updates

Well, the upper respiratory gombu has not lifted on its own. In fact, it has sunk firmly into my lungs. My family has prevailed and I went this week to a local insta-care facility. Not surprisingly, they are everywhere here, given the average age of the population.

I was well pleased with the experience. It matched the service in Cache Valley to a T. The magic of an almost single payer system--turn over your ID cards, see a PA, then a doc, get a script and go. All in an hour with no appointment. Course we played the odds by arriving before 9 a.m. so that may have skewed the picture. And the doc wasn't a doc, but a very competent Nurse Family Practitioner (NFP).

I like what she guessed. She immediately tumbled to the possibility of my compromised immune system allowing something else to be happening. She described my symptoms almost perfectly: antibiotic, symptoms retreat, only to return a couple weeks later. She wondered whether I have a fungus which is making a "bed" for new bacteria to grow on.(There was an allusion to a husband apparently also in remission undergoing similar experiences.)

So I am on a 4th generation antibiotic called cephalo-sporin which is very broad spectrum and may have properties to smack any fungus among us. Moreover, she has prescribed 3 days of prednisone--which I experienced during chemo--to goose (her word) the antibiotic along. The steroidal prednisone is having its usual effect on me--shortening my sleep cycle by a third. (While the time stamp on this post is not unreasonable I have been up a couple hours already,)  In addition, it loads up on edema but in doing so ameliorates my arthritis. The antibiotic appears to be doing its thing. I am fully appreciating the taste of food again for the first time in a few weeks. The proof of the pudding will be in the aftermath of the 10-day course. Thankfully, the last of the Prednisone goes down today. (Aside: total copay on the drugs = $10.18 and Walgreens had them done in 20 min.)

Then I need to think about what is generating the fungus. Immediately springing to mind is my cavalier attitude to the cleanliness of my CPAP machine for my sleep apnea. It is supposed to use distilled H2O. I use reverse osmosed water which is the same as most bottled waters. It does build up a film in the reservoir over time, ergo, is a medium for something. And, of course, I huff that thing 8 hours a night. Can you say bleach? Can you say hydrogen peroxide? Sanitization of that and its associated tubing is in order.

More as we see how this shakes out...