In Which I Apologize for the Lack of Blogging

Update! I have no IV! My tests went up high enough that I'm still not perfect, but certainly better. I'm to finish up the supply of my new meds and then go in again for a final recheck, but I think I'm in the clear. Whoo!

Sooooo....I haven't been blogging a lot lately. The post I threw together yesterday was more of an attempt to keep things going than anything else (also, ceratopsids are awesome). I've got several posts up here in the ol' noggin, but they're not being put on virtual paper for one giant reason:

A recent doctor's visit informed me that my lung function tests (the barometer of a CF patient's health) were down 20%.

Twenty percent. Jesus Christ.

I'd also lost weight. Taken together, these symptoms indicate a bigger problem: a genuine lung infection, my first in eight years. Now, I should mention that last year, when I came back from London, my lung functions were also down quite a bit. My doctor suspected that I picked something up either on the plane or in Britain, but put me on Ciprofloxin and I got better. Six months later, I was back down, though not as much, and I was put back on Ciprofloxin. Last April, I was totally back to normal levels. My weight was up, my tests were great.

Five months later...I get a 20% drop and 3 kilos of lost weight? Ouch.

So my doctor put me on Ciprofloxin again and a new inhaled medication, which isn't so much medication as vaporized seawater (7% saline solution). He gave me a week to get better. A week later, my weight was up a kilo and my lung function tests were up 5%. That's not incredible, but it is progress. He gave me another week, so I'm going in again on Friday evening to see if I'm back to normal, or at least very close to it. If I'm not...well, it's time for a tune-up.

How do you give a CF patient a tune-up? You stick an IV in his or her arm and pump two kinds of medications in there twice a day (Tobramyacine & Ceptazadine) for between two and three weeks. It's more a hassle than anything else, but I wouldn't be surprised if I had to get one. I mean, eight years is a long time between IV's. What's this have to do with blogging? Well, I usually blog in the evenings, after work and chore and errands. Unfortunately, I'm on three different nebulizer-based medications this month: Pulmozyme, Saline, and Tobi. Altogether, it takes a full hour to do these meds, and I do Saline and Tobi twice a day. After my nightly doses, I have to clean and boil the nebulizers for the next day. So my evenings are basically shot for the month of October.

And when I'm not inhaling saltwater, I'm at the office or catching up on shows or games. Or, sometimes, drawing. I do get quite a bit of sketching done during my evening doses. None of it post-worthy, but you get the idea.

So there it is. Wish me luck for Friday, guys. Much as I wouldn't be surprised if it's IV time, it's not exactly fun to get one.