DIAGNOSIS!!!

Victory!!!!!

I had a fabulous Zoom call with Dr. Dorscheid yesterday. He looked at my heart tests and explained the results better than Dr. Chen did. He made it crystal clear to me, why my heart was dismissed as the cause of my breathing problems, and he said that the tests tell him my lungs are the problem as well.

I feel very relieved and exceptionally happy to have a diagnosis: pulmonary fibrosis (scarring). This is not unusual for someone who’s had asthma for 65 yrars. I’m starting a week’s course of prednisone (the same medication Sheba is on) and then I’m to write a report to him on how it affects me and my condition. Then we do the same thing again, two weeks later: second course of prednisone and a second report. And Dr. Dorscheid will be asking my medical insurer for permission to prescribe a biologic treatment plan that will last for the rest of my life. I’ll start on that protocol once the second prednisone treatment is over … if the insurers say yes.

“Biologic” medications are made from living animals, plants, or cells, instead of through a chemical process. The biologic medications currently used for asthma are antibodies, a kind of protein that occurs naturally in our bodies. For asthmatics, scientists have engineered a biologic medication to help shut down lung inflammation that leads to asthma attacks. I will get a shot once or twice a month, that is very expensive.

Now my anxiety is focused not on my lungs, but on the insurance agency. I’m scared, of course, that they will say no. But my friend, Angus, who has cystic fibrosis, gets a medication that is that is ten times more expensive. Initially, his insurer said no, but after a successful lobbying campaign, he is on the medication. I have hope.

I’m very happy that this medical quest that has been the focus of my existence for the past eleven months is finally over. And I’m relieved to have a treatment plan in place which I have faith! I guess I’ll know in a couple of weeks if my insurer has said yes. I have another appointment with Dr. Dorscheid coming up once the two sessions of prednisone are done.

Henri came yesterday for the last time. He did a lovely job of my front beds. I think I shall take over the gardening from here on, but I’ll get help from my friends and neighbours for the odd thing that might be too much for me. I might get another gardener. I want to see how I react to the prednisone and the biologic medication (if I get it) before I make more garden plans.

Today I must water and I’ve to make a large sheet cake for Pete and Ali. It’s Ali’s sixtieth birthday party and so they need a big cake because they’ve invited a lot of people. 

I've loved Mimisa since I lived in France!