Ever since Christmas I've had an infection that has increased and decreased in strength depending on the week but it's never really gone away. Or maybe I did get over my Christmas cold but a week later I was sick again. This has not been my winter for staying healthy. I'm paranoid about being near people who are sick but it's hard to avoid everyone.

This latest round of infection went directly to my chest and has stayed there for about a month now.  I started on antibiotics almost immediately but since I still have a deep cough that isn't clearing up, I'm now on increased levels of prednisone for 10 days. I'm always on a bit of prednisone but now I'm up to 30mg a day which is a lot. For reference, I was on 20mg immediately post-transplant and had to be on 50mg for 5 days during each of my chemo cycles.

I'm six days in and I'm starting to feel the full effects of the steroid. My blood sugar levels are high, my appetite is through the roof, and I spend the afternoons quite jittery. I hope this works to get rid of the cough because the next step is probably aerosol masks.

Thankfully my energy bounced back so I've been able to still be active and mostly do what I want, it's just this cough that I can't seem to shake. I'm extra paranoid when my immune system is lower that I'm going to catch something else. Speaking of, I got my shingles vaccine last week so at least I won't be catching that from anyone any time soon. My doctor had to convince the pharmacist that it was necessary to give it to me. She was quite hesitant because I'm under 50 but after several phone calls I finally got it. It's generally not a life or death viral infection but I've read it can be quite painful so it's best if I can avoid it if possible.