Blue Devils and FEV1, oh my!

What's up my babies?

It has been around 3 weeks since I last posted. I guess I just sort of lost my "blogging mojo." I can't really remember everything that has been going on since I last wrote, off the top of my head. So, this will probably be a short post and I may end up coming back and adding to it or doing another post later on as I remember more details over the last 3 weeks or so.

The last few days I'd been running a fever, so I called Ken. (coordinator) And he said it would be best for me to go to chapel hill for them to see me. So that's what I did today. Then ironically, today I didn't even have any fever at all. Go figure! But, I'm glad I went b/c it gave me a chance to really talk to the doctor about my joint pain. (knees and ankles) No one seems to be taking me seriously. Or they think that I'm over exaggerating the pain, just being lazy. Which is soooo not the case! It seriously hurts bad with each step. And my feet and ankles swell and get so stiff. Today, I saw Dr. Yankaskas. I love him, he's very thorough. He decided that the pain is probably just inflammation and tomorrow I will start 30 mg of Prednisone every day for 5 days, then go back to my maitenece dose of 15 mg every other day. The idea is to test and see if the higher doses of prednisone helps the pain. If it does, then they will know it's just inflammation and nothing more serious and they will decide how to treat it, with what medicine. I'm not overly excited about them upping my prednisone to 30 mg for 5 days, but hey, if it helps to find out what is going on with my joints, then I guess it will be worth it!

Also, I talked to him (the dr.) about my weight and why I haven't started shedding these extra pounds yet. He agreed that I should have started slimming down by now. And that it's clear that I'm having issues with fluid retention. So, he upped my usual lasix dosage of 40 mg 2 times a day to 80 mg 2 times a day. He said that should help and I should start to slim down. He said that it looked like I could have some fluid in one of my lungs, and if that's the case, then the extra lasix should help that resolve itself as well. *fingers crossed* I have every confidence in Dr. Yank. He's always been very thorough when treating me and getting to the root of my problems. He won't stop until he figures out the problem and has solved it.

Good news - My PFT's were up! My FEV1 last time had dropped back down 3% to 57% from my high of 60%. Well today my FEV1 was back up to 60%!!!!! Yay!!! that made me feel a little better. But, also worries me a bit, b/c I kind of feel like I'm never gonna get past 60%!!!!! *sigh*

Last night was an awesome night. I watched the Duke vs. Butler game. (the NCAA championship) It was such a great game. Very stressful though! Butler definitely gave Duke a challenge. But, in the end, my boys pulled it off, like I knew they would! Go duke! I'm so happy we are finally champs again!!! :)

Well, that's all I can think of for right now. I may post again if i think of anything else going on to share with my loyal followers! :) Peace bitches! lol