I know, that is total weak sauce. But I only go to the doctor once a month now, and I have yet to convince myself that the minutia of my daily activities not related to my transplant journey are of interest to anyone. And how much of my inane musing "On..." can one take? It's like people who write memoirs when they're 20. Only David Eggers can get away with that crap.
Oh, here's something funny that happened. Brett had CVS on speaker phone while calling in a prescription for me. When the pharmacist picked up the line, Luna pushed in front of us and yelled into the phone, "CAN YOU GET MY MOMMY SOME MEDICINE?" Part of me wishes we hadn't said anything after that, just to see what the pharmacist said.
Here's something else cool: I just heard a barn owl fly by.
So anyway, since we've last blog-spoke, I have had 2 colds courtesy of my adorable little viral petri dish, Luna. In the case of cold symptoms, I am to go to the clinic and get blood tests, have someone listen to my lungs, have a nasal swab (where they basically stick a q-tip up your nasal cavity to, oh, about where it meets your BRAIN and collect a snot sample), and have a chest x-ray to check for pneumonia. The first time turned up rhinovirus (the common cold), and I was able to fight it off after about a little more than a week with no fever or complications. This time they say my lung is a little wheezy, and that I really should be examining my sputum when I cough. Rather than deal with yet another bodily fluid today, I think I am going to wait for the results of my tests, which haven't come back yet. I don't have a fever and don't feel consistently bad...although I'm also not sure that I haven't trained myself to get used to feeling bad, which one could mistake for feeling better. Anyway, I guess time will tell. So I have a couple of days to convince myself that I don't have a non-treatable fungal pneumonia, but that I'm just at the "lingering cough" stage of a normal cold. This should be fun.
The cold-or-whatever-it-is development precluded a planned camping trip this past weekend, which deserves a resounding "boo." But we did get to go see Music in the Park at Curtis Park, and I also got to go see the season 4 premier of True Blood at my fellow True Blood-addict Susan's house. There were lots of other addicts there too that have been meeting for awhile. It's like an opium den over there. I'm glad I can now be a part of it.
In prednisone news, I have recently tapered down from 35 mg every other day to 20 mg every other day. I'll be at this dose for a couple months. I have already gone through the withdrawal phase I went through last time, so I don't need to bore you with tales of my mood swings and fatigue and inexplicable guilt that I'm letting everyone down when I'm feeling bad. But surely now I will get a little more of my chin back?
I've read quite a few books and have been generally productive with my days lately so I believe I've earned the right to watch a few episodes of Pawn Stars tonight on Netflix. So I'm signing off here. I'll update after my next appointment, hoping counts will be decent and pneumonia fears assuaged. But if not, I suppose we'll just deal with that too.
Hope everyone had a great solstice and is enjoying the summatime.
sending love, gratitude, peace, and all that yummy stuff,
jess
2 comments:
Hi Jessie. It's Sally Robertson. Love your writing style. Imbedded sarcasm is my favorite! Glad you felt a kinship. There are a surprising number of us out there. Feel free to get in touch anytime. I will listen and not be bored....been there done that, sista!
Hey Jessie,
My name is Liz and I came across your blog a while back. I hope that your test results come back with some good news. Sorry to hear that you believe your inane musings are of no interest to anyone, I think your blog is a great place to relate for someone. Reading your story helps a great many people because unintentionally you answer questions they have all the time, what does it feel like through treatment, how does one face fears, what happens when you have a cough that might need to be checked out or when it's really not a problem. That said, since your blog is a great resource for someone going through cancer I wanted to reach out to you to see if you were interested in a new online social support network (that I am the community manager of!) called I Had Cancer. It is a new and free social support network focused on connecting people based on experiences with cancer so that they can easily communicate with one another and share information. I would love to tell you more if you are interested, so please let me know! Because I was so struck by your writing I would love to send you an early-access pass with extra invites for others you may know going through this journey.
Either way, thank you so much for your writing. Take care and best regards.
-Liz Belilovskaya
liz@ihadcancer.com
Post a Comment