Center News
December 2006
Breathing space
Spirofair welcomes faculty, staff into the Pulmonary Function Lab for lung-care lessons
SCCA volunteer Kirk Johnson blows into a spirometer while Michael Kroon, respiratory care practitioner, takes a reading of Johnson's lung health during the Pulmonary Function Lab's recent Spirofair.
Photo by Stephanie Cartier |
"OK, big deep breath. And blow!" On command, the young woman expels a forceful gust into the machine. A few seconds later, a screen flickers with a graph, and Michael Kroon, a respiratory care practitioner with the Pulmonary Function Lab, gives his prognosis. "Excellent. Your lungs look very healthy."
Next, Janet Cothrell, also a respiratory care practitioner, smiles and directs the patient to boxes of cigarettes and matches. "Please, help yourself."
Such encouragement might seem strange coming from a person who works at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and focuses on keeping lungs healthy, but upon closer inspection, the "cigarettes" are candy, and the matchbooks reveal strips of cardboard without heads. Both packets are emblazoned with the words "Don't smoke." That message, along with promoting awareness of overall lung health, was the goal of Spirofair, a daylong event to educate faculty and staff about spirometry, a measurement of lung function, and other things that happen in the Pulmonary Function Lab. "We just want to have some fun, but be educational with this," said Cothrell about the event, held in conjunction with Respiratory Care Week.
"As a lab, we basically do testing on patients at regular intervals, as ordered by the physician," Cothrell said. Testing lung function is a vital part of cancer treatments. Chemotherapy and radiation are notorious for causing stiffness in the lungs, and tumors can cause obstructions, depending on where they are located.
To detect and combat lung problems, Cothrell and Kroon study lung function before, during and after treatment — continued care that allows them to track progress and help doctors pinpoint needs. "After chemo, what can happen is graft-vs.-host disease, and that can lead to 'bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia,' or BOOP. That can be crippling for patients, so we follow them carefully and just keep monitoring them," Cothrell said of a process that involves a slew of assessments.
"One test we do uses this chamber," Kroon said, motioning to an enclosed case a little larger than a telephone booth. "The plethysmograph looks at actual lung volume. It measures how much air is held inside your chest, including the amount of air that you don't blow out, which keeps your lungs inflated. Volumes can increase or decrease with different diseases."
The lab also draws small samples of blood from an artery, not a vein, which is normally used, to measure oxygen, carbon dioxide and pH balance in circulation. "It's another way we can look at a more general picture of how the heart, lungs and cardiovascular system work together," Kroon said.
"We also use this little device," Kroon said, as he slipped a small clip over his index finger. "It shines a beam of infrared light through your fingernail bed. An oxygenated blood cell refracts in different wavelengths than an unsaturated one." A similar sensor can be used on ears and foreheads.
Patients' lung function is also measured during a six-minute walk through the halls of the clinic. "We measure how long it takes for them to get from place to place and whether they can maintain the proper saturation of oxygen in their bloodstream. That will determine whether or not a patient needs oxygen when they're moving about," Cothrell said.
While the tests aren't necessarily painful or difficult, Cothrell and Kroon know that most patients are going through a frightening time, and they make a concentrated effort to make things a little easier. "It can be scary, just as a whole, but on occasion, if you can project a little something that makes them relax and makes them feel better, that's always good," Cothrell said.
"It's pretty non-invasive, as testing goes, except for drawing blood, which is not necessary for every patient, so most folks don't mind coming here," Kroon said. "In fact, kids usually love to do this."
And for the nearly 100 faculty and staff members tested during Spirofair, the event was a welcome reminder of the importance of taking good care of the lungs.
