Well that didn't exactly go as planned.
During the last week I've struggled with off and on low grade fevers. I've been pretty wiped out with headaches, body ache, and fatigue, but despite lots of testing we didn't see a clear explanation. The fever subsided after a few days, and I was hopeful that it was just one of those weird random things that goes away on its own. After 5 fever free days, however, the fever suddenly returned with a vengeance. I started off at 99.4 Tuesday morning, and my temperature slowly climbed all day. Though I was in touch with my transplant team throughout the day, it was only at 5pm that my temperature finally hit 100.4. They previously told me to call if it got that high, so I called the after hours number, and after consulting with my doctor I was off to the ER to figure out what the heck was going on.
As usual the ER was a tedious waiting game. Once I got to the back we did All The Testing: bloodwork, Covid test, viral swab, chest and abdominal CT scans. And finally we found an explanation. Despite doing 10 days of IV antibiotics in June, and another 3 weeks in July, I somehow have pneumonia in both the upper and lower lobes on the right side. Which is super weird, because I haven't been coughing, or particularly congested, or short of breath. If it wasn't for the fever, I wouldn't have even known anything was wrong! My doctor thinks that I once again have narrowed airways, only this time they're preventing me from clearing out mucus, which is causing pneumonia. Additionally, my sputum culture last week still showed Pseudomonas despite weeks of IV antibiotics. Apparently Pseudomonas REALLY loves me! If narrowed airways are preventing me from clearing out secretions, that allows the Pseudomonas to just hang out in my lungs and keep making problems. And Pseudomonas is LONG overdue for an eviction!
Currently I'm still in the ER waiting for a bed at my old stomping grounds, Silver(stein) 11. I'm also on the list to get a bronch today to open up my airways and clear things out. It probably won't happen until later in the afternoon since I'm an add on, which is unfortunate as I'm not allowed to eat or drink anything until after the procedure. Aside from that, the plan is to set me up with another round of antibiotics, get a new long term IV, and send me home within a few days to finish up on home infusion.
My summer is REALLY sucking. I'm grateful that
I don't deal with these issues anywhere near as often as I did pre-transplant,
but it's still been a very draining couple months. Here's hoping that Pseudomonas
finally gets the message goes away for good!
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