Sunday, December 29, 2024

Not just a cold

Well, it’s not just a cold. It’s RSV.
 
My transplant team doesn’t mess around with any signs of infection, so even though my symptoms weren’t too bad to start with, they brought me in for a viral swab on Tuesday. We got the results on Thursday, and it turns out I have RSV. Unfortunately there isn’t much they can do for RSV aside from symptom management. So I’m taking Mucinex, and doing nebulizers twice a day, and trying to stay super hydrated. Normally they would have also given me steroids, but they don’t want to do that since I still have an open wound, and steroids can impede healing. Instead they prescribed an antiviral, which I started yesterday.
 
Things have honestly been pretty pathetic around here. Katherine is also sick, and we assume she also has RSV. She’s been utterly miserable and says it’s the worst cold she’s had in her entire life. My symptoms were more manageable to start with, but over the last few days I’ve had a significant increase in both head and chest congestion. Though I can feel the congestion rattling around in my chest, I’m having a REALLY hard time getting any of it out. I already have trouble clearing congestion due to my airways narrowing post-transplant, and I have a feeling they’re even narrower now thanks to the RSV. It’s pretty uncomfortable, and I had a hard time sleeping last night because I kept feeling like I was choking on mucus. Today has been a little easier, so hopefully I’m past the worst of it. Fortunately I haven’t had any fever and my oxygen levels have remained stable, so maybe I’ll manage to stay out of the hospital and finish weathering it at home.
 
RSV would be a lot even under the best of circumstances. But I’m also dealing with the wound vac and an exhausting infusion schedule. I also have a busy week coming up, with appointments with the plastic surgeon as well as with Infectious Disease. It really is A LOT to deal with all at once, and I’m feeling pretty beat down. I feel like after having a couple years where things were relatively quiet medically, I’m now making up for it all at once! Maybe this week I’ll finally get some answers as to when I can be done with the wound vac and the IV antibiotics and start getting back to some semblance of normalcy!

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