This is an intriguing little nasty bacteria. I have read some new studies from Universities studying Tuberculosis and They have developed a mimic bacteria that when the TB virus morphs into it, the good bacteria will eat the TB. This is just the beginning, may take awhile to get out. I really think the medical community needs to develop an Immunotherapy treatment for MAC. The body was created to fight this Avium complex bacteria. When the immune system is compromised it seems to have a hard time getting rid of the MAC that hides deep in the lungs and has a hard protective shell. We need to develop a way to boost our own immune system to fight this bacteria get rid of the antibiotic treatment!! Praying for BIG help on this.

Agreed!

@1478 That is interesting news. I would like to know more about it. I always thought it would take an enemy bacteria to gobble up the mac.

This little sister of TB is a strong bacteria that is hard to reach and hard to kill according to my niece who is in Epidemiologist and did her thesis on TB. We are finding out that we have to trick the bacteria in order to kill it. What no one can tell me is: why TB is so contagious and MAC is acquired, being from the same strain. And the plot continues....

The best thing to fight bad bacteria is to built your immune system with GOOD BACTERIA to fight the bad one.  It is like in an army more soldier you have to fight the ennemy better chance you have to win!  TAKE A GOOD STRONG PROBIOTICS