Can't Fight This Feeling

The last few days I have been coughing.  I had a few coughs in the morning on Tuesday, but I started noticing it more on Wednesday.  I didn’t think too much of it right away because last Saturday I had a stuffy nose, my ears felt plugged and my whole head just had that congested feeling.  So when I had a couple coughs I assumed it was from all of that. When it didn’t go away by Wednesday I was getting a little worried.  Jason was even more worried.  He immediately said to me, “I think you are rejecting.”  I told him it is probably just a cold or something, but to err on the side of caution I called my doctor.  I talked to the coordinator and we came up with a plan to go to my local CF lung center to get a viral swab.  I immediately called them up and made an appointment for Friday.  It was a good idea I did too because on Thursday it seemed worse.  I was coughing throughout PT and my physical therapist was asking me about it.  On a good note, I am still improving there.  After PT I went for massage and I was able to use my walker and walk in.  The receptionists and my massage therapist were all so excited to see me walking!

Yesterday Jason and I went into the Lung Center like scheduled.  I did a set of PFT’s and then met with my doctor.  My PFT’s are down to 63%. The lung center was happy and excited to see that.  They were a huge improvement from when they saw me last which was before my transplant.  Jason and I however were not happy to see these numbers at all.  Not that they came as a total surprise to us though.  On Thursday I was using my peak flow meter that measures FEV1.  I saw that my PFT’s dropped that low.  The numbers that the flow meter said Thursday matched the numbers at the hospital on Friday.  The thing is very accurate.  The device gives me my actual flow numbers.  I then looked at my PFT’s from the hospital to see what is predicted of me and then I divide the two numbers to get my percentage.  It is a nice tool to have at home.  After we talked about the PFT’s and caught up on a few other things my doctor did the swab.  She did a swab in my nose and then one for the back of my throat.  This is to see if I have any viral or bacterial infections.  She said she would fax everything over to NY.  We had to wait on the cultures obviously, but we should have all the results in by Monday.

Later that day I was called by the Lung Transplant center.  I was told that a bronchoscopy was scheduled for Wednesday November 6 at 3:00.  They wanted to squeeze me in to try and find out what is going on.  The bronch will give a better a picture than a swab.  She can check and see if I am rejecting and also take some fluid to see if anything is growing.  The symptoms of rejection and infection are very similar so we are covering all the bases.  I am a little nervous.  I am scared that I am rejecting again.  I keep telling myself that it is just a cold, but Jason really seems to think I am rejecting.  I hope he is wrong.  I know if it is rejection they will put me on high doses of steroids and it will most likely be fine.  That does not make me feel any better though.  I can only have rejection so many times until there is nothing they can do for me.  Thinking about it is freaking me out a little.  Although I am trying to stay positive, I am scared too.  I guess we will find out Wednesday.