Improvements All Around

I had a great day yesterday! Every other Tuesday I drive an hour and half into Boston to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to see my oncologist. They do blood work, look at all my skin issues, and listen to me breathe. Every six weeks I have a Pulmonary Function Test, and every few months I get an infusion of immunoglobulin, which is a natural germ fighter we all have in us, but mine goes down every few months.
This week I had a scheduled PFT, and my scores were awesome! For the test you go in a big class box and blow into a big tube, doing the breathing in different ways. [That's not me in the picture, I found it on the internet.] There are 4 categories that get measured, and they all went up significantly from the last time. In fact, they were the best results since July 2008! David the respiratory therapist, and I were high-fiving all over the place! Because of the excellent results, one of my medications was lowered, and the next step will be to stop taking it completely. I have many more medications to outgrow, but one down will be very exciting.
I also had to do a few things for a study in which I am participating. Dana-Farber is a major research hospital, so I've been able to participate in a couple of drug trials, as well as studies that just track how I'm doing. Part of this one is to walk 6 laps of a certain hallway. I've never been able to do more than 2 and a half, and this time I did all 6! Plus, when I finished I wasn't exhausted and was able to stand and talk to the nurse, just a little winded.
In the last couple of months I've been feeling SO much better, but it's nice to have measurable results as well. In the past I've been a litlle cavalier about avoiding germs, but I'm not taking any risks to mess it up now, that's for sure. I'll be wearing the mask and gloves and using Purell all over the place to make sure this improvement continues.