Low WBC, fevers, night sweats, and so on

[Bucky]

Genko - how are you today?

I'm glad they have determined you do not have TB.  I'm sure you are very happy to be out of isolation. 

Will you still be taking a break from your prison work until they determine exactly what is going on with you (if they can EVEN figure that out)?

I hope you have a good weekend and that your cough and night sweats are getting better.

Hugs,
Bucky

[genko_b]

Hi Bucky:

I'm feeling much stronger today; thanks for asking. The pulmonologist said she would call with what results she had at the end of the week, so I'm hoping to learn more today.

When I met with the rheumatologist earlier this week, he said he was "liking" a diagnosis of MAC (mycobacterium avium complex) for me, but is of course waiting for the results along with the rest of us. The CT scan of my lungs certainly had a similar appearance to pictures of CT scans of MAC lungs, at least to my untrained eye.

The fever is gone but still have the night sweats, which is getting very old - too much laundry.

I did get outside briefly yesterday to check out my garden. The crocuses and snow drops are beginning to bloom, along with several of the hellebores. I'm not well enough yet to work in the garden, and want to wait until we know what the infection is anyway. BUt it was nice to get out there and smell the dirt.

Take care,

Genko

[genko_b]

I just got off the phone from talking with the pulmonologist. She says that absolutely nothing of an infectious nature has shown up on any of the cultures. The CT scan of my lungs, and the appearance of the tissue biopsies she took, are consistent with lung injury due to methotrexate, and so she is naming it methotrexate lung disease now. The remedy is to stop taking methotrexate, which I had already done weeks ago.

I'll see her again February 27 and have pulmonary function tests done, to compare with baseline studies that were done 5 years ago. In 3 months they will do another CT scan to see if the injured tissue is healing at all. It will be at least a year before we know how much lung function I will recover. She is hopeful we caught it in time to avoid too much scarring (pulmonary fibrosis), but realistically there is likely to be some tissue loss, since both lungs were involved in their entirety.

Now I just have to work on getting my strength back - it will be a long haul.

Genko