Say hello to Lo

Dear Friends,

As you all probably know, and I have certainly learned, when it comes to medical things, most often no news is good news. That has certainly been the case of my silence. I have, for the most part, been getting steadily stronger, training for an 8-mile trail race in February, doing and teaching lots of yoga, learning a LOT about psychiatric patients at Duke.

Until this week when I came down with a low level fever and lost all my energy. I got steadily worse over the week, my fever climbing a bit higher each day, and my energy ebbing away. I also sprouted mysterious red lumps below the surface of my skin. After some pushing, my oncologist finally agreed to see me yesterday, and he referred me to a dermatologist, hoping they would have some insight. They didn't, really, but biopsied one of the lumps, promising results by this afternoon. I didn't get any conclusive results from the dermatology resident, who said we would have to wait until Monday. Yuck. Massive bed rest and lots of fluids have not been working, so I called my oncologist again to request an antibiotic to potentially take the edge off.

To make a long story a bit shorter, my blood markers for the cytomegalovirus (CMV) are off the charts and I need to be hospitalized for a few days to get IV antibiotics. There are a number of things I don't understand, like why antibiotics for a virus, and why is IV soooooooo much better than a good ol' pill? I am guessing I will find these things out as the next few days unfold. I'm pretty bummed, because I hate being in the hospital, because I don't get to do any of the fun things I had planned for the weekend, and because my white counts are not low enough to merit a private room.

BUT, I am happy to know what this bug is that is making me sick, and to be able to start to feel better. The other piece of this is that the pathologist was worried about some abnormal cells in the biopsy. Pete, my oncologist (the leukemia/lymphoma specialist) says he is not as concerned as the pathologist about a cancer relapse. He thinks it is an unlikely presentation for a relapse, and it would be unusual to have two major things going on at the same time. I tend to agree with him, both because I want to, and because my gut tells me to, and I think this is all related to this one virus, hereafter referred to as "the Lo" that is messing with my systems.

I hope you are all looking forward to your weekends, and if you wouldn't mind greeting the Lo kindly and then picture it skedaddling back the way it came, that would be great.

I don't know yet if there will be internet access in the hospital, or how long I will be there, but I or others will keep you posted as things develop.

Love,
Zpora