The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

6/22/17 – As I am coming up on 9 years of my Adventure it is safe to say that every cloud has a silver lining…. and yes, possibly every silver lining has a cloud. It all comes down to these character-building experiences we live through every day.

I have been dealing with a cough and shortness of breath since March. I haven’t written about it because I had thought it was my typical winter to spring cold with a topping of allergies but it just wouldn’t go away. I have been on a bunch of meds and have seen a few different specialists and have had chest x-rays, a chest CT and a CT of my sinuses that showed nothing. All I can say is that no matter what we did I had no relief. But as my world goes the day arrived that I felt better and no one can tell me why I was sick and why I feel better… it just happens.

 So why title this posting after a Clint Eastwood western? I have had a both great and confusing week. On Tuesday, June 20^th I had my periodic PET scan and met with Dr. Goy for results. My results were simply great. There is no sign of MCL. That is certainly the GOOD!

BUT… as we were reviewing the PET, Dr. Goy expressed concern that there was something showing in my lung… it’s definitely not Lymphoma… but what is it? Could I have had pneumonia? Could it be that my lungs have scaring from my years of treatment? Could it be APT (Acute Pulmonary Toxicity)? Who knows! But either way this was strange to hear being I was told that my recent CT’s and X-Rays of my chest showed nothing. I am having another CT of the chest in a couple of weeks to see if anything has changed.  This is the BAD simply because I do not like foreign things showing up in my scans and my lungs.

Today, Thursday, June 22 I met with a Pulmonary doctor to check my lungs. I had a number of Pulmonary tests, which for the most part came back as normal. The one negative was that it showed I have below normal air intake. We did review the PET scan side by side with the CT from a few weeks ago and is was very clear that whatever is showing on my PET was not there a few weeks ago. This is just strange. When I was feeling very sick nothing showed in scans but when I am feeling better something is showing in the scans. This confusing deployment is what I will call the UGLY.

This all amounts to what I have been saying for a long time now… it is so important to keep positive. So many times I have dealt with challenges… and for some reason I always seem to get passed them. I am sure this will be the same.

My upcoming appointments are as follows:

July 6^th – CT Scan

July 11^th – Follow up with Transplant team

July 13^th – Follow up with Dr. Goy

July 20^th – Follow up with Pulmonary doctor

God has been very good to me. He has showered me with a great family, friends and has answered many prayers. I certainly have nothing to fear.

Here is a YouTube link to a fantastic song by Chris Tomlin called “Whom Shall I Fear (The God of Angel Armies)” that does a great job explaining how I feel. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0gu0nOaFsI

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

Psalm 27:1

More to come…

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