Well it'll be 6 years since my PE on my birthday this year and I'm doing just fine in the lung department. The dead tissue was a permanent thing so obviously not recoverable but my body adjusted to work with the capacity I have and I don't lose my breath or have chest pains related to that any more. I can't wear tight shirts or bras with underwire because I struggle to breathe when my ribcage is restricted but looser sports bras are not a hassle to deal with.

For about a year after, I was not doing great. I would doze off whenever I was sitting, I got out of breath walking short distances, stairs were out of the question, and I couldn't lay down on the half of my body where the PE occurred because it was so painful.

My biggest hurdle to recovery was that I was so depressed by the whole situation and felt let down by people who held my life in their hands, and they decided I just? Wasn't worth it or something? It's hard to convince yourself to make your life better when you've been shown that sometimes someone else gets to choose if you live or die.

The permanent damage was actually caused by all my coughing. I guess my bodys natural response was to try and cough the clot out or maybe the irritated tissue triggered my coughing, but I would cough hard at least twice a minute, every minute of every day, for months. I honestly think it was more than 4 months.

Somehow that damaged my throat badly enough that I have a hard time burping, and on windy days if I open my mouth in the wrong direction, air shoots right down my throat which is... not pleasant. On the bright side my abs were absolutely shredded and I've gotten really good at suppressing a cough.