ASHLEY:
My name is Ashley Erwin I am 27 years old. I am married, I have two beautiful daughters.
Taylor who is 9 yr.old and Emily who is 4 yr. old. I was diagnosed with FM in June of 2006.
The doctors have no idea when I actually started having this disease. My mother has told me
stories. When I was little up until now I have always had a cough. When she would take me to
the doctors they would always tell her I had bronchitis and they would put me on antibiotics. But
not until April 4th,2006, I went to my family doctor and they told me that I might have asthma,
the gave me a chest x-ray an,because we pushed the issue. On April 7th 2006 the called and
told me to come in that I had a spot on my right lung. They didn't know what it was. Come to
find out it was a mass. They then sent me to a Thoracic Surgeon and then he wanted too put
a stent in my air way,because my right lung middle lob was collapsed and,so he put the stent in
and it gave me no relief. I told my family doctor I wanted another opinion. They sent me to the
University of Michigan Hospital to see a pulmonologist. My first appointment was June 9th
2006. He talked with me and scheduled a cat scan and to come back on June 14th. My cat
scan was the same day I talked with him. A couple of days later he called me on the phone
and told me that i had FM. That I should not get pregnant. He said it was a form of
histoplasmosis. I was devastate. He said Histo is found in the soil, bat droppings, chicken
droppings. I started trying to research this right away. My doctor wanted to do more test
between now and then. I have had three cat scans, One VQ scan, a echo-cardiogram, a
pulmonary function test, chest x-rays, blood work and breathing test done. January 11th 2007
I had Surgery to see if they could stent out some of my veins and arteries. They checked to
see if I had any pressure build up in my neck but I didn't. The surgery was Unsuccessful
because the veins and arteries were already too closed up for them to reopen them. The only
good news I guess was that I had no pressure in my neck. Some days I feel like I have a ton of
pressure in my neck because it hurts when I bend down. My symptoms are cough, shortness
of breath, fatigue, wheezing, bloody sputum (sometimes), swelling of my neck and face,
underneath my arm pits hurt, and I have a lot of pain in my sides all the time. Especially when I
come down with a cold. All the FM is in right lung and hasn't spread to my left lung yet. I have
my next doctors appointment in November 2007 hand hopefully nothing has changed. Oh also
I was on a medication called sporonx and it was a 6 month trial and it never helped at all, I
never got better but never got no worse. Well that's my story. Thanks for listening.
My name is Ashley Erwin I am 27 years old. I am married, I have two beautiful daughters.
Taylor who is 9 yr.old and Emily who is 4 yr. old. I was diagnosed with FM in June of 2006.
The doctors have no idea when I actually started having this disease. My mother has told me
stories. When I was little up until now I have always had a cough. When she would take me to
the doctors they would always tell her I had bronchitis and they would put me on antibiotics. But
not until April 4th,2006, I went to my family doctor and they told me that I might have asthma,
the gave me a chest x-ray an,because we pushed the issue. On April 7th 2006 the called and
told me to come in that I had a spot on my right lung. They didn't know what it was. Come to
find out it was a mass. They then sent me to a Thoracic Surgeon and then he wanted too put
a stent in my air way,because my right lung middle lob was collapsed and,so he put the stent in
and it gave me no relief. I told my family doctor I wanted another opinion. They sent me to the
University of Michigan Hospital to see a pulmonologist. My first appointment was June 9th
2006. He talked with me and scheduled a cat scan and to come back on June 14th. My cat
scan was the same day I talked with him. A couple of days later he called me on the phone
and told me that i had FM. That I should not get pregnant. He said it was a form of
histoplasmosis. I was devastate. He said Histo is found in the soil, bat droppings, chicken
droppings. I started trying to research this right away. My doctor wanted to do more test
between now and then. I have had three cat scans, One VQ scan, a echo-cardiogram, a
pulmonary function test, chest x-rays, blood work and breathing test done. January 11th 2007
I had Surgery to see if they could stent out some of my veins and arteries. They checked to
see if I had any pressure build up in my neck but I didn't. The surgery was Unsuccessful
because the veins and arteries were already too closed up for them to reopen them. The only
good news I guess was that I had no pressure in my neck. Some days I feel like I have a ton of
pressure in my neck because it hurts when I bend down. My symptoms are cough, shortness
of breath, fatigue, wheezing, bloody sputum (sometimes), swelling of my neck and face,
underneath my arm pits hurt, and I have a lot of pain in my sides all the time. Especially when I
come down with a cold. All the FM is in right lung and hasn't spread to my left lung yet. I have
my next doctors appointment in November 2007 hand hopefully nothing has changed. Oh also
I was on a medication called sporonx and it was a 6 month trial and it never helped at all, I
never got better but never got no worse. Well that's my story. Thanks for listening.