just an update

Seems a couple months have slipped by since I last posted. Health-wise it is still the status quo ante.  I have still not shaken whatever it is that continues to involve my lungs. A brief synopsis: I developed some bronchial pneumonia last June and a course of antibiotics got rid of that just fine. Then come September--allergy season for me--I started to get some more bronchial involvement. Another course of antibiotics at that time did not seem to provide complete reversal of the condition, so I am in the middle of a second course. I cannot tell if it is working. There is still phlegm. Not so much coughing with all of this as there was with the pneumonia.  My doc is making noises about bronchiactisis or chronic bronchitis. A possible visit with a pulmonologist looms with a concomitant visit with a bronchoscopy. Doesn't sound like fun.  And, of course, this arises right when we are readying a trip south for the winter.

I don't want to make this sound like any more than it is. I am fully functional--at least as my 76-yr-old body allows me to be. I can do pretty much all I want to do. So we will just cruise along and see what happens. Being 5 minutes away from the Mayo Clinic in a few weeks might allow me to pursue a pulmonology referral should that be necessary from a pretty good diagnostic institution.

I detest having to continue down the antibiotic path as that seemingly keeps my immune system from repairing itself, post chemo-therapy. On the bright side, my cancer is still in the rear view mirror.

Winter has arrived here in spades. January cold in November. Some snow. But we are not quite fully in our inversion season so the air is breathable. But the warning signs--valley haze of most mornings--is there, and will worsen. Trying to get Jan past all her social obligations--and to refuse more--so that we can head south sooner rather than later.