The seasons change and life keeps going. A few people have asked me recently if everything is still good health-wise. I generally have said yes, because relatively speaking, it is. However, I had a bit of blip on my eosinophilia:

At my latest check-up with Dr. Bar-Natan, the labs came back showing my eosinophils elevated again. In fact, they were the highest seen yet. Eos were 36% of my total blood composition (normal 0-5%) and absolute value 4.4 (normal 0-0.46). Three months ago, I was very close to normal levels, so this was a setback. I’ve been using my Breo daily without fail, but the Breo failed to keep the eosinophils stable.

Dr. Bar-Natan, her NP, and I were waiting for the manual differential to come in on the computer together. When it arrived showing that wild increase, I confessed a hypothesis. Recently prior to the visit, I partook in smoking cannabis (allegedly). Unlike Bill Clinton, I may have inhaled. I KNOW, that with my asthma, such an action would not be recommended by medical professionals. But I’ve also been trying to live and enjoy life. Her response was non-judgmental: it will be great if that’s the reason for the jump. I resolved to refuse any funny stuff moving forward and will return soon to retest my levels.

A few days later, I had a pre-scheduled intake appointment with my newly assigned Weill-Cornell pulmonologist, Dr. David Weir. His NP screener who asked “what brings you in today?” received a saga to take back. Dr. Weir also did not shame. Both he and Dr. Bar-Natan didn’t hear any issues in my lungs. He did a basic lung function test (spirometry), which I actually passed as normal this time. It showed improved lung function as compared to when I was evaluated on the same test by MSK.

This seems to indicate the Breo is improving my breathing, regardless of the eosinophil levels. For this reason, and to prevent inflammation, Dr. Weir wants me to stay on the Breo for the time being; I did not argue. I still have not experienced any breathing symptoms and/or needed my rescue inhaler at all since starting the Breo. So I only need to return in 4-6 months, and am off the hook there.

My experience with both doctors gave me extra confidence in Weill-Cornell being my present system of choice. I still hadn’t severed my ties with MSK yet and had upcoming appointments with them. I was having some failure-to-launch/procrastination to pull the plug. Javi the journalist helped me to draft a few talking points, and got me rolling on a message I wrote to Dr. Goldberg’s message portal. While notifying that I was transferring my care for the time being, I emphasized my appreciation for the months of helping me learn much more and get stable. No response back and it’s been almost two weeks, maybe post-breakup we’re not friends.

On another health topic, my annual screening mammogram had a finding requiring a follow-up diagnostic mammogram. The results of the diagnostic were supposed to come back by Friday. On Friday afternoon I was still waiting. I felt a familiar anxiety rising and intensifying inside me. My body physically remembered back to a Friday in late January, waiting for the delayed results of my bone marrow biopsy. That Friday in January, the results did not come, and my weekend was ruined by anxiety. Finally Monday afternoon Dr. Ullah called with results confirming my fear (though my diagnosis eventually became less severe).

This Friday in November, the results also did not come. I went home for the weekend, tried to do self-care stuff, and space out obsessive refreshing of my imaging patient portal. On Sunday night at 11:50pm, the result appeared, and this time I was all clear. I was relieved but also rattled by the flashback feelings, which demonstrated that I am still emotionally affected by the happenings earlier this year. I guess that makes some sense.

Besides the residual scan-xiety, I recently have had a few symptoms: multiple incidents of gastrointestinal distress without known cause, night sweats, discomfort in right side under ribs (though only while lying on left side), and dark/reddish circles around my eyes, sometimes worse than others. I’ll mention these to Dr. Bar-Natan when checking the eosinophilia trend. May I experience another turnaround then!