Thursday, March 13, 2014

The Journey

Okay, I went to see the radiologist today. Nice guy. I had a feeling none of the doctors with Hospice knew how bad my COPD is. We talked about radiology and he confirmed what I'd researched. It's not going to do a thing for me. In fact, there is the slightest possibility it would make things worse. He admitted there was some reaction to radiation and given were my cancer is (although they don't know what kind I've got) they could do some damage to the blood vessels. I don't need that. My right lung - where the cancer is - is the better of the two lungs, so we sure don't want to do anything to it.

My main question was - will radiation do anything for my COPD. The answer - NO! There is no treatment other than what I'm doing. I'm taking the appropriate meds, on O2, do the right exercises for the lungs. I can't do any more. So, it is what it is. The radiologist also indicated that the cancer is a slow grower. That's fine with me, but I also have to admit, the COPD is not improving. The doctors tell me, I can remain the same, get worse slowly, or fast, but no one knows. Don't you love it!

And, yes, this is probably because I had whooping cough as a child. Kinda like shingles as an adult if you had chicken pox as a child, expect shingles doesn't kill, COPD does.

I'm not unhappy with the doctor's report. I did not like the idea of driving south for a half an hour, being around a lot of sick people (the place was packed) then enduring radiation. That would have sapped a lot of my energy and I need it for stuff around the house. (In fact - I'm  really happy I don't have to go when I didn't like the idea to start with.) Am I terrible?

Allison

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