I have pulmonary fibrosis. I first became aware of a problem when I was 22 -years-old. I woke up one morning with horrible pain in my upper back.
I was doctored for pleurisy and then pneumonia without success. Finally, they came up with the right diagnosis that I had a tumor growing in the mediastinitis between my heart and lung. That was in 1961.
My doctor thought it was cancer, so they did not want to operate due to the thought the cancer would spread very fast. I was given radiation treatments and did not improve, so I made the decision to have surgery. The doctor removed the teratoma tumor and I recovered.
After a few years, I became short of breath and found the radiation had caused pulmonary fibrosis and have slowly become short of breath from walking too fast or any such exercise that requires much effort.
That was when I was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis. Now I am on oxygen 24/7 in order to do anything.
