Hello Dear Readers,
It has been a rough 2019 so far. I fractured my finger in the car door early in the month. It was the finger next to the one I had surgery on to remove the lump. It healed beautifully.
We had weeks of smoke from the fires north of us last October and November, which burned down entire cities. The smoke drifted west to us on the coastside. It was miserable. I had been fighting lung problems with the constant smoke and, in late December, I felt that I had an infection. Dr. K. approved antibiotics and on day nine of a ten day run, I ended up in the hospital.
I was constantly coughing. I needed supplemental oxygen to take a shower, wash the dishes, make the bed, cook dinner and not do much else. It was scary. I thought I had pneumonia. Imagine my surprise when the X-Ray in the ER came back negative.
Let the fun begin! They pumped 40 mgs of prednisone into me along with THREE nebulizer treatments, one after the other. My hands shook for some time after that! My lungs had sounded horrible before the treatments and the doctors and nurses and respiratory therapists were all smiling after about an hour. My lungs sounded better and I was breathing so much easier. No wheezing!
But, they believed that I was having an exacerbation of the disease. A downturn. A step closer to transplants. Since Dr. K. was out of town, they kept me in the hospital overnight so I could have a CT Scan. Because of the treatments and drug, I was awake all night.
A week later, I met with Dr. K. She believed that the smoke did some damage then I got a virus on top of it. Michael had a nasty one on Christmas, he gave it to my mom and then, of course, to me. Dr. K. delayed the PFTs as she felt my lungs were trying to recover. Some days, I would need no supplemental oxygen and others, I had very low saturation rates. It made no sense. She said that we would wait until March for the PFTs and felt that it will be an honest reading.
How am I doing now? I have time within a day when I get very short of breath then it passes and I am fine for days. I am hoping the healing continues. I continue to go to rehab class.
We will see. I am still playing with the Irish Fiddling group, though I just played for the first time in three months. It felt great. William bought a house. It is larger than ours, has tremendous views, he has a laundry room (I have never had one!), and a built-in bar, though he doesn't drink. He found his Mid-Century modern house, built in 1960s and he was able to buy it from the original owners. A real find.
I told him he could take anything for his house. At Christmas, he walked through the house, asked for all of my grandfather's artwork, the famous portrait, photos of the ancestors on the wall in the guest room, The Harvard Classics, my teak rolled-top desk and other family items. We are heading up to see the new house and to deliver everything to him in a few weeks. He is currently on a long tour in Europe, where it is very cold.
Life is going forward. I'm going to continue to take a break for a bit longer. After the PFTs, I will report back to you about next steps.
Love to you all. Stay well. Exercise.
