Thoughts, rants, etc.

A hodge-podge of things, before I go to visit Todd tomorrow: 

• We are turning to football for political prognostication. It's true. If the Giants will 5 games before election day, the incumbent party holds the presidency. If, however, the Steelers win tonight, then the prognostication is that The One Shall Be Election. 

I might actually be rooting against the 'Burg. 

• In more relevant news for our purposes: tomorrow's Resort Visit. In order to vote, I'm going to get up at the godforsaken hour of 5:15. Yeah. That'll be fun. Polls in Ohio open at 6:30 a.m. I have to be at CH an hour later. We'll see what happens. Because, you know, if I don't vote, then it's a sure thing that I'll get bronched. No question. 

So, I head to the Resort for blood draw, then CXR, then up to clinic for PFTs, NiOx readings, the whole 9 yards. And then I wait and see what The Powers That Be Decide.

This is where transplant stuff is really different from CF stuff. With CF stuff, I could usually look at my numbers and go, "OK, here's what we're doing!" I was rarely wrong. 

Transplant stuff, not so much. First, there are about ten billion numbers (I'm exaggerating, but not by much.). Some of them I see, some of them I don't see. Sometimes the numbers are "OK", but I get bronched anyway. Sometimes I think the numbers are bad, and nothing happens. I have no real "inner guide" on this one. 

There are some things that are real bellweathers--if my blood work is way off, or if my PFTs drop dramatically (like more than 5 points). PFTs have always been sort of inexplicable. You can come in and feel great and blow like crap, and vice versa. Or if the CXR looks like Poland in January (that is, really, really white) then there are issues. I'm not a productive cougher--meaning I don't bring up mucus samples for them to test. So if we want a sample, we usually have to bronch to get it. 

Puls Ox numbers (the amount of oxygen in your blood) can also be a factor, although I was at 95% (the lowest end of 'normal') before transplant, so this number is sort of eh for me as an indicator. 

So with all this numerical insanity, plus trying to vote before all of it tomorrow, it's going to be a long day. And a long night.

And for you political junkies, the rap in Ohio is that we're not going to be called until the wee hours. So brace yourselves. 

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