To those of you who have contacted me to see how I am doing, thank you, it meant more than I can tell you. I am doing better but sitting upright, scrunched over a computer is not something I can handle for very long and I am still finishing the inventory on the house. I think it is very close to being completed.
I went to the pulmonologist ten days ago, I had a pulmonary function test, but the machine malfunctioned so they were not able to get results. They will repeat it at my next appointment which is not until May 18th. I did have an overnight oximeter but I have not heard anything. The pulmonologist said that the combination of RA and emphysema is difficult since it is two autoimmune diseases at once. She believes that I have a genetic form of emphysema (I do not think that means that I would have gotten it even if I did not smoke). It is the same form of emphysema that my sister has, it is called Bullous Emphysema and a google search will reveal that it is sometimes referred to as Vanishing Lung Syndrome, sounds happy, doesn’t it? They did a blood test to determine if it is genetic but those results take weeks to receive. She did start me on a new inhaler, Spiriva, in a new form, it is delivered as a mist now instead of a powder. She said that when I was put on Symbicort that it absolutely would have caused a flare in my arthritis (which it did, thank you so much insurance company). It is not recommended to be used with people who have RA. She said that I have rapidly advancing scoliosis which she feels is related to my osteoporosis. THAT, and the broken ribs are putting more pressure on my lower lungs and the emphysema is stopping air flow at the top. I came home and felt like I had been flattened. I had just returned from a whirlwind trip to Charlotte that was grueling to say the least, I packed things and moved boxes that I should never have done but there were not enough people to get things done in the time we had. The U-Haul was not large enough for some items and some things that were loaded on were things I would have preferred to leave there but it was chaotic, to say the least. I rode back to Lexington, VA with my brother in the truck so he would not have to ride alone. Needless to say, it was not comfortable. We got back here and had to unload the truck as quickly as possible so that my brother and my cousin and another elderly cousin, could get back on the road to Rochester, NY. Again, there was a lot of lifting to do, I limited myself but I could not avoid it all while the people who were there to “help” stood around with their hands in their pockets on my dime. Once the truck was unloaded and returned, they were on their way and the storage units were packed. We had to rent an additional one for things I would really rather sell than pay storage to keep. Oh well. After all that and the pulmonologist, I had to work for the next two days. There are a couple of particularly unmotivated people where I work and both of them are working closing with me until the end of the semester. Neither one of them can lift…clearly neither can I, difference is, I have documentation of that. It’s just incredibly frustrating and neither of my bosses will address the situation so I am left to ask students for help at the end of the shift. They are very happy to help but it is not right, it should not happen. As a result, I come home from work on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, do what I HAVE to do at home and then pretty much collapse. I wake up in time to do it all over again. Soon it will all be over because we are at the end of the semester so it’s not going to be much longer.
I am looking forward to the trip to Nashville, the following weekend, my son and his fiancée are getting married, a huge surprise but a happy one. Two days later, I leave for Rochester, NY for a ten day trip, it is the Memorial Service for my cousin from Charlotte who died a few months ago and whose apartment we cleaned out. I am hoping to get a small computer desk and a desk chair from a student so that I can use the computer without scrunching myself over on the bed to type on the laptop.
I WILL be back, I will start commenting again and, in the meantime, my quit is solid as I hope all of yours are.
Love, Ellen
