Jan Curran Events

The Diagnosis...

Got one, finally.

Emphysema.

Not the greatest but sure beats the hell out of cancer, which they were looking for and thankfully didn't find.

I'm on oxygen 24/7, using a wheel chair and taking some inhalors which just set me back $548.29 and that is with Medicare Part D insurance , too.!  Gotta see if I can get on some free program or will go broke in a month or two.

Haven't been able to leave my apartment, can't drag the oxygen down the hall and push a walker or a wheelchair all at the same time. That's a problem to be solved and soon!

See the doc again on Friday and then on the 13 will have a pulmonary function test and the in Sept start a program of pulmonary rehab  at the hospital to learn breathing and get some strength back in my legs.

Having night sweats and no one has an answer as to why, also no answer as to why two fingers went numb and one eyelid swells. 

Need to get back to the dentist or will be gumming food for ever more.  Had to cancel two appointments cus of all this lung stuff and all the tests and biopsies  I have been having. I need my new crowns and partial!!

Okay, back to bed now.

Thanks for all your good wishes and prayers. Know they helped.

~ Jan

The Saga...

Okay, here we are days, or is it weeks later and I am still down and out, and I mean really down and out!

My fatigue went from oh so tired, to couldn't get out of bed.. my allergy cough got worse, finally when I was gasping for breath I took myself over to the hospital in Oxnard.

I had bronchitis.. okay an RX prescribed for five days. Chest xrays showed some fluid around the lung.  Dr. recommended a lung specalist.  He couldn't see me for two days, so gasped along waiting for that.

Was in bad shape so son Lee had to come and take me, we used a borrrowed walker for me to walk but then couldn't walk so sat on it and Lee pushed it like a wheel chair.  Lung guy schedules me for the next day at the hospital, drain that fluid and then I should be good as new again. 

WRONG.

I continued to get worse.  Saw the lung man for follow up and he was surprised that now I was REALLY gasping for breath could barely walk blah blah blah.  Scheduled me for another procedure the  next day --- go in and take a few biopsies where the PET scan had indicated some " activity" , plus a lot of blood work to rule out things like Valley Fever.

Went through that procedure, had some oxygen which helped me breath -- they knocked me out so not sure what else went on.

Next day -- more of the feeling worse.  Couldn't make it down the hall to go get food in the dining room, or even barely get out of my bed. Never got dressed.

Now we are up to last Friday and me back at the hospital again to see the oncologist... Karen takes me an we borrow a wheel chair to use.  Dr. says I am dehydrated so hook me up to an IV for a few hours and  also put me on oxygen.

No diagnosis yet on what the heck is going on to make me so weak and out of breath.

Dr. orders me a wheelchair to call my own and home oxygen, too, and I'm to stay on the oxygen 24 hours a day.  Some tech delivers it all Friday night...  I sleep with the oxygen on.

Saturday spend the day mostly in bed and mostly on oxygen and mostly feeling like shit.

Today is Sunday and it has been just like Saturday -- never had the energy to get dressed, sleep a lot.  Yeah, I know, drink liquids.

See the lung dr on Tuesday with results from procedures.  Karen will take me.  See the oncologist on Friday and not sure who is taking me yet - -probably Lee since Karen will be in Texas for a National Softball tournament.

So there you have it... no answers, a lot of questions and me wondering what in the word is going on and why I am not getting any better.

Keep good thoughts, toss in a prayer or two -- I'll let you know what the docs say next week.  Maybe it is some exotic virus and not anything that begings with a C.

Today must be Tuesday...

I swear, I've lost a week of my life thanks to the dental work.  I did fine with the extraction, and the more than two hours in the chair - but the next day,  I could barely get out of bed , legs like jello , extreme fatigue, jaw felt like Tyson had hit me.  Was sure by the next day I would be fine.  Well, here it is a week later and today is the first day I have woken up feeling half way normal ,and that ain't all that good, either. 

I could have used a few slaves or caregivers to hover over me -- bring me meals, do my laundry, etc.. how hard the simple things tend to be when you just can't function so well.

When I felt well enough, I got on here and read stories, looked at weather pages, stock pages, and the celebrity sites, too... just no brainer things to help me stay relaxed a bit.  I'm sure you have noticed what I have noticed.  If you are a movie star, your children never walk , you lug them, and they can be 6 years old and big kids, and then you have a security person  lug them. I saw shots of Brad Pitt with a two year old under one of this arms , a three year old under the other. What, they can't walk?  Then photos of his six year old son being carried by some hired person... think about it, how often do you see the kids of stars having their feet on the ground, walking? Suri Cruise is always being toted, along with her bottle at age 2... Violet Aflect never walks ---  such a stupid subject, but when you don't feel well, those kinds of interesting observations help pass the time.

No, the Goleta fire is not that close to us, however the wind blew so much ash and soot all over my car that when I went to drive it yesterday the windows were so coated I could barely see and had to go to the car wash.  Imagine it isn't doing any wonders for my allergies, either...

I got a new energy drink and it isn't too chalk like. It is the new Ensure Smoothie.  I mixed it with some ice cream and then didn't notice the chalk after taste. I'm trying to give myself some of the nutrients  I am sure I am missing with the lousy food here and maybe, just maybe, it will give me some needed energy, too.

Both of my sons have new books coming out in a few weeks..  a MONK for Lee, a BURN NOTICE for Tod. They are going to have a joint book signing in Thousand Oaks which isn't that far from here, so I will go to that. They have a lot of signings all over the West, so check their blogs to get the dates. Lee is leegoldberg.com and Tod is todgoldberg.com.

Okay, I am going to end this boring post now, get some coffee and hope to get going like a normal person and less like some little old lady who just sleep all the time.