@sueinmn Yes on different culture results. I have had 8 sputum cultures over the last 2.5 years. 4 Positive and 4 Negative. My first one came back Mycobacterium intracellulare (although looking at my medical portal there was considerable confusion at the lab before they finally came up with that). My second one came back Myocobacterium abscessus (after once again confusion at the local lab in TN, they sent the sample to some lab in CA to get the final result. My next 4 samples were sent to NJH (National Jewish Health in Denver) by my request. The first 2 were Negative the next one Positive for M. abscessus (but "few" colonies, only sensitive to Amikacin), the 4th one Negative. Then I switched my pulmonary care to Mayo clinic in Jacksonville, FL. I had 1 Negative culture followed by the last which was again Positive for M abscessus but only 2 colonies. Because of the low colony count my doctor was not concerned as all my other parameters were not changed and was told to continue my daily airway clearance and come back in 1 year. So the moral of my story is that you really can't trust labs with little NTM experience, insist on getting results from places such as NJH or Mayo or similar. Bill