Getting there

As of last week my pulmonary function numbers were back to baseline, though not QUITE at their highest. I wasn’t feeling as good as I usually do after 3 weeks of IV antibiotics, but my doctor didn’t think it was worth doing an additional week, since I did improve and the standard for treatment is 10-21 days. We decided to keep the PICC line in for 2 more weeks though and continue IV hydration as needed. If I maintain lung function after 2 weeks, we’ll pull the PICC line; if I start to slide, we’ll look into putting in a port, which is a surgically implanted, permanent IV. The advantage of a port is we can easily access it whenever I need IV hydration or antibiotics without having to put in a PICC line every time. The disadvantage is that it has a risk of blood clots, just like a PICC line, and everyone is anxious after the blood clot drama in December. Even if I hold on for the next 2 weeks though, I’m pretty sure I’ll be getting a port sometime soon. It’s just not feasible to keep putting in a PICC line every few months, and the port will be far more convenient.

I’m still very tired, though my endurance seems to be slowly improving. My new thing is I’ve been getting a lot of headaches recently, which isn’t fun. I don’t know if it’s because I haven’t gotten allergy shots while sick and seasonal allergies are creeping back up on me, or if my sinuses are acting up again and it’s time for another round of sinus surgery. I’ll be resuming allergy shots soon, and if that doesn’t help I’ll follow up with my ENT.

Despite all this, I’ve been fortunate to have a bunch of visitors, and have been able to get out occasionally for some low-key fun. Hopefully I will continue feeling better and will manage to be a semi-normal person for at least part of the summer. My recovery has been slower than usual, but I AM recovering, and hopefully I’ll be able to stay away from respiratory infections and hold it together for more than a few weeks this time around. Fingers crossed!