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> Breath of Life
> Cystic Fibrosis and Me: A Personal Journey
I seem to have lost my links to other CF blogs. If you want yours added, give me an email.
Thu, Mar 30 2006
Postdated - after antibiotics
After two weeks on oral antibiotics and very high steroids, my lung function has
returned to the best it has been for 2-3 years, at 3.6 / 5.7. Unfortunately, it
has become clear to me that the real solution was the steroids not the antibiotics.
I have been slowly dropping my steroids, blissfully thinking "wow, no side
effects" when all along my ABPA was getting worse and worse. That is, the steroids
were restricting my white blood cells which cause a strong asthmatic reaction when
they fight a relatively painless fungus called Aspergillus. This reaction was causing
me to be strongly short of breath.
However, 20mg of steroids every day has a price, namely my diabetes. Prednisolone
raises the blood sugars of anyone who takes them, and in combination with diabetes
it sends control down the pan. I was taking 40 units of insulin for many days, and
I was still going high.
The good news is that I was deemed just about fit enough to go on our choir trip
to Holland, as long as I was careful. After much worry, I had two days to pack and
get all my bits together. There was no time, however, to get my European health
card (new since my last trip abroad two years ago). I wasn't the only one however!
by Picks-at-Flies
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Thu, Mar 16 2006
Postdated - To IV or not
My port failed to flush on Friday, so on Monday I went in to run some fluid by it.
At the same time they did some lung function tests - 1.7 / 4.5 (from memory, may
be slightly out). That is probably the worst lung function I have ever had so I
immediately bumped my steroids and went on IVs... except that I had no intravenous
access, except through my leg. Technically, a line would have worked, but a few
hours down the line it would be killing me and I could not get through 2 weeks of
having a new venflon every day.
I had an X-Ray yesterday, which showed that once more the catheter (tube) of my
port had been sucked into my jugular. This one was a bit longer, so it had looped
up there (hence the failure to flush) and a tail was still sticking down into the
correct vein.
So they tried putting some liquid down my port to clear it... no effect. This morning
I had my first proper operation that I can remember , going under local anaesthetic
while a nice but imperious surgeon shoved a series of very very long wires up through
a vein in my groin ("nothing I have never seen before"), carefully past
my heart to whichever vein the end of my port was in, all the while using an X-Ray
machine to track them all. No success, and I have a tiny bruise on my groin as my
only memento. The surgeon did suggest that I have an exceptionally large jugular
on that side, although people often have one jugular larger than the other, and
that it was just blood flow slowly dragging the catheter.
My port then, and any IVs, will have to wait until the (other) surgeons can take
a proper look at my port (and probably put a new one in on the other side). In the
mean time, I will take oral antibiotics and continue with the high steroids.
by Picks-at-Flies
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