Has anyone heard of actelactisis??

Hi Rosie, and welcome! I see you are a new member here, having joined earlier today, in the morning. We are glad to see you are already engaging with the community through this, your first post.
You may be aware that we cannot provide medical advice or diagnostics over the internet (for your own safety), but your expressed concerns certainly warrant a reply.
We all understand how challenging quitting smoking can be - if there is anything we can assist you with in that regard, please let me or any other moderator / team member know. We do have a wealth of material, published right here on COPD.net which focuses on all aspects of that topic. Should you be interested, just let me know and I will provide you with links to the information.
Your concern about atelectasis is real one. Atelectasis, is usually described as areas of the lung that are not receiving sufficient aeration and lung expansion. Atelectasis can arise from any number of medical / surgical etiologies and, generally speaking is treatable. For a more detailed explanation, I thought you might want to look over this article from the Cleveland Clinic: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/17699-atelectasis.
I am hopeful that, once you see the specialist, your unanswered questions will be addressed and you will receive proper treatment / therapy for these recent medical developments.
Please do check back and keep us apprised of your progress. I hope to have continued conversations with you.
All the best,
Leon (site moderator COPD.net)

Quitting smoking is an important step in managing COPD and improving lung health. In the meantime, it's important to work with your doctor to manage your symptoms, including using your ventolin inhaler as directed. You may also benefit from pulmonary rehabilitation, which can help improve breathing and physical activity. Stay positive and take care of yourself.

Thank you for your support which gives me hope. Not a good day today, I rang the hospital and it seems they have lost my referral so nothing is being done. Very sadly because of covid and other things the NHS in the UK has more or less fallen apart, I don't blame them but I can't breathe properly, haven't been diagnosed properly yet and it is frightening. I am doing my best to help myself, breathing exercises and thank goodness I have an understanding partner. The only medication I have got is a ventolin inhaler. Thank you for the information on smoking, I am the generation like a lot on here who smoked but am using nicotine replacement and I am not smoking ever again. Sorry about rant .

I have not posted here for a while, but at the moment I am feeling a lot better. I have found the support on here invaluable. Well I got over the flu/pneumonia and went for a CT scan a few weeks ago and now have the results. I do not have lung cancer thank goodness not do they think I have COPD but the bottom of my left lung has folded over slightly and apart from having a weakness there now this should not cause any problems for me. The reason they think is because in my younger years I have had a lot of abdominal surgery and the consultant thinks it is a reaction in my chest to this. I am 67 now, but as a teenager I had a ruptured appendix and had 3 big ops then and part of my bowel removed, also had a ceasarean and a hysterectomy when I was younger. The Dr. Has said there is no treatment but it is nothing I cannot live with so I am a lucky lady. When I was I read many of your posts which gave me strength and I hope it is ok to do so still. I have not smoked a fag since Xmas eve and never will now, I do still use a nicotine replacement at times. I can honestly say it is the hardest thing I have done, do done give up trying to give up, my chest is so much better for it. Thank you all.