Hello Miriam, Welcome to Mayo Connect. I see that you have been a member for a few days, even though this is your first post. When I was first diagnosed, it was by a pulmonologist who didn't have the best skills in explaining. He basically said "This is what you have, you're intelligent - Google it". He handed me a handful of prescriptions and an Acapella device it its wrapper and left the room. At the time I was very ill with pneumonia, pseudomonas & MAC, so treatment was mandatory and immediate. I was weak, fatigued, coughing non-stop.

Wow, everything I read was dire and scary - I didn't know what to do! Then I found this forum - the MAC & Bronchiectasis group - and learned that when properly managed, this is a condition I can live with. I learned about airway clearance, nebulizing. I learned that mycobacteria is everywhere, that everyone has their own comfort level in dealing with it, and that I needed to develop my own routine to stay healthy.

You are taking all the right steps at this point - getting a clear picture of your current status and the exact infection, consulting both an ID doc and a pulmonologist. If you diagnosis is any Mycobacteria other than M. abscessus, a few weeks of waiting is not necessarily bad. MAC is known as an infection that is "slow to grow and slow to go".

Does your lung doctor have you doing any kind of airway clearance to help move the mucus out of your lungs? Or any inhalers?

Good luck as you move forward on this journey - feel free to come back here and ask questions as you read and learn.
Sue