Monday, November 4, 2013

Brachytherapy- Take 2

Hello friends!

It has been about 6 months since I've posted an update, but there hasn't been a whole lot to share in that time.

I've gotten into a somewhat routine of going every 4 weeks to be bronched and having my right main bronchi opened. Due to an overgrowth of scar tissue my right main bronchi gets so small that my doctor can barely thread a tiny wire through it, so you can imagine how difficult it is to breathe through. When it gets that small my dr has to basically guess where the center is and makes a small slit so he can get the bronchoscope through the hole and then balloons it open as much as possible. Most times he'll then use a laser to burn away the scar tissue, which leaves me feeling pretty awful for about a week, then able to really BREATHE for a good two weeks before it begins to tighten back up again. It's a pretty frustrating roller coaster, but it's the only thing we've found that "works". We've tried putting in stents to hold the airway open, but because of the shape of the stenosis it doesn't want to stay put. Having a stent able to move from where it's intended to be can cause a whole lot of unwanted problems, including an increase of scar tissue and choking if it lodged itself sideways. So we've given up on trying to make a stent work. We tried freezing, but it actually made my airways even more inflamed, so we never tried that again. About 18 months ago my bronch / end stage pulmonology doctor got in touch with the radiation oncology team and we tried a brachytherapy treatment. Basically they did a 3 full minute blast of strong radiation directly on the stenosis hoping that the radiation would break down the scar tissue w/out hurting too much of my healthy tissue. It was a tough recovery, but I felt like it gave me a little more time before needing another bronch. My pulm doc wasn't convinced that it worked well enough to try it again, given that it's such a heavy dose of radiation to one specific spot, which increases my risk of lung cancer dramatically. So we never entertained that idea of brachytherapy again. In the last 18 months the time between my need for bronchs have gradually decreased from every 8, to 6, to now needing a bronch no later than every 4 weeks. By week 3 I'm usually struggling pretty bad, so this window of feeling "good" is shrinking.
On Friday I had an appointment with my bronch doctor. I wanted him to see me at my "best" because he only sees me awake for a few minutes prior to each bronch and I'm never feeling well at those times. I wanted him to see how "good" I can feel, and to discuss options to widen the gap between bronchs. After going back and forth about our lack of options, I brought up brachytherapy up again. Because we have zero other options at this point, he's willing to give brachy ONE more try, but he's not willing to do more than that because the risk of cancer I'd be bringing to myself. So he's going to get in touch with the radiation oncology team again and set up a two part treatment this time around. He wants to bronch me one day, then the following day do the first brachytherapy treatment, then no more than 7 days after that, a repeat brachytherapy treatment. He's hoping that a two part treatment will have better results and will continue to break down the scar tissue for a longer period of time. This is our Last ditch effort before we have to agree that the bronchs are our ongoing future of treating the stenosis. If you're a praying person, I'd really appreciate all the prayers that this method works so I don't have to continue this frustrating and scary roller coaster. I've begun having anxiety attacks when my airway is super narrow and I feel like I can't ever get enough air. Sleeping on 5-6 pillows then waking up with an anxiety attack is not my idea of a good night's rest, so I'm really counting on this brachytherapy helping me.

About a month ago, one week after a bronch I was feeling the BEST I have felt in as long as I can remember. I felt like my airway was completely open and I got to feel for the first time what 34% lung function feels like, which isn't all that bad! I have been feeling like I've been suffocating for a few years, but I realized last month that that suffocating feeling is mostly because of the stenosis, not my low lung function. I had NO idea I could still breathe that well to be honest. I thought I lost that feeling forever, but it just took a really good bronch to open things up well enough for me to fully breathe to my capacity. I took full advantage of those couple of weeks of feeling great and exercised on our elliptical every day, painted our dining room and kitchen, and got a lot of small jobs done around the house that have been put off since moving in a year ago. I had high hopes of feeling that great again after this last bronch I had about 10 days ago, but due to a sinus infection and feeling overall pretty blah, I haven't felt too hot this time around. I'm on a 10 day course of an oral antibiotic for the sinus infection, so I'm hoping that the fevers, headaches, and overall body aches go away soon enough so I can have a few days of feeling really good before my airway gets too tight again.

Benito turned 30 at the end of August, so we rented a car and drove to San Diego where one of this friends and his wife now live. They were wonderful hosts and we had such a blast during the 4 days we were there. We saw a Padres/Giants baseball game, saw a movie at the ritziest theater I have EVER seen let alone been in, enjoyed a beautiful sunset in La Jolla, and got to be tourists with some of the best tour guides! It was a trip we'll never forget and we're both hopeful to go visit again sometime soon. On our long drive home, we were lucky enough to meet up with a very long time friend of mine that I met on a CF forum about 10 years ago, but had yet to meet in person. The three of us had lunch and a very nice visit together. Mike is just as awesome in real life as he is over the internet.

That's it for now. I hope you're all doing well and enjoying the beautiful colors of fall! I just LOVE this time of year :-)


Michael Adams and I - meeting for the first time after 10 years!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hi there Leah! I was actually just checking out a few of your posts and had quick question about your blog. I was hoping you could email me back when you get the chance, thanks!

Emily

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