[ MEDICAL ] -TEST RESULTS: The radiologist’s report from a chest X-ray performed on Thursday, August 22nd, states, “There are patchy infiltrative changes in the LEFT lower lobe. There is no pneumothorax or effusion. Clinical correlation for pneumonia is recommended.
Labs are still being processed; however, the available results are within normal limits. The only exception is my glucose level. As I’m diabetic, the elevated level is not anything surprising. Between my typical high glucose levels and taking a higher prednisone dosage, the value is well within “my” normal range. My WBC (white blood cells) is below the threshold indicative of infection. The antibiotics are apparently working.
Many people fall victim to various forms of pneumonia. The term refers to both infections and the presence of material that is present where it doesn’t belong. How we find ourselves in such scenarios can vary from advanced flu-like conditions to aspirating on your food/stomach contents.
[ MEDICAL ] -CRAZY $4i7: Those familiar with my uncanny ability to defy the odds of medicine are likely waiting for the “What the heck has he managed to accomplish this time?”
Well, suppose we start by setting aside this situation existing as evidence of any new transplant rejection. In that case, the likely method of developing pneumonia is very much inside what is known as my “normal.”
Last weekend (August 25th timeframe), I walked around the backyard with our dogs. I would bend down several times and extract toys that were becoming “One With The Earth.” Whenever I liberated one of their toys, anything covering or within them became aerosolized (or airborne). Examples of the airborne particles would include ordinary dirt, doggy poo, things feeding on doggy poo, and other biologicals.
Dirt is off limits to transplant patients (compromised immune systems) as many organisms (deadly to said population) call it home. However, toss some of those little critters into the air, inhale them, let them settle at the bottom of your nice, wet, warm lungs, and then welcome The Clampetts as they enter their luxury mansion.
Once again, Bootstrap creates his own definitions of “medical issues,” which are always contrary to what most humans know.
