I was diagnosed last week with bronchiectasis. I am a physical education middle school teacher and am 49. I used to work out fairly regularly until I had to have a parathyroidectomy/thyroidectomy in the summer of 2017. It took half the year to get my life back together! I gradually began to work out again and was looking forward to a summer of health but the last day of school in 2018 I came down with an upper respiratory bug that then turned into bronchitis. I was so very sick. I found a pulmonologist in july and he put me on a barrage of meds (symbicort , spriiva, zrytec, singular, flonase,...the list goes on). I began to improve but it was slow. I made it through the winter even though I work in a petri-dish! But then in March I felt the same way I did the previous summer! I was super sick. The pulmonologist put me on prednisone and antibiotics but it took over 4 weeks. Needless to say, working out wasn't happening and hadn't been happening all school year. Two weeks ago I caught my husbands cold and it ended up starting to go to my chest. This time I didn't wait to see if things would clear up. I went back to the pulmonologist. That's when he tells me that the CT scan he had ran on my over a month ago shows I have bronchiectasis. He also said to find a new job! Shocking. So here's my thoughts...I've seen on this panel many comments about the benefits of exercise. After over a year of not really working out (yoga and spinning were my thing and I was very consistent for most of my adult life) did that keep this bronchiectasis diagnosis at bay. The doctor said it's kinda like the chicken and the egg thing. Which came first; the bronchiectasis that brings on the infections or the infection that brought on the bronchiectais! I'm just wondering if I hadn't stopped working out would I have not gotten to where I am? Not that I can change things but it might help me navigate my thoughts about working out again. I have to have surgery in 2 weeks and I'm wondering how concerned should I be about things. My doctor said not at all. I know this was super lengthy....I apologize. And I thank everyone that was willing to read to the end!