John went to his pulmonary specialist today. She reviewed John’s condition and although she sure didn’t make promises, she said all the right things to keep his spirits up. She told of having a partient with John’s same diagnosis who is still living and WORKING as a teacher. He was diagnosed about seven years ago. Obviously John was glad to hear what she said. She also said he is responding well with Prednisone. His lungs are sounding better.

I am optimistic. His doctor (Dr. Indira) is cautiously hoping to wean John off Prednisone, but it’ll depend on how he does. John has a slight inflamation at the site of his surgical procedure. She wants to wait two more weeks before cutting back on the Prednisone and starting him on Imuron. She wouldn’t start him on the other medication until the inflammation is gone because she didn’t want to take a chance that he’d develop an infection if she moved him to the other medication. And if she just cut back the Prednisone, he’d lose what he seems to have gained. So he will stay on this medical schedule for two more weeks and then we’ll see.

I had my list of “questions” for her. She could tell I’ve been doing my homework, and I think she appreciated my efforts on John’s behalf.

We do need to be sure that we have a doctor lined up in Florida. She said she couldn’t see any reason why he won’t be ready to head to Florida in December, but we may need to hold off so the medication schedule can be adjusted. We will do whatever needs to happen for John. That’s the primary focus.