Prednisone, swine flu and updates!

[Guest guest]

Hi Dear Family,

It has been forever since I have posted and I wanted to check in and let all of you know how I am doing. First of all I finished my Masters Degree yesterday and after taking a two month break I am planning to apply at various colleges to teach online. I am hoping to make just enough to suppliment my disability income so that I can continue to visit my grandkids several times a year.

Second, I have been off of prednisone for two months now and feel fantastic. I have lost weight, am not puffy , sleep great, have energy, etc.,etc. Yesterday ( a big day for me:) I took my PF tests and visited the pulmo doc and unfortunately my test results are not so fantastic. In May of 06 before starting the prednisone my lung volume was a dismal 34%. The prednisone increased it to 68% and it stayed that way for the last three years. Without the prednisone I have dropped back down to 50%. My pulmo is letting me go for three more months without the prednisone before I retake the tests and he makes a final decision , but he feels that without the prednisone I am heading back to transplant territory and he would like me to avoid that if I can.

Although I hate hate hate prednisone, I think he is right and I would rather suffer the side effects than have to have a transplant. Yesterday I was depressed, today I realize that I am lucky that prednisone actually works for me and has kept me alive these past 3 plus years. I do however hate that I am going to be a pumpkin head once again! My kids all feel that they would rather have a chubby me then no me and are ecstatic that I am going to take prednisone again. And all I can think of is no bread, no sweets and no sleep for the rest of my life lol!

Third, I am still not drinking coffee and I know that none of you want to hear this but with no coffee, I have no cough! I have started taking Emergen-C, a fizzy orange drink that some people with chronic illnesses say gives them energy and builds their immunity to the flu and colds-I have no clue if it works and will keep you updated. Other than that I try to keep my calories to about 1,400 daily, and I exercise 4 to 5 days a week. Light exercise like walking ( slow) and 3 pound arm weights but I find that I feel so much better afterwards.

Last ( long post I know) I have been reading all the posts about the swine flu. I got my flu shot yesterday at UC San Diego and the specialist explained why there is so much hype about the flu. He said that to date about 144 people have died from the swine flu ( in the US), while last year 1,800 died from the regular flu. The swine flu is much more mild and even with my compromised lungs the chance I would die from it is slim. The problem is that while most of us have some immunity to the regular flu, none of us has any immunity to the swine flu and almost everyone who is exposed to it will get it. He said that if 100 people in an office are exposed to the swine flu, odds are all 100 will come down with it. Whereas if the same 100 people were exposed to the regular flu only about 10 would get it. The push for the vacine isn't so much to save lives, it is to keep

the entire population from getting sick at the same time.

I checked his statistics against the Center for Disease Control and he was close and while I do not want the flu it did relieve my fears and made me realize that the swine flu is not the black plaque and we are all not going to be dropping like flies.

I am glad to be back, and to find out all about the newbies and how the "oldies" are doing. I love you all-

R. (53) Sarcoid/PF 3/2006 Carlsbad, California__________________________________________________