Interesting day today of competing thoughts of what is ailing me. No matter the thoughts, it seems I am doing a bit better. The oxygen I am receiving is at a lower 3 Liter flow and that is keeping my O2 Sat levels in the low 90’s.

My bronchoscopy was cancelled today as the Pulmonary team thought they had cultured a bacteria out of my sputum called Neisseria. This can actually be a pretty nasty bacteria that in one strain causes meningitis and in another causes gonorrhea. I of course have neither and the reported strain as of this evening has yet to be exactly determined. The Pulmonary team decided best not to put me through the bronch procedure.

My transplant team saw this and came in and said that sounds like a plan. To continue the IV antibiotics and give this a bit more time. They also said I am stable from a transplant perspective and the Rhinovirus I have is being beaten down a little.

Midday I was taken to x-ray to have a barium swallow test to make sure than everything I consumed was going down the correct pipe. The test came out fine after I drank some barium, and swallowed an applesauce and barium mixture as well as crackers dipped in barium. Sounds delicious, doesn’t it.

Then later in the afternoon the Infectious Disease Team came in and said, not so fast regarding the Neisseria. They thought if that was really causing my pneumonia then as bad as that one is, why have I never run a fever. Furthermore they wondered if I even had true pneumonia. Perhaps it was over diagnosed on the CT chest scan and maybe I have an irritation of the lining of my lungs called pneumonitis. Finally with all the lung problems I have had since 2019 it is very likely I am colonized with weird bacteria anyway.

I wonder what ChatGPT would say about all of this. So the ID team is winning and my IV antibiotics have been stopped for the moment and I am back on oral Augmentin. Now time will tell over the next couple of days depending on how I react/respond. Everything is still on the table.

My hearing is still limited and there is now a sign posted on my hospital door announcing that to those who enter the room. Sharon and I wanted to have a conversation so I suggested she call me – we were in the same room – as I can hear when the speaker is activated on my iPhone. But we had too much feedback.

To be honest, I lost my head a little tonight. I have a bit of a short fuse and I am tired and frustrated. Then I remembered many have it much worse than I do. We shall see what tomorrow brings.

Larry and Sharon