So not to bore you, but I have been pretty sick this week...which irks me incredibly. On Sunday, after getting back from my WONDERFUL camping trip I was exhausted to the extreme, but just thought I had overdone it. Who cares, I had fun right? I was really warm as well but thought it was from the sun. Monday I wasn't feeling good when I woke up, just really tired. I had to cancel lunch with a friend even. I laid low, did homework, and later went to watch Jeff, Jon and Keith in a bike race since I knew I wouldn't be up to going to the last one this Monday. When I got home I was super tired but still didn't think much of it. OK, so let me rewind a little. After my last treatment I wrote (I think?) about how I was bouncing back slower. I also had a low grade fever for three days or so, nothing to worry about, just a lot of rest involved. Then it went away and I felt good enough to celebrate Audrey's bday and go camping. Back to this week. So Tuesday, I woke up just feeling sh*tty. I took my temp, it was 100.5, this little cough I had was also getting worse. This is different from the cough I had back a few treatments ago. So, I left a message with the phone nurse at the dr. office, and headed straight back to bed. After talking to the Dr. she called me back and said to take tylenol for fever, (this may seem normal, but I'm not supposed to take tylenol for anything because of the fact that it covers up fevers, so her telling me I could was a relief) and cough syrup with codeine (another lovely narcotic!). She also set me up with another chest x-ray to get before Thursdays office visit/treatment. So I did this and every time the tylenol wore off my fever would shoot back up, at one point Wed. it was 101.5. Thursday rolls around and I literally don't get out of bed until I have to go to the doctor. OK, well I showered too... the chills and hot flashes made me less than fresh!
Appointment day: I go early to get the xray first then head to Dr. I get my blood drawn as usual. Next, me and Jamie, my super awesome medical assistant, go through the usual routine and yes I have a fever but it has dropped way down to 99.2. Phew. There is this checklist every time for symptoms and this time I checked a lot more than usual. So then I wait for the doc. . . i wait a lot longer than usual . . . finally his Physician Asst. Kristin comes in, she is cool too but super reserved. She just goes over my symptoms again and said something showed up in the xray so Dr. Smith will be in a bit to go over that with me. "A bit" ended up being 20 minutes or so. Turns out he was talking to a Pulmonologist. So, he comes in asks me the same stuff the others did, feels around, has me breath in and out. Says that the xrays show infiltrates and some irritation in the lower regions of my lungs. He said since it is equal on both lungs that means its not viral or bacterial pneumonia but rather ...SO MADDENING... damage caused by one of my chemo drugs, Bleomycin, and my lungs are reacting. It is known to do this but only in 10% of patients who are usually older (I read this somewhere, did not hear this from dr.) Anyway, so not knowing much now, to cover all the bases, I am seeing a Pulmonologist (Dr. P) on Monday. I am also getting a lung study done at the hospital first that will be provided to Dr. P. for a place to start. Dr. Smith doesn't know what Dr. P will do but they might order scans or they might do a brochoscopy which involves putting a tube and camera in the lungs. Its nothing major, it's in office and they sedate you. I am not sure they'll even have to do that. Dr. Smith said my oxygen levels in my blood are good right now so that is a good sign. Sometimes when this happens the lung doesn't do the oxygen gas exchange very well. ANYWAY, I really don't know much. Plus it was really a lot to take in all at once. At first it seemed serious but now I'm thinking it won't end up being all that bad. I know its reversible and I'm sure I'll be fine. If I didn't have symptoms so soon that would not be the case as it can turn into fibrosis. I will write more when I know more after Monday.
In the meantime, I still had treatment, eliminating that drug which will be gone permanently now. They have put me on a new steroid that helps inflammation in the lungs. Its a pretty high dose so I am very unhappy about that. I mean, I love gaining weight! Other than all this BS, my temp is normal today so I feel a little better and I am in normal post treatment mode in my chair. Thank goodness... being in bed for 3 days sucked but I didn't even realize it sucked until after the fact when I got all antsy to do things. Jeff, Audrey and Carl have been SUPER helpful. Thanks you guys... and Carl's meal last night was amazing! Like I said I'll write again when I know more about this lung crap.
No comments:
Post a Comment