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Dec. 10th, 2011 12:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stitchwhichMostly I'm thinking about the upcoming Bronchoscopy with accompanying lung-lavage. I'm a little freaked by it, and by the possibilities it may expose. I mean, really! They're going to sedate me, stick a big ole tube down into my lungs, and flood each one with saline solution, then vacuum the fluid back out... and I'll still be breathing somehow? Say what? And I won't be totally asleep??? ExCUSE me? *shudder*
The pulmonologist (a very articulate, engaging Pakistani, who finished his medical studies at Yale and speaks Tagalog as well as English along with his native tongue. Wow. Smart man! And he laughed at my silly comments while doing his examine and while he tried to come up with a preliminary diagnosis) says that my symptoms can be only one of two things. Either I have a fungal infection ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histoplasmosis) in my lungs, or I have a second form of cancer. Since all the lobes are involved, treatment for the cancer would not be possible. So I'm hoping for a fungal infection.
If it IS the infection, I am so going to tease the heck out of my friends in Butler, PA. Which is most likely where I would have contracted it. (No, no, it's not all THAT common. Don't rule Pennsic out. About 30% of the population living in the mucking huge infection zone catch the disease. And they live there. As a vistor, I'm just lucky, I guess.) Associated symptoms indicate that if that is what it is, I've had it for years and haven't died of it - it can be fatal if left untreated. So if it's that, I'll be taking another daily pill for at least a year and will have to have periodic checks to make sure it doesn't flair back up again. It's the kind of thing that flairs up off and on. As someone with a (now) compromised immune system, that will be something to watch for as I age.
I thought, "what if I do have some other form of cancer in my lungs?" It can't be the GIST - the presentation is all wrong. But it can be a second type, which isn't all that unusual in GIST patients. Well - it would mean that we'd have an approximate end date. That would be something. That would totally change my 'want list' of things I save up for! I mean, I won't really need a new laptop after all! And I can stop slobbering over the automatic-embroidery sewing machines. But I'd still buy all the new castle and three-story-building Lego kits as they came out. My kids have worked out between them where the collection will go.
But I tell you, I'd run a heck of a yard sale! All this stuff that Bossman will never need or even know how to use! That'd have to go. And it'd pay for a hell of a "I'll miss you" party to throw for my friends. And I'd have to ramp up recruiting replacements for my SCA jobs. What a hassle. But still, I'm laying my money on 'fungal infection'. Either way, we won't know until well into 2012. Fungal samples take a really long time to grow before they can be identified in the lab. I expect a 4-5 week waiting period. I hate waiting for good/bad news. Not that anyone I know doesn't hate it, eh? But still, "Let's just leave your life suspended for a while, shall we?"
The cool part is that if it is that, and I can get started on treatment, I'll not be fighting off a systemic infection as I have been for years and years... I should enter spring feeling much stronger and energetic. That would rock. So again, another reason to hope that is the diagnosis. And I won't have to return to the dermatologist, either. I'd really like that.
I resigned three weeks early from doing the posting of the "Feasts and Saints of the Day" on the Medieval Religion email list. The reduction of daily deadline stress has been wonderful.
We started doing lawn decorations for the Holiday Season. It's not much - I bought two sets of solar-powered snowflakes (which, Bossman pointed out and I hadn't noticed, are shaped like the Star of David. I thought snowflakes were supposed to be eight-lobed?) and a set of solar-powered candy canes. I don't care for the candy-canes - they are far shorter than I expected and look kinda sad when they're all lit up. But ya know, it's a learning process. The snowflakes are cool. There's 4 in each string and they hang down from the power line, so we put them along one branch of the willow tree. It looks pretty. Next year, I'll buy another couple of sets, and the year following, and soon the tree will be look like a sparkly micro-snowstorm. And best - I can reach the lower branches so Bossman won't have to help me decorate. Which he did this year, but I'd rather I wasn't dependent on him for it.
I'm joining Vikings Vinland in addition to Vikings North America. That way I can switch from being an honorary member of the (subsidiary) Austlandr reenactment group in North Carolina to a full member. They were sweet as could be to make me an honorary member, but still - I should be on their rolls and paying dues. I like those guys. They're ignorant as dirt when it comes to Viking culture, but they're really good fighters and know how to do a demo that mixes live steel and melees. And this way I can ensure that their clothing is ready should they travel to England for the Battle of Hastings. (They have trainers come over from The VIkings! UK to teach them battle techniques, so everyone observes the same safety rules. I really appreciate that. The Vikings North America does the same thing, as they are a sister-organisation. But the closest group of them is in Illinois.)
The pulmonologist (a very articulate, engaging Pakistani, who finished his medical studies at Yale and speaks Tagalog as well as English along with his native tongue. Wow. Smart man! And he laughed at my silly comments while doing his examine and while he tried to come up with a preliminary diagnosis) says that my symptoms can be only one of two things. Either I have a fungal infection ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histoplasmosis) in my lungs, or I have a second form of cancer. Since all the lobes are involved, treatment for the cancer would not be possible. So I'm hoping for a fungal infection.
If it IS the infection, I am so going to tease the heck out of my friends in Butler, PA. Which is most likely where I would have contracted it. (No, no, it's not all THAT common. Don't rule Pennsic out. About 30% of the population living in the mucking huge infection zone catch the disease. And they live there. As a vistor, I'm just lucky, I guess.) Associated symptoms indicate that if that is what it is, I've had it for years and haven't died of it - it can be fatal if left untreated. So if it's that, I'll be taking another daily pill for at least a year and will have to have periodic checks to make sure it doesn't flair back up again. It's the kind of thing that flairs up off and on. As someone with a (now) compromised immune system, that will be something to watch for as I age.
I thought, "what if I do have some other form of cancer in my lungs?" It can't be the GIST - the presentation is all wrong. But it can be a second type, which isn't all that unusual in GIST patients. Well - it would mean that we'd have an approximate end date. That would be something. That would totally change my 'want list' of things I save up for! I mean, I won't really need a new laptop after all! And I can stop slobbering over the automatic-embroidery sewing machines. But I'd still buy all the new castle and three-story-building Lego kits as they came out. My kids have worked out between them where the collection will go.
But I tell you, I'd run a heck of a yard sale! All this stuff that Bossman will never need or even know how to use! That'd have to go. And it'd pay for a hell of a "I'll miss you" party to throw for my friends. And I'd have to ramp up recruiting replacements for my SCA jobs. What a hassle. But still, I'm laying my money on 'fungal infection'. Either way, we won't know until well into 2012. Fungal samples take a really long time to grow before they can be identified in the lab. I expect a 4-5 week waiting period. I hate waiting for good/bad news. Not that anyone I know doesn't hate it, eh? But still, "Let's just leave your life suspended for a while, shall we?"
The cool part is that if it is that, and I can get started on treatment, I'll not be fighting off a systemic infection as I have been for years and years... I should enter spring feeling much stronger and energetic. That would rock. So again, another reason to hope that is the diagnosis. And I won't have to return to the dermatologist, either. I'd really like that.
I resigned three weeks early from doing the posting of the "Feasts and Saints of the Day" on the Medieval Religion email list. The reduction of daily deadline stress has been wonderful.
We started doing lawn decorations for the Holiday Season. It's not much - I bought two sets of solar-powered snowflakes (which, Bossman pointed out and I hadn't noticed, are shaped like the Star of David. I thought snowflakes were supposed to be eight-lobed?) and a set of solar-powered candy canes. I don't care for the candy-canes - they are far shorter than I expected and look kinda sad when they're all lit up. But ya know, it's a learning process. The snowflakes are cool. There's 4 in each string and they hang down from the power line, so we put them along one branch of the willow tree. It looks pretty. Next year, I'll buy another couple of sets, and the year following, and soon the tree will be look like a sparkly micro-snowstorm. And best - I can reach the lower branches so Bossman won't have to help me decorate. Which he did this year, but I'd rather I wasn't dependent on him for it.
I'm joining Vikings Vinland in addition to Vikings North America. That way I can switch from being an honorary member of the (subsidiary) Austlandr reenactment group in North Carolina to a full member. They were sweet as could be to make me an honorary member, but still - I should be on their rolls and paying dues. I like those guys. They're ignorant as dirt when it comes to Viking culture, but they're really good fighters and know how to do a demo that mixes live steel and melees. And this way I can ensure that their clothing is ready should they travel to England for the Battle of Hastings. (They have trainers come over from The VIkings! UK to teach them battle techniques, so everyone observes the same safety rules. I really appreciate that. The Vikings North America does the same thing, as they are a sister-organisation. But the closest group of them is in Illinois.)
