No cough, No fever.

In just seven days I've gone from being a total invalid with a constant choking cough and a fever that ran 24/7 with extreme fatigue that left me hardly able to dress myself, To having no fever, a very mild cough and moderate/high fatigue.

I can now get even get out and about if I take it really easily. I still get really puffed from just walking but it's still a huge improvement.
On Friday I even managed to do some work of sorts. I supervised someone else as they did a wheel alignment for me. It was exhausting just telling them what to do, but it's all steps towards getting well again.

Today Sarah and I visited the new house and while I laid out a plan for the lighting and electrics she put down some lawn seed. We hope to be in the house late January or there abouts. We can hardly wait!

The mild cough I have feels like my lungs are sticky. I probably should avoid dairy products and I'd be fine. My appetite has returned and I'm now snacking non-stop. Great for putting on fat but until I have the energy to exercise it could be a while until I can rebuild lost muscle tone.

Gosh just twelve days till Christmas!! I may even be up to having a beer by then! :)

Permission Granted !!

I just got the all clear to start on the prednisone as of today :)
So my preemptive taking of the medication was justified. YAY!!

The fevers have gone completely, but the choking cough is still with me, that should take two-three weeks to go.

I cannot wait to get well enough to start living life at 100% again..
I'm expecting to see a dramatic turn-around in my energy levels over the coming week.

With three clear CT scans under my belt as well, I'm expecting 2010 to be an awesome year.
New house and workshop, lots of fun projects on the horizon for both Sarah and I and the energy to do it all.

PS: Can you tell the steroids have kicked in ? ;)

TV footage from Targa

We got excellant coverage on TV1's Fujitsu Motorsport last weekend. They really gave us some excellant TV time, great for the sponsors! Mind you Fujitsu does happen to be one of them! :)

Mondays are always a good jumping off point.

Yesterday (Sunday) was a low point for me. I've had all manner of medical procedures over the last five years and none of them have seen me this weak and reduced to such an invalid state. Never have I been left to get progressively worse while waiting for someone to get around to seeing me. If anyone else woke one morning that ill, they would call an ambulance. I coughed so hard as I lay in bed that started to vomit. The act of jumping out of bed and rushing to the bathroom almost made me pass out before I completed the five metre journey. From there it was a challenge as to what took priority. Breathing, coughing, vomiting or maintaining consciousness.

I'll move on...

The Moraxella Catarrhalis infection is gone. I still have several weeks worth of antibiotics to take so I don't believe there is a risk of it flaring up again. So there is nothing really stopping me from starting on Prednisone and kicking this pneumonitis in the butt other than the wait for the appointment on the 17th Dec, or if I'm lucky a phone call on Thursday to advise me I can start treatment.

I woke this morning feeling a heck of a lot better than yesterday. This is of course relative to me. Feeling better while laying flat on ones back in bed is nothing at all like the feeling better of a man that can actually get out of said bed, shower, dress himself and not collapse in a breathless, wheezing heap.

Anyway I lay there and stared at the ceiling for a while, and thought "damn it" I'm not going to let myself be pile-driven into the ground! I'm going to reclaim my life and my health! It's been six months that I've been cursed with these darn fevers, cough and fatigue. Today it ends. !

So I did some research on the net and found a medical study on Cryptogenic Organising Pneumonia. The recommended starting dose is .75mg per kilogram of patient weight daily. That works out at 52mg of prednisone. 60mg is the figure I heard the doctor mention a couple of weeks ago, So that tallies up correctly.

I went into my medicine cabinet and counted out my remaining stockpile of prednisone, forty eight 20mg tablets. That's 16 days worth. I see the doctor in ten days so I have enough.
If he phones on Thursday and tells me I cannot start taking the steroid then I will have only taken four doses and I could stop taking them without the need for a long withdrawal period. If he says I can start, then I will be four days ahead and so much the better off for it.

Yeah I know, it's a very naughty thing to self medicate. But hey it was me that diagnosed my condition in the first place, it was me that correctly self prescribed the prednisone that worked so well, if only for the short courses that I took them.

So there, I done it, I've taken the tablets and life will get a whole lot better as from today.
If the doctors don't like it then I shall invite them to spend a day in my shoes and we see how long they last before they write their own script too! :)

As always I'll keep you updated on my progress.