Friday, April 24, 2009

Fungus continued: fixable but frustrating

The tale of the fungal nodule continues, getting more confusing each day.

They took me off the IV antifungal Ambisome after one day and put me on another, more kidney-friendly one, Micafungin. They also put me back on an antibiotic, Ceftaz, in case there is some bacterial involvment. 

Meanwhile, since the nodule has gotten quite a bit bigger, they want to be more aggressive about treatment. Probably. Possibly. Yesterday, Dr. Jacobson, the attending in charge of my daily-care team, and Heidi, one of the PAs, said someone from thoracic surgery would come in yesterday and tell me the plan. Nobody came, except for a doctor from Infectious Diseases (ID) who echoed that thoracic would tell me my options.

A young doctor from thoracic showed up today and said these were my options: needle biopsy, bronchoscopy and, last resort, surgery (which I had six years ago and which has an agonizing recovery period.) Also, I need platelets (I'm down to 6) but Heidi had said they were going to hold off in case I need them in advance of a procedure. The doctor from thoracic said they weren't doing anything that fast and that I should get my platelets. And she said possibly they might do nothing other than check if the new anti-fungal is working.

Heidi came in and said no, they were going to hold the platelets, at least until they expire on Sunday or if I start actively bleeding. She basically said to ignore the young doctor from thoracic, who was probably just a resident or a fellow doing advance work. About half an hour later, the doctor from thoracic came back in and said she had looked at the film and hadn't realized how large the mass had grown, so they should probably proceed at least with the needle biopsy, maybe even tomorrow. She reiterated that I should get the platelets. At this point, I'm not getting them today. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

"Don't lose sleep over this," she said in conclusion.

I already asked a couple of doctors if they thought it was lung cancer, and got a decisive no.

So it's fixable but frustrating. I was hoping to get some distance, and here I am back in the hospital, with the world passing by.

But hey, I'm here, and in many ways I'm getting stronger every day. So go figure. I hope to at least find out the plan tomorrow, because the back-and-forth makes it all worse. 

9 comments:

Daria said...

Yes the back and forth is awful ... thinking of you.

Susan C said...

"Fixable but frustrating" seems to sum up your situation perfectly.

Rats! I was hoping you'd get sprung this weekend.

Susan C said...

PS I'm glad you brought that lamp.

susiegb said...

Frustrating and boring! Make that dreary! I'm glad you can feel that you're getting stronger - at least that's a positive. And of course as you say, you are in the right place, but we all wish your 'right place' was safely back home!

Anyway, 'this too shall pass', and all that ... Hope it passes by really soon and you're back to the real work of getting strong and back on the tennis court!

Nelle said...

Ronni,
Did you have lung surgery six years ago? I know that has a long recovery period and I hope that you won't need it. I remembered about the lamp. My Dad is having such a difficult adjustment going to rehab post stroke I am going to take him some personal things to put in his room. You often have bits of information that are so helpful to others. I sure hope they find something to knock that fungus out completely so you won't have to deal with it. Going to be a hot weekend here. Take care.

Howard said...

Ronni,

Sorry that fungus has you in waffle mode. Not fun. But you sound good and I'm happy to know you're feeling stronger. If there are any audio books I can post for you, let me know. Do you have an iTunes account?

H

Anonymous said...

And you weren't even gardening! Where does this darned fungal ball come from? Does it hide in a closet and creep up at you in the middle of the night? What the heck!!!! I'm sorry to hear about this trite set back. You sound darned positive though, that will help you get past this bump in the plan. Here's hoping it'll just go away with some medicine so you can get back to your sister's and relax... Here's more positive energy towards getting back to your healthy self- ommmm
Mieke

Ronni Gordon said...

Howard: Thanks for the offer of the audio books. Luckily, I'm able to concentrate on reading, so I have a lot of books that are keeping me busy. But thanks for thinking of me!

pam said...

Dearest Ronni,

the world could never pass you by! so frustrating, but, as you said, fixable --
you are so admirably patient!
yet, before you know it,
you will be running
on terra firma,
fleet-footed and free...
xop