Last Monday sharp pain started on the right side on the front of my chest. I carried on with my transplant appointments on Tuesday. The pain got worse as the week went on. I powered through our very busy weekend with friends in town. Sunday morning I sent the “white flag” message into my CF clinic diagnosing myself with pleurisy and asked for antibiotics and prednisone. Ya know, if I had my own Rx pad it would save me a lot of time sending messages to my CF team and at the doctor’s office for appointments. Pleurisy is inflammation of the area (pleural space) that separates the lungs and chest wall. The pleural space is usually filled with a satiny liquid that allows your lungs to expand when you breathe. If that liquid is not there and there is inflammation/swelling, they rub together like sand paper that causes pain when breathing. Since I can’t take a break from breathing, the pain is always there until the pleurisy resolves. The pleuritic pain is sharp/stabbing pain with deep breaths, coughing (ouch) and sneezing (double ouch). 10/10 would NOT recommend!! Treatment for pleurisy is pain control and treat any underlying infections that may be the cause.

My nurse called me this morning to tell me she wasn’t ignoring me but that she was trying to figure out who could see me because my doctor was cruising somewhere in the pacific at the moment. Of course he is. It never fails, when I actually need to be seen because of an exacerbation (actively sick) or end up in the hospital he is on vacation. haha. She said she did hear crackling in both lungs.

One of the nurse practitioners was able to see me this afternoon. We decided that I’ll do 14 days of IV antibiotics (Zosyn 4.5g every 6 hours) and a prednisone. I’ll get labs drawn each Monday until finished with IV course. We go to Cancun VERY soon so this will get me 14 days of antibiotics in my system with a few days between finishing and leaving for Mexico. It seems like this is par for the course when it comes to my body not playing by the rules, especially when I have a vacation in the very near future that I’m trying not to sick for and not be miserable for.

Update on the burning in my leg: My left thigh (femur) has had a burning sensation since I received the Reclast (osteoporosis med) infusion December 11th. Most reactions to Relcast present in the hip or jaw and for the most part resolve in about 2 weeks. I apparently like to be in the “less than 1%” club when it comes to side effects. Once again my body likes to keep my medical team on its toes. I did get a X-ray of my left thigh, it showed NO abnormalities as expected. Next step is a MRI which I’m waiting to hear when that is scheduled for. They are checking for avascular necrosis which is the death of bone tissue due to lack of blood supply. Common causes of AVN is extended use of high dose steroids, extended excessive amounts of alcohol consumption and long term use of bisphosphates (like Reclast, Prolix and Fosamax). I have taken high doses of steroids but not extended use. I’m not a drinker. I took Fosamax for the recommended 5 years and only had 1 infusion of the Reclast. So who knows where this pain is truly coming from. I would just like it to stop or at least be controlled and be more tolerable. It is so uncomfortable sometimes that I can’t sit still be I need to be moving (which is not ideal when in the car) so that I’m not thinking about it 100% of the time. So we shall see what comes of the MRI.

Until next time…