CANCER: The Enemy is ME

Today is a most auspicious day; for it is one year ago today that I finished chemotherapy.  Granted, I didn't know that at the time, as my lungs were beginning to show signs of wear and tear. But, November 16, 2012 was my very last dose of ABVD. THAT, my friends, is something to celebrate.

And on that note, I just returned from seeing my awesome lung guy, George.

I'm two weeks post lung biopsy. Two weeks on crazy steroids. And well life, seems to be ok. Sure, I'm not sleeping- at all. I AM a little bit crabby. And well, I am super thirsty. But I am able to get up, shower and put on clean clothes daily. That is something to truly celebrate.

Today I saw that my chest x-ray has improved:  a little less cotton candy in the lung area. Though I was truly troubled by what I suspect was my breast tissue that looked well, less then, um...pert. I kept that to myself though. 

George believes- still- that this is bleo toxicity, rearing it's incredibly ugly head- a year later. And the way he explained it all was like this: "Your body is attacking itself." Like I don't have enough problems...Apparently once this crap enters your system, it sort of re-codes your immune system. And in some patients this means that it all needs to be calmed down- through the use of steroids, essentially- until my immune system starts to read the tea leaves correctly. This could take a year. This could take a life time. But, well I didn't really have all that much going on any way, right?

And ultimately it all comes down to a guessing game. And for the next, oh 12 months or so, we'll be messing around with more pharmaceuticals until we find the sweet spot between drug dosages AND keeping my lungs happy and health. In other words, I'm going to be seeing a lot of George.

I suspect that to be a good thing, since I am rather fond of him- no, not in that way. Duh!

And, I also learned a few other things. On the horizon, we're a little concerned with diabetes- as apparently prolonged, high doses of this stuff can cause one to get "the sugars." That would certainly explain my thirst issue...And, apparently there's a small possibility that I have TB, btw. Small because I don't fit the "profile" and small because I haven't been hanging out in Asia very much lately. 

(Editors note: George just called. I'm TB and diabetes free. And apparently I am to eat more bananas.) 

So, phew! Because seriously, I have shit to do and too many shoes to wear to be quarantined.