Scattered Thoughts . . .

M y oncologist scheduled a few more appointments for me over the past couple of days.   I'm now scheduled to head up to the hospital on March 8th.  We'll head to the lab first for some bloodwork and then we head to Oncology for the bone marrow biopsy procedure.  I have some extra medications to take a couple of hours before the procedure too but that has already been discussed with a plan in place and medications already on hand.   A few weeks later, I have a video visit with my oncologist to discuss which direction to go with this.  She did point out, however, that if we find any serious incidental findings in the bone marrow biopsy then we would meet much sooner.  She actually mentioned that multiple times when we last spoke which is probably a hint that she suspects something else could be amiss.   My primary care doctor also set me up for a FITS Colon Screening test in late February.  That is so simple that it is not even worth mentioning.  The most problematic part of that

W e had some pretty consistent furnace problems a few days ago.  We had to call in a service technician after-hours and then he had to return with the more parts the following day.   We're still experiencing a very intermittent problem though that is causing the ignition to kick on again while running.  We have another visit scheduled as soon as possible which isn't until next Thursday.  They are scheduling a week out!   My theory is that it sounds like the burner runs out of fuel for a split second and the ignition kicks on (we hear it click on)...  then burning starts again and the ignition kicks off (we hear a dull thump and another click).  This all happens in a split second.  So, maybe there are some small scattered air bubbles getting in the line intermittently?  Or a partially sooty photocell?  Or, is it possible that the oil control ignition is faulty?  The service technician had to replace our pump along with a couple of other things but replacing the pump required ble

Yesterday, for the most part, was a better day, healthwise, than I've had in a long while.  I still did have problems at one point last night but, overall, it was my best health day since before my hospital visit.   I had another relatively short and mild episode of breathing difficulty last night.  I was cooking dinner and had some breathing issues.  I definitely can't take the heat in the kitchen!  I do need to prepare meals though so I try to minimize my health problems by leaving the kitchen while I'm cooking.  I return a couple of minutes later to check on the meal, then leave again to the living room where it is cooler.  Regardless, I still ended up having some breathing issues last night...  again. I took some extra medications again before heading the bed and I think that helped.  I didn't have any breathing problems after that.  Another plus was that the medication I took makes me drowsy so I ended up sleeping through the night.  Actually, I slept for about 11

My night through the night was quite lousy last night.  We went to bed at around 10pm but I was not sleepy just yet which, I assume, was due to all the steroids in my body at this point.  Sheila fell asleep quickly but I stayed up and read for a while. I was still needing to get up to use the bathroom every hour too.  I think this was due to all the extra antihistamines I have been taking daily for the past week as well as because of all the extra water I had been drinking throughout the day.  These short bathroom trips were clearly cutting into my sleep too. Then, at 2am, I had some minor difficulties breathing.  It resolved itself within about ten minutes but that was a sign that I clearly am still seesawing back toward anaphylaxis.  It is happening much less frequently now and the severity is much less now too but that seesawing is still occurring it seems.   It is sort of like a swinging pendulum...   Early on, this pendulum was swing quickly and swinging high toward significant pr