The challenges of 2024 continue!  This is going to be a long post.

We met with my Oncologist on April 4 and things were looking up.  He reviewed my scans and confirmed my interpretation of the analysis of my last CT scan that everything was stable.  I had started tapering off of the prednisone that was designed to control my pneumonitis which wrecks havoc on my breathing.  The prednisone continued to give me out of control glucose numbers which can cause adverse affects to all other parts of my body.  I did notice a wispy, cloudy area in my lung which I figured was the last of the pneumonitis and would go away as we tapered off prednisone so neither my doctor nor I brought it up.

Teresa and I resumed our normal life style going for daily walks but I found I had to walk much more slowly to be able to breath without coughing and I could note endure more than a 3 mile walk.  Most days I’d come home and nap after the walk.  The stud I saw inside myself had decided to hide for a while.

i committed to speaking with California Senators and Assembly people in Sacramento representing the American Cancer Society on April 10.  Of course, we decided to make a vacation of it and drive the long way through Mammoth, Lake Tahoe and then Sacramento.  When we arrived in Mammoth the cold and elevation shut down my breathing.  I struggled to walk the 15 steps from the car to our lodge room.  Sadly, due to my inability to breathe we never left the room.  The next day we drove to Tahoe (what a beautiful drive) where I continued to struggle. I forced my self to get out and explore a little with very limited mobility.  We’d walk 30 or so steps very slowly then pause for me to catch my breath.  This was turning out to be not quite the adventure we had hoped for.

The next day we drove to Sacramento.  I was breathing much better at this elevation, we were able to walk a very slow, often interrupted 3 miles around Sacramento.  On April 10, I was able to represent ACS in Sacramento with help from non stop sucking on cough drops.  At the pre-meeting I found I could not speak more than three words without having an intense coughing fit.  Fortunately, Someone came up to me with a handful of cough drops to get me through the day.  On a positive note, I discovered I had an uncanny knack for touching the hearts and soles of the people I spoke with getting them to talk about their relationship with cancer.  By the end of the conversation they were the ones advocating for cancer support and research.  At the end of the day I was proud of myself.

The next day we rushed home in time for my chemo treatment.

Chemo on April 12, resulted in my most challenging reaction period yet.  The chemo did its normal thing and my breathing continued to get worse.  By last Saturday I could hardly move around the house.  Teresa kept pushing me to go to the doctor while I kept saying let’s wait and see how the weekend goes.  As usual, Teresa was right and last Monday we went to emergency.

i struggled into emergency where I was greeted with a litany of test, scans, and numerous doctors poking and prodding before they admitted me to the hospital.  The prognosis, unknown!  We were told my lungs were awash with “infiltrates.”  They shared the scans with us and both lungs were filled with those wispy clouds throughout.  The suspects were infectious pneumonia, more cancer, or more pneumonitis.  I’ve been on an IV drip of antibiotics since Monday night.  On Tuesday, they performed a bronchoscopy to get a sample of my gunk.  They entered my lungs through my nose with a camera and other devices.  First, they flushed the lung with saline to get a sample.  Then they used what my doctor described as the “worlds smallest toilet brush” to get another sample.

That evening my temperature rose to 104.2.  We experienced pure chaos working to get me cooled down.  

I’ve been placed on heavy duty steroids in addition to the continued antibiotics in search of some improvement.  My measuring stick for improvement is whether I can talk without coughing and I can walk 15 feet to the toilet without horrible coughing and severely restricted breathing.  I’ve accomplished both this morning.

Ok, more cancer has likely been ruled out.  Combination pneumonia and pneumonitis are the problem.  All the antibiotics should do the job on the pneumonia.  The steroids will do the job on the pneumonitis, but I’m now getting insulin several times a day because of the steroid’s impact on my glucose.  I’ll likely stay in the hospital until Monday as we work on a program to continue the steroids and control the glucose.

I’m hopeful to be back to normal in about six weeks.