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Here's an excerpt from her blog and I would highly encourage you to head on over there to read the rest...
It's been a while since my last blog, mostly due to the fact that I saved all of my homework over spring break for AFTER spring break, leaving me a nice week of relaxation, followed by a week of hectic homework and studying. Now that I have some free time I can finally write my blog about how incredible my PFT's were 2 weeks ago.
First of all I'm gonna take a second to explain exactly what PFTs are because lots of my friends and family are familiar with them, but I've never really explained them in depth. The machine (which is now portable and is just hooked up to a laptop), involves a tube, a mouthpiece, and a device to measure the volume inhaled and exhaled in the lungs. I am given a pair of nose-clips to ensure I don't breathe out of my nose at all. Usually the PFT tech will ask me if I prefer being coached to which I always reply YES. For some reason, I like to have a cheerleader when doing my test. The testing starts with "easy breathing" for which little blips show up on the computer screen. I am then enthusiastically told to take a "BIG BREATH IN" and quickly blow as forcefully and quickly as I can. And then the PFT tech usually says something like "push push push push all the way out come onnnn, litttle mooooore" until I'm red in the face and I watch a little dial on the screen go all the way around like a speedometer. I then take a minute to catch my breath for another round. During the next round, the computer measures how I'm doing in comparison to the last one, so a little ticker will increase up to 100 and then turn green, meaning I beat my last result. This is very exciting to see and makes doing PFTs feel like a game, as I get more and more pleased with my results.
Click here to read what exactly PFTs measure and how Lauren "blew the box off" of her latest test!
Great job cyster!!!
