Fungual infection.

I've had a bit of a pity-party day after getting lots of calls from the Toronto and Halifax teams. To start, I've been feeling progressively worse the past few days, coughing more and actually getting up some gross stuff. I'm still amazed at how different my cough is than before the transplant. It kind of scares me now. After coughing a bit yesterday and feeling generally tired, I called everyone and left messages of 'do you know my bronch results? please send medication!.'

My calls were all returned around the same time this afternoon who said first thing  "I got your message and I know why you're sick!" Yay!!...??? Turns out that with the bronch samples that they took and by testing the bronch wash (the part where they pump salt water in the lungs and suck it out to study it), they found a fungal infection in my lungs. Two different types actually. Urgh!

The fungal type is one often found in soil but it could also be found in mold, dust, construction areas, veggies, and pretty much everywhere. It's basically everywhere and is most often found in people with respiratory illnesses and people with low immune systems. Double win for me. 

So they're starting me on an antifungal and an antibiotic which I will start as soon as the pharmacy can get them in. What followed the original call was a bunch of calls to and from the pharmacy and the Halifax clinic to explain to me the medication, dosage, and how they both interact with all my other drugs.

The anti-fungal increases the potency of a lot of my anti-rejection medication that I'll now have to halve. It also messes around with my blood thinners which is a fun time. The antibiotic can't be taken with any sort of multivitamin or calcium otherwise it's basically ineffective so this is going to be a fun adjustment with medication.  Because of all this, I have to return to getting my blood work taken weekly. The 'taken only monthly' dream lasted an entire week.

My blood sugars are also still very, very high so I also spent a lot of time on the phone with the dietitian who decided that I should double my insulin intake. She thinks its so high from the infection and the accumulation of the steroids over time. I'm going to double my dose for now but my guess is that I'll soon be on a short-term one to take as well. More needles.

In other news, I stress baked, frosted, and ate a bunch of cupcakes this afternoon and stress-knitted the end of a scarf. So that was productive. If it wasn't so humid and rainy, I probably would've gone on a stress-bike ride. It's been a stressful day.