Because I’ve needed prednisone as much as I have, it’s managed to do a number on several of the organs in my body (liver function, weight gain), and has affected my body in a myriad of ways (A1C of 5.8 on some examinations, elevated cholesterol). The newest side effect that seems to have been exacerbated by my need for prednisone seems to have been the gum infection that I mentioned in a previous entry — it’s beginning to look less like a gum infection and more like the beginning stages of periodontal disease, although it happens to be over a bridge in my mouth that I had placed when Bub was extremely young (so it couldn’t have started in a better place, and I mean that, because it is not “over” an active tooth). But the bad thing is that it looks like it is the beginning stages of periodontal disease, because the doses of and frequency at which I have needed prednisone to suppress problematic symptoms of asthma have lowered my immune system that much, and that was one of the trade-offs that had to be made to better my health.

I wish that this was not one of the trade-offs that we had to make, but it appears that we had to make it.

Fortunately for me, the bridge is still cemented into my mouth and does not appear to be showing any signs of “giving”, which is good. Things would be a whole lot worse if the bridge were compromised because of where it had to be placed in my mouth, and it’s not. And the fact that nothing has begun to spread beyond this point is also extremely good, because that is one less thing that I have to worry about. I continue to brush my teeth two to three times a day and use mouthwash, especially “the purple mouthwash”, which is suggested in this situation, and I do try to stay off of prednisone when I can avoid it… but I also acknowledge that in cases like mine, prednisone is a necessary evil, and there’s absolutely nothing that I can do about it.

Since the medication that my pulmonologist prescribed for me during this pandemic (Symbicort, which comes in an actuated inhaler) gave me an actual gum infection, I had to make an appointment with my primary care doctor to… you know, sort that mess out. Without going into detail, the symptoms exacerbated themselves in a matter of days, and I knew that I needed to be seen by someone to get on medication for it. However, my primary care doctor is doing Telehealth consults for all consults that he can do this with, and mine fit the bill for that. It may have taken him an hour and a half longer than my appointment time to get to me because of the people that were “ahead of me in line”, or however you might want to word that, but because I have a smartphone I was able to be seen by him without actually having to come into his office. He prescribed me some medication to swish around in my mouth to get rid of the infection, which I am hoping actually gets rid of the infection, and went over my most recent bloodwork. Since corticosteroids have begun to do a number on my body, I’ve been prescribed some medication to ameliorate the effects that they have been having on me so that they continue to remain open to me to take as needed, which I do like.

Meanwhile, I’ve been working on a manuscript in the event that I ever do decide to self-publish — and if so, when, which is the second big thing that I would have to consider — to see how many words I am able to “crank out” when. It might be a bit hard to participate in NaNoWriMo given that so many people shoot for approximately 1,600 words per day to get to 50,000 by the month’s end, especially since I want to write on non-fiction topics, but I’ll continue to think about throwing my hat in the ring for participation this year to see if I can actually swing it and write about what I want to write about during that time span! I don’t want to “sell myself out” and not write about what I want to write about, but if it’s something that would involve biting off more than I can chew, it might be best for me to plan accordingly, not participate this year, and/or figure out what I want to write in coming years that would allow me to hit the “daily average” and still have a reasonable shot at making it to 50,000 words by month’s end. But seriously, I’m glad that I know this now!