PneumoBye — A  Worldwide Pneumothorax Community 

On December 26, 2019, I woke up feeling slightly tight in my chest. Initially, I thought it was a minor issue (I had felt it before), so I ignored it. By evening, however, it worsened, and I felt like I couldn’t breathe properly. I decided to see a doctor the next morning. When I woke up the following day, I was already struggling to breathe and felt the urge to cough, so I rushed to the hospital to see a traditional Chinese medicine doctor (thinking it was just a cough). To my surprise, the doctor insisted on a chest X-ray and a blood test. (I thought, “I came for traditional medicine—why do I need all these tests?”) When the results came back, the doctor urgently told me I had pneumothorax, with 60% lung compression and a large amount of air buildup, requiring immediate hospitalization! I was in complete shock—what was pneumothorax? How did I even get it? Before I could ask, the doctor transferred me to the inpatient department, where another doctor specializing in respiratory issues came to talk to me. I explained that I hadn’t done anything unusual; it just happened suddenly. The doctor said it was a spontaneous pneumothorax, which often occurs in tall, thin young people, typically teens or twenties. I was 19, 175 cm tall, and weighed only 47 kg. I asked what should be done, and the doctor explained that with over 50% compression, conservative treatment wasn’t an option anymore; they’d need to make an incision in my chest to insert a tube to remove the trapped air. This news made me even more anxious. After being admitted, the doctor set me up with oxygen. By 2 p.m., they came in, and I was incredibly nervous. First, they marked my chest for the incision, then administered anesthesia, which was quite painful. After that, I watched as the doctor made an incision, created a hole, inserted a tube, stitched it up, and covered it with gauze. The procedure took less than 30 minutes. Once they created the opening, I could breathe more easily. Every day, I was connected to a drainage canister, relying on painkillers, lying in bed, and enduring inflammation treatments. My mother came daily to support me, bringing me medication and handling my care. Finally, after X-rays showed less than 10% pneumothorax remaining, the doctor removed the tube, and I was discharged on January 11, 2020. Just a week after being discharged, I began to feel short of breath again, worrying about a relapse. I constantly feared that my future would be defined by this condition. In the afternoon, I went back to the hospital for another check-up. Here’s hoping for the best—I’ll continue updating.

The initial symptoms of pneumothorax are sudden onset, sharp pain on the affected side of the chest like a needle prick, lasting briefly, followed by chest tightness and difficulty breathing, making it hard to lie flat. In August 2018, while working in the office, I suddenly felt intense fatigue and slight stinging in my back ribs. Lifting my hand was exhausting, a sensation I had never felt before, but I thought it was just work fatigue. I ignored it, went home, and after a night’s sleep, the pain was gone by the weekend, so I assumed it was nothing. In the afternoon, a colleague invited me to go shopping, and since the supermarket was a couple of kilometers away, we decided to walk. As we walked and chatted, the same symptoms reappeared—this time with stabbing back pain, weak legs, and painful breathing and chest tightness. I broke out in a cold sweat and felt nauseous. My colleague noticed my pale face and asked if I needed to go to the hospital. I declined, returned to the dorm to rest, and felt slightly better the next day. However, after climbing six flights of stairs to the dorm later, I felt an overwhelming fatigue, sharp back pain, and nausea. Still, I decided to sleep it off. By the fourth day, chest tightness returned, forcing me to take a day off. While walking to the nearby supermarket for supplies, the pain returned, now excruciating with every breath. I couldn’t take it anymore and went straight to the ER, where the nurse quickly assessed my severe pain and gave me a priority emergency pass. After a CT scan, ultrasound, and EKG, the doctor told me my lung was compressed by 80% due to pneumothorax, common in tall, thin males. Immediate hospitalization was recommended to allow a thoracic specialist to examine me. By the afternoon, I was admitted and assigned a primary doctor, an experienced, kind specialist who reviewed my CT results and explained that my pneumothorax was caused by large lung bullae and would require a thoracoscopic surgery to remove the bullae. Stunned, I couldn’t believe this was happening to me. The surgery was estimated to cost around 40,000 yuan, which worried me as I didn’t have even a tenth of that amount. However, the doctor informed me that social insurance could cover 70-80%, which eased my concerns, so I signed the consent. The next day, I prepared for surgery, and my sister came to support me. The surgery involved general anesthesia, and although I felt slight pain initially, I eventually lost sensation and fell asleep. I awoke groggy and weak, with a drainage tube the thickness of a finger inserted into my chest. Breathing hurt, and I couldn’t speak or walk. My sister had to hire a caregiver for me. Gradually, I recovered and was discharged after about ten days, but I relapsed a couple of months later with a 30% lung compression, requiring another tube insertion. This pattern of recurrence persisted, each requiring hospitalization, and kept me in constant fear. The doctor advised me to avoid heavy lifting and ensure a nutritious diet. After several recurrences, I tried various treatments and eventually found a supplement that helped stabilize my condition. Since November last year, I’ve been symptom-free for over six months, managing light activities with ease—a level of recovery I never dared to imagine.

I am Zexin Bi, a current senior at The Webb Schools in Claremont. I used to play a lot of sport such as tennis, badminton, and equestrian. However, a major disease shaped my life significantly. In 2022, I was diagnosed with spontaenous pneumothorax after an intense tennis training. In the beginning, the pneumothorax was on my left chest. After receiving the chest tube treatment, it reoccurred 3 months later, resulting in a surgery that cuts several of the bullaes in my lung. During this tough journey of overcoming pneumothorax, I researched this disease and consulted many physicians in CHOC hospital (the place where I received my surgery) about it, including the potential causes, different treatments, and techniques for avoiding its reoccurence. The motivation of my website is to establish connections between people like me who suffered or suffering from pneumothorax and a warm community where people can provide mutual support to each other. Moreover, I will open a section where we can discuss the newest technology that can assist in pneumothorax surgery.