Aliaa Barakat PhD's blog

After being diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, Judy Amendola learned that the average time of survival was three to five years. But, luckily, she’s beaten the odds. “I happen to have a longer trajectory and have surpassed the five years,” she says. “But things are coming to a head.”

Could medications designed to slow the rate of lung damage for patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis interfere with healing from lung transplant surgery? Should these anti-fibrotic medications be stopped during the period immediately prior to transplant and if so, when?

Airway clearance techniques loosen thick, sticky mucus so it can be cleared from the lungs by coughing or huffing. In this interview, Jessica Garton, DPT, explains what mucus is, how it is naturally cleared from the lungs, and how to use airway clearance techniques to aid with mucus clearance when having an interstitial lung disease.

When doctors diagnosed 63-year-old Mariann Rosa with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, the lung disease was completely unknown to her and her family. But Lindsay, her daughter and only child, made it her mission to learn all she could about the lung-scarring condition and to support her mother in every way possible.

The healthcare system was foreign to me until I entered into my 30s. I had periodic visits for checkups and minor indications, always with an eagerness to keep the visits as short as possible. The encounters were not memorable, perhaps appropriately so. I believed that while doctors knew about disease, I knew better about health and wellness. Things have changed over the past 10 years.

For Judy Amendola, the wait for a new pair of lungs has begun. After a long struggle deciding whether or not to have a lung transplant, she realized the potential benefits of replacing her lungs, scarred by pulmonary fibrosis, outweighed the risks. Due to progression of the disease, she is now on the active transplant list, awaiting donated lungs. Fortunately, her daughter Chloe is at her side, acting as her main caregiver and support.

How natural is it to think and plan in terms of probabilities? Is it scientific not to be certain? In its broadest meaning, science is a human attitude, one of objectivity, of accepting reality as it is, and not as we wish it to be.

Why do we make the effort to meet face-to-face in our support groups? There is good information to learn and to share. But that’s not all.

This past July, after being treated for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) for more than 30 years, Jamie Rice was prescribed oxygen therapy. Adjusting to the idea of being tethered to oxygen equipment was hard for her. But dealing with oxygen suppliers made it even more of a challenge.

The need for certainty guides much of human behavior and is one of the psychological reasons for belief in idols, political leaders, and computer predictions.