When my injury first happened there was no sign of my diaphragm and lungs working and every time we asked doctors, they would just tell us that with my injury that is expected. But now, I think that signals actually pass from my brain to my lungs and something is working, even if doctors don’t believe it.
Research and tests that I have done give me confidence that with exercise and hard work I will breathe on my own again. Just recently, I have been using a spirometer to measure how much air I am able to inhale. When I use it, I breathe in air through a tube that is connected to a large air column containing a ball and as I breathe in the ball moves up – below is a video showing how I am able to do this when disconnected from the vent. Another way that I have tested my lungs is through an inspiratory force meter which shows the respiratory muscle strength. When your lungs are working, the needle moves – as the video below shows.
Just from doing these tests I can see that my lungs are working a little, but of course with two years of being dependent on a vent, they are super weak. Even though my oxygen stays high during the entire time, I get tired very quickly, and cannot last long. But I am going to keep exercising and get a diaphragmic pacer in January to try and speed up the process. So who knows, hopefully in the future I will be able to breathe and have the pacer taken off. Wish me luck!