Unclean, wah

Yesterday I went in for a CT scan to see if the inflammation in my lungs had disappeared. I can't start the transplant process with any kind of infection in there, especially if it's a fungal infection. Unfortunately, the inflammation is slightly smaller but hasn't disappeared. At this rate it will take months to disappear on its own. It's not getting worse, however, which is good. The assumption is that my immune system is basically keeping it at bay. The next step will probably be a biopsy so that we can figure out exactly what it is and treat it properly. So far I've only been on general antibiotics. The biopsy involves either sticking a needle through the lungs to see if they can hit the area of inflammation, or going in through the bronchial tubes. Neither sounds very appealing. I was kind of bummed when I saw the inflammation since I was feeling so well and fully expected it to be gone. I'm fine with doing biopsies and tests, but sometimes you have to get yourself mentally psyched up for these things, and I really wasn't expecting to have to do it. So I was a little freaked out when I first heard the news. It's also a bummer since it will likely delay the transplant progress yet again by another month or so. I think I was mostly bummed about this part, since I get frustrated when things don't go smoothly. So I moped around for a while yesterday but I think I feel mostly OK about it now. The next step is to coordinate with the SCCA to see what they want to do since it's their call now, as I'll be under their care starting today.

Oh, I got copies of the x-rays on CD and will post some pictures online so you can see what we're talking about. It's cool, the CT scan is made up of hundreds of little x-ray slices, and the CD includes software to view the slices, so you can use your mousewheel to zoom back and forth through the body. Neat stuff.

Last night and this morning it snowed a bunch, which always puts me in a good mood, so maybe that was my consolation prize :)