We got the phone call yesterday evening. The pulmonologist had a cancellation, would Howard like to be seen at 8am today. We said yes. Howard needed to go in person so that the doctor could listen to his lungs. This was the first time breaking quarantine in a month. The result was mostly good news. Howard’s symptoms are classic for a severe case of asthma, which can very easily be caused by a viral illness such as the one Howard had in January. The doctor is confident that we can get Howard breathing better than he has been for the last three months. Learning you have severe asthma to treat for (probably) the rest of your life isn’t great, but it is so much better than the other explanations for what Howard has been experiencing (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease COPD, or heart failure.) We have new medicines for Howard to take daily and hopefully this will help him have more energy for creative things.
Until we have access to an antibody test for Covid-19, we need to continue being careful and self isolating. But at least now we have some answers and help.