Glad to hear you've found yourself a solid pulmonologist. Might I ask what institution he/she is working at? I like to know where there are good folks if I ever need to reach out.
UPDATE ABOUT MY MOM: Chronic respiratory failure - hypoxia w/o pulmonary or cardiac explanation.51F, 59, thin, white, USA. never-smoker, non-drinker; no prescriptions; unintended weight loss of now 28lbs since January, oxygen desats started in January w/ exertion, suddenly worsening in the past few days and now on continuous oxygen. Exhausted and weaker every day. X-post.This is just an update for anyone interested. Ive posted about this several times on the various medical subs here out of desperation and have been blown away at the helpful advice and input. I wanted to post an update in case anyone remembers spitballing about this and might be curious about new developments.Today mom had her follow up with her pulmonologist following the normal shunt study. He spent a solid hour with us going over everything shes been experiencing the last six months with a fine tooth comb, reviewing prior records in the hospital system from the past year before the oxygen issue, and doing a thorough physical exam - we knew something crucial might be in those clues.Very long story short - its not a happy update but it unfortunately makes sense given a lot of other problems mom has been having during this same timeframe that just seemed insignificant or unimportant compared to the chronic respiratory failure. Things she thought could sit on the back burner til that was solved, but have been accelerating in just the past 2-ish weeks along with the worsening oxygen desats.Basically, there are several observable, objective signs and symptoms that seem to point to some kind of neurological/neurodegenerative process/disorder.He ordered a lot of tests that will be happening next week, and she will be seeing a neurologist for further evaluation on Tuesday.The more we read, the more huge lightbulbs are going off on this kind of process being a possibility. Not going to assume anything, and not trying to be negative, it is just undeniable that a lot of the puzzle pieces fit and we want to prepare for the worst mentally/emotionally. It's a long way from here to final answers (if we ever get any, we are well aware we might not ever get this figured out, that there are limits to medicine), but I just thought Id update since my moms situation is such a very odd, even bizarre, case. Thanks so much to all of you who have pitched in.