So I can finally say that it looks like I'm going home! I am so past ready, you can't even imagine. If I was going to blow through 12 days of vacation, I can think of about a million places that I would have rather been! But the good news is, I'm going home! I definitely feel a little better today – not sure if that's because of the steroids they started me on yesterday or just the knowledge of discharge. Either way, it's a good thing. I talked to the pulmonologist and the current plan is to follow up with them in 2-3 weeks to make sure things are getting better. At that time they'll have a better idea about how long I need to be on the steroids. He said that we'll never probably know if this is truly BOOP/COP or some other form of pneumonitis since they can't do the biopsy which would be confirmatory. I'm hopeful for the pneumonitis since BOOP/COP has a high risk of recurrence and my bones don't need any more steroids. What a blessing to be home for Holy Week and Easter. During Holy Week I think we're all called to think about suffering and what it means. I'm not sure that I have a great grasp, at times I feel like I can put it into words and on other days, not so much. I know that suffering can be personally refining and strengthening if we allow it to. But, in order to move forward each day, I have to believe that our suffering serves a greater purpose. Maybe it's one of those “unknown” things, where we just have to believe that God can use it in His plan- not that he causes it but that he can take it and turn it into something beautiful. Faith can allow us to have peace in knowing that through our suffering we are connected with Christ's ultimate suffering. And in God's perfect plan, somehow our suffering can help others. Not sure how it all works, but for me, I have to believe that it does.
“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Christ is revealed.” ~ I Peter 1:6-7
