Making a Way in the Wilderness

I had my bi-annual pulmonary function test last week. The respiratory therapist told me that I’m now back in the normal range on all the measures, and based on the results, no one would have reason to believe that my lungs have any problems! The official results were uploaded to my patient portal over the weekend. The percentage below indicates my result compared to the expected result for a woman my age. FEV1 (forced expiratory volume) measures the air you exhale in 1 second. Nov. 2023: 95% May 2023: 91% Oct. 2022: 73% TLC (total lung capacity) is the total volume of air in the lungs after inhaling as much as possible. Nov. 2023: 95% May 2023: 83% Oct. 2022: 72% Jun. 2022: 69% DLCO (diffusing capacity of lung for carbon monoxide, aka diffusion) is the extent to which oxygen passes from the lungs into the blood. It indicates the extent of lung damage and helps explain my shortness of breath on exertion and lower O2 saturation. I have improved 100% since June 2022, when I was first diag...

I'm not squeamish about shots, but getting two, often painful, blood thinner shots every day is not fun, nor is the bruising that follows. Now that I've been stable (out of the hospital) for over a year, my hematologist and I discussed switching to a different blood thinner. A pill, Eliquis, failed last year and sent me back to the hospital with more blood clots, so that's obviously not an option. Fondaparinux sodium (aka Arixtra - who comes up with these names?) requires one shot per day and costs $50 per month. My current blood thinner costs $180. Ironically, I will pay less for Arixtra because it's so expensive that it qualifies for a special program that caps the co-pay at $50. Plus, I can pick up the meds at CVS instead of relying on the mail. One time the blood thinner package was marked as delivered even though it wasn't. I looked at the delivery photo and realized UPS delivered it to the wrong house, but I didn't know where. I don't remember how it g...