Thursday +157 (Afternoon)

A quick note to let everyone know that we have met with several of the "lung" doctors. It seems Jackie has "a significant atypical infiltration" in her lungs that has occurred over the last 6 weeks since her last CT scan. They have taken her for a lung biopsy. The original plan was for bronchoscopy only. The pulmonary docs wanted a biopsy.

It does not appear she has a simple pneumonia. The infiltration is within the small air sacs. She is not coughing significantly. She is only running a low-grade fever and has some shortness of breath.

There are several possibilities for her problem. It could be CMV (cytomegalovirus). This was the virus she had that required 6 weeks of IV anti-viral treatments. She was treated with 2 and 3 times per day ganicyclovir. The problem with this drug is that it can quickly deplete blood counts.

The other possibility is that the infection is fungal. Hopefully the biopsy will tell us more. In any case it seems her condition is more serious than first thought and we will likely be here longer than originally thought.

In my last post, I said it would be good if she received some calls. She is very depressed and upset by this latest turn of events. However that may not be a good thing tonight as I'm sure she will be groggy and sore from today's procedure. Feel free to call tomorrow, however. If she doesn't answer it likely means she either doesn't want to talk or she is busy with a doctor or nurse. If she feels like returning calls she will.

I will probably post again tonight. I believe we will have some preliminary results from the biopsy by early evening.

Until later....

Bruce and Jackie
From Rochester