Dr. Janus and lots of medical info

Dear Friends and Family,

Skip this post if you are not interested in the medical aspects of my life. I'll get back to more interesting stuff later.

Yesterday we saw Dr. Janus, the pulmonologist, a delightful young woman. Unfortunately the xray taken in her office showed not much improvement, if any, of the lung condition. The clouds are still there, somewhat fainter in one section, but with new tendrils reaching up towards the top. Still she has to judge by my condition: I can breathe, my oxygenation level is OK, and things are much better than they were when I had to go to the hospital. So my condition has improved. The sad thing is that none of the cultures "took," so there is still no way to know precisely what I have in my lungs. A further procedure will probably be necessary, what is called an open-chest biopsy, which is not as bad as it sounds: it's done arthroscopically (sp.?), but it requires a hospital stay of two days.

Dr. Janus sent us right over to the imagining facility to get another CT-scan, this one without the dye, not only to see better what the clouds were doing but also to check that the rib (which I crashed into on Sunday) did not affect the spleen. Since I was told nothing immediately after the scan, I assume the rib is not cracked and that the spleen has not been damaged. If it were, I'd probably have to be admitted into the hospital. Damage to this huge spleen could be serious. We took the CD of the CT-scan home to make a copy for Harvey and his colleagues at Yale, and we will have a report today when we see Dr. Kurzina, the hematologist.

Today I started to reduce the amount of prednisone. The good thing about this med is that it makes me gain weight, and I had gotten a little too thin. Also it enhances my energy level: yesterday I did not need a single rest in bed. But taking less is better in the long run.

The rib is extremely painful, and was so especially during the night. It's very hard to move around, bend, do the most mundane tasks. Why oh why did I have to make that stupid move on Sunday?

Nevertheless, I cannot help but feel good about progress in my work, both on the hamletworks.org website and Measure for Measure. Sitting quietly at my computer, working, I can forget about the pain (Hydrocodone helps too!). I am thinking about essays I want to write, both those I have committed to already and others that are waiting in the wings. I look forward with pleasure to seeing friends and family. Pollyanna rises again!

Love to all,
Bernice