Good News With no *’s or BUT’s or Qualifications

I have had a couple of Very Good Days in a row. Not good days relative to other days, but genuinely good days, full of good news and forward movement. My CT scan showed no disease progression, even though I’ve been off the Everolimus for a month. Doctor Akerley used the word “remarkable,” which is a good word coming from your oncologist. The pneumocystis appears to be gone, too. So all that gunk that’s made it harder to breathe has cleared out of my lungs. And remember, the infectious disease doc said it takes a while to get rid of this bacteria, so I will still feel better than I do now, which is pretty well.

I’m back on Everolimus, but on a lower dose, hoping to minimize shortness of breath and susceptibility to pneumonia. I’m also going to continue to take a much lower dose than I’m taking of the antibiotic. The doctor says it’s much easier to prevent pneumonia than it is to treat it, and I know that to be a fact. I’m pretty happy to be back on the Everolimus, as you can imagine. I always want to be doing SOMETHING to save myself.

I also, after five weeks, returned to the gym and the yoga studio. I just hadn’t been able to muster up the energy to move my body for a long time… probably longer than any other time in my adult life.  It’s still hard to breathe, and I’m too skinny, and I’m modifying pretty much everything, but I’m in there. And I can still do a full push-up with one hand on a medicine ball.

That’s all I have to report, although Pally says I should have written this in all caps. I’ll leave you with one of those situations where you think of the perfect comeback, but a day too late. The infectious disease doctor was telling me how important it is to keep my Oxygen saturation level above 90 (in other words, use the dang Oxygen condenser). He said, ‘You don’t want to hang out in the 80’s.” I should have said, “No one wants to hang out in the 80’s. I didn’t like the 80’s in the 80’s!” A rare missed opportunity to be a smart ass. I’ll have more. #donthangoutinthe80s #defy.

I love sea level. I’ll be back soon.