Intensive Care
Saturday, February 8, 2014, Breaking News

My sweeties and I ran a lovely marathon in New Orleans last Sunday. On Monday we flew home, and by Tuesday morning I felt a scratchy throat. That came on fast, knocked me flat (weak, fever, aches, severe cough, nausea), and by Thursday it was diagnosed at Mayo as Influenza Type A. Yes, I did get the flu shot, last November. By Friday morning I was having trouble breathing and my local doc found pneumonia. He checked me into the ICU in Lakeview Hospital in Stillwater, MN.

The hospital staff treat me with respect, lots of smiles, but they put on gowns, masks, and gloves before they come into the room, and they throw those into a trash bin as they exit. Apparently they think I'm quite toxic, and I'm in a form of partial isolation. They haven't banned visitors, but you should probably stay away. My sweeties have been here, but they were asked to gown up too.

They are treating me with oxygen, oral azithromycin, IV ceftriaxone, decent food, breathing exercises, a nebulizer, and rest. I feel much better today than yesterday, with improvements in heart rate, respiration rate, blood oxygen, temperature, and every other measure. I'm still sick, but I might get home tomorrow (Sunday) to finish recovering there. Doc will tell me, and I will follow his advice - he's a good one. By the way, I have been able to continue the Pomalyst myeloma treatment throughout this ordeal.

Pomalyst Study Cycle 77

Actually I haven't posted a blog on the study since September, so this is five cycles. The myeloma has remained stable throughout, and the drug continues to work just fine, almost six years now.  On Thursday M-spike was down to 0.9 g/dL, with IgG at 1260 mg/dL.

The CBC that was done Wednesday, one day after the flu started, showed that neutrophils had doubled, and Dr L commented Thursday morning that it's a sign that my body is still able to respond that well to a threat.

Post Script:

I recovered rapidly from the pneumonia, with no lasting effects except a lack of running training for about two weeks.