A 'final' update

I'm calling this my final update because I am also calling this day the end to my crazy 4-month lung saga.

I had a follow-up appointment today, and it went ok. On the bright side, my oxygen was where it should be, but that's about it. Let me review since I just realized I haven't written anything since Easter...

Mid-April (actually, that week after Easter) I went into the hospital suddenly after a morning of coughing and a week of feeling like crap. Lo and behold my numbers had really dropped and my oxygen levels were only 89%. I went into the hospital straight from my doctor's appointment, and spent 8 days there. I did a full two-week course of antibiotics and we got my numbers back up to 28%. Still not where I was...

My doctor wasn't ready to call this a home run quite yet, so for the past three weeks we tried a few more things. Like usual, I had side effects with the meds and had to end a little early. But I didn't know that I felt all that better; it was slight, if any.

Well, today confirmed what I thought which is that: I am no better. In fact I'm slightly worse than three weeks ago...

And that's just the way it's going to be.

We're going to continue my normal regimen, give my system a break from antibiotics for as long as possible. And I'm hoping I can try to come back from this a little bit by taking some walks, and eventually building up to using our elliptical again. I have been telling myself, and I even promised Jarrod, I would take walks every other day, but I still haven't made it happen. I can't even describe the internal frustration with myself that I have right now because I still haven't done it. But the fact is that I can't just continue on like I did 5 months ago; I have to be extra diligent with my treatments, stay up on my rest, and exercise. Or else I will continue on this downward path, end up in the hospital constantly, and yeah, that will pretty much define my life every couple months.

I'm having a really hard time with today's results. I don't know what is going on with my health that I can't stay healthy anymore. It seems like any hard work, IV meds, hospital stays all help for such a short period of time, and after that it's all for naught.

I'm sorry these blog posts as of late aren't filled with better news. I wish they were.