The Fungus Among Us

Unknown to me, when writing my last post I hadn't had all the facts yet. I got a call about two days later from clinic telling me they had some bad news. My cultures showed I was growing Aspergillous in my lungs. Gross. Scary. Get. It. Out.
Turns out it is treatable, and other then clinic telling me I have it, I would never know. The symptoms are the same as the side effects of all my other medication. Slight cough and fatigue. I also was shocked to learn out of the 6 high risk factors-I had 4: transplant patient, Cystic Fibrosis, Immune Compromised, and on steroids. Nice little bit of info I wish I had known about. But hindsight is 20/20, and I still would've gone through transplant.
Now the next issue came with trying to get the prescription needed to treat it. Since its a pretty powerful drug, and I need at least 90 day treatment, insurance wanted prior authorization. I'm the lucky one, however, who always get tangled in the system. Insurance sent the wrong form to be filled out, leading to the wrong form being sent back saying it was missing information, and again that same wrong form being sent back with all the information. This morning I called a Patient Care Coordinator's number at the insurance company, she actually was helpful, and it seems now the ball is rolling.
I have developed some new goals overnight too. We went to good friends H and K's wedding rehearsal last night, and H and another friend of hers J, talked me into starting to go to the gym with them. Not only that, J is running in a 5K on Thanksgiving and I thought what a better way to give thanks to my donor than to take our lungs for a trot. I'm real excited! I just need to build up some more-and walking is allowed =) Its just nice that breathing wouldn't be the issue.
More big news, if you don't know me too well I have a few fears. One of them is fish. Yes, fish. I've heard it all before "they won't hurt you", "seriously, they're more afraid of you", and my favorite "just jump in". I can't tell you how NOT easy getting over this is. But I made a list of things I MUST do post transplant to fully feel like I'm making the best of this life, and swimming with those slimy creatures was on the list.
So Saturday, my parents and in-laws and Jon and I all met at the springs. I really did not think I was going to even attempt it-even more so once I saw the size of the mullet in the water. They looked like mini-sharks to me! One reason I was so pushy towards myself though was that before transplant, swimming was scary. Holding my breath was scary. The thought of drowning-imminent. But on 10/9/10 I decided enough was enough. I put on my snorkel and mask, then closed my eyes, and about 30 minutes of coddling the steps-jumped in! Cold? yeah. Scary? BEYOND! Of course as soon as I looked down there was a happy lil fish staring at me-and I screamed. Jon scared him off and proceeded to push my tube(my body was in the water) and my MIL went in front of me to scare whatever fish may be there. We actually made it up the middle and sides of the spring. I even swam over the spring myself =) It was scary, and I admit I did have a panic attack at one point, but I did it! I was very proud of myself, and I think I may be able to get to a point where one day I'm completely over the fear.
As for now, its way past lunchtime and my belly is reminding me. I hope each and everyone you gets to face a fear and set a new goal...because its an amazing feeling!