Whether to have a Biopsy

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Regarding whether to have a biopsy or not. It depends on what you hope to accomplish. If you think it will change your treatment for ILD, no, it wont. Prednisone is basically "THE" treatment, for all types of ILD, regardless of biopsy results. If you, however, are like me and want to know exactly what you have, so as to view the statistics on motality rates, then you will gain that from a biopsy. The other thing you can gain from a biopsy, and is one of the reasons I had it done, is to make sure there is not something additional going on in your lungs besides the ILD, that could be treated and would improve your life span. In my case I found out I had DIP, and nothing else going on. DIP has a longer mortality than many of the other ILD's. That was essential for me to know so as to be able to work harder at improving my health. Since my doctor told me I was already half

way through the disease process, then if I had been diagnosed with a type of ILD that has a mortality of one to two years, then with the possibility of only having a year left, I probably would only focus on trying to do the things that are most important to me to get done and not work so hard at getting healthier and depriving myself of things I enjoy but are not good for me. While many would say that is not a good way to view things, I know myself and know that is how I do view things. I try not to call myself a pessimist, but rather a realist. I do NOT tend to be optimistic when it concerns ME, but I am hopeful things will improve though seldom expect it to. LOL Somtimes, though I am pleasently surprised. While I realize statistics are only numbers and each person is different, I tend to be a numbers person and need to know the statistics. I have never been the type of person who can just live each day at a time and not dwell on how

much time is left. I am also the type who wants to know all the nasty little details even if they scare me. So, if you only want to know the official diagnois but it will not change anything you would do in your life, I dont recommend going through it. It is painful and you can have complications. If however, like me, you just HAVE to know for the statistics, so you can plan out your life, then by all means, go for it. Thats my two cents anyway. Carolyn