I was released from the hospital three weeks ago today.  Eight days and seven nights of hospitalization was not in my plans, but then again, I’ve pretty much lost control of my planning over the past 5+ years.  At least we know what is causing all my recent breathing problems; pneumonitis!

Apparently, the general treatment course of about six weeks including tapering is not sufficient for me.  My pulmonologist has me on a plan that will require a minimum of 12 weeks of prednisone to engage and destroy the pneumonitis then taper off from the prednisone.  I received 70 mg of a more powerful steroid while in the hospital then dropped to 60 mg prednisone upon release.  I’m one week into 50 mg prednisone today.

The morning after I was released I went for a flat one mile walk to (push the envelope) and self-assess how I was doing.  What a struggle!  What a sense of accomplishment!  It took me over an hour with many, many, many stops to catch my breath, stabilize my out of balance body, and complete the walk.  From that day forward I’ve pushed myself to walk three miles each day  increasing the speed and adding inclines as I go.  I added a few days of resistance training last week and the past few days we’ve been staying at a friend’s ranch where I’m hiking trails with many ups and downs.  Progress Note: Today on the trail I finally felt like I was able to get air to my lower lungs (diaphragm).  Prior to this my breathing has been short and jagged confined to my upper lungs.

I am receiving unbelievable care from Kaiser!  My first week out of the hospital I received at minimum one call per day from a nurse or doctor checking up on me.  Once a week a nurse is coming to my home to see, in real  time, how I am doing, discuss my treatment and check my vitals.  I speak to a doctor once a week to discuss how I am handling the prednisone and our ever changing strategy to level out my glucose levels while on prednisone.  I’ve never dealt with glucose (diabetes) issues like this before and am now injecting two types of insulin 5 times a day in varying doses as we attempt to control the highs and lows.  We will continue this weekly monitoring for about 12 more weeks until I’m through with prednisone and we can drop the insulin entirely.

I'm still trying to gain the weight I lost prior to hospitalization and during.  It’s a conundrum as we need to minimize calories/carbs to control glucose and maximize calories/carbs to gain weight.  

This may be my first post that doesn’t mention cancer…oops I just did!  I haven’t had a clear scan showing my tumors in over a year.  Hopefully, we’ll have a clear scan by the end of summer and finally get back to curing my cancer.