I’m not even going to try to fill you in on the endless issues and complications I have had to deal with and overcome in the past two year since the last post -- maybe in my memoirs some day. Although, I can tell you I get many compliments on my “professionalism” as a patient from my doctors. Yep, you heard me. I am a professional patient, that’s my job - get myself better and I work damn hard at it. When all this gets closer to a conclusion, I may write about my experiences in the medical system -- the good and the bad. In the past five years, I have experienced a lot, and there are lots of ways the America medical system (which is still the best in the world) can be improved without a massive overhaul, or god forbid, the government running it.

What I’m happy to report is that my lung function has steadily improved beyond what the doctors originally expected. Not anywhere near 100%, but good enough to get around on my good days and I do have good days, but unfortunately I still l have a few bad days as well.

What I’m pretty much left with after all the infection, complications, blah, blah, blah is hyper-reactive asthma and a turbo-charged immune system that kicks into hyper-drive with severe asthmatic attacks that can last for a week or more. Sound like fun? I have heard that late-onset adult asthma can be a real bitch, well guess what, that’s true. I think my lungs are getting close to being as good as they are going to get, so I am working to adapt my life accordingly. My best guess based on my progress to date is that it could take me up another year to build my strength and stamina up to levels where I can function normally (normally being 60% - 70% for me) most of the time.

FLASH – This just in from the good news department - I just found out from one of my docs, he may have some new treatment ideas with immerging therapies on calming down my hyper-reactive immune system, but I still need to follow through with my current line of therapy for a while more - another slim ray of hope!