Hello, funny I have been thinking about this board but was in Tennessee this time at my sons house over the weekend.Unfortunately my granddaughter had a seizure but is OK.poor sweetie was so scared and me too because she fell into my arms and since I still have no voice to speak of it was hard to yell for my son.Anyway all is OK now.
I am still coughing which makes me nervous because its been awhile now.I had an appt. with the cardiac Dr I went to for my first stress test and he gave me tesslon pearls for my cough.I actually only took it once bc it made me too sleepy and I have to work.(i still drive for uber, at least until I get my voice back so I can move forward) I go back to the thoracic surgeon on Monday though but I really don't know why bc his job is done and he can't fix my voice.I think I'm actually getting angry about it lately.
I was talking to my landlord who actually lives up the drive,(25 acres and horses) and was telling him why i had no voice and was told it was Histoplasmosis(they think) and its from bird droppings and bats as well.He looked at me and looked at the ground and said,"this place is full of it just look down at the ground"! Its a horse farm and I never thought much about it bc its a gravel drive so i cant tell whats bird droppings? Bats are in horses barn im sure but Ive only been in there a couple times.Not sure if I should find another place or what? Im taking that fungus medicine for the next 8 months as it is and not happy about it.Any thoughts?

@pattymac That really is interesting Patti, very good detective work on your part! As I recall, you have seen a physician in Infectious Disease, is that correct? If so, I'd call his/her office with this information or contact him via the patient portal and let him know about your living environment. Informing your treating doctors (maybe even pulmonologist) about this would be a good idea as well. I'm not a medical professional - so this is just a guess, but I'm thinking that even if you haven't been inside the barn very much the bacteria from the droppings could be in the air that you are breathing. It is certainly a good idea to contact doctor's office to run this by him/her. Teresa

@pattymac, I mentioned a friend 's experience with histoplasmosis a reply on June 23. Coincidentally, I saw him at the grocery right after that and I told him about your situation He kind of shook his head and grimaced and said that he, too, got it once. He said he felt awful and was off work for 4 months. According to his doctor, it is in the soil all thru this region, and most of us residents have built a natural immunity - but for some reason, my friend picked up the infection. He thinks he may have gotten it by disturbing the soil while leveling ground while installing a swimming pool in his backyard.
Patti, keep in mind that this is 'hearsay' but it does give a perspective to think about.
He also said that his dad took the med for quite a while (whatever that is)
Rosemary

Yes I have seen an Infectious disease Dr and Im told he is good but I am not that comfortable with him. I maybe should have gone to the thoracic surgeons friend who is an ID Dr but once again I listened to my friend which I haven't heard from since I told her I was upset I lost my voice by the way.Anyway I have an appt which is a followup by the thoracic Dr on Monday and the ID Dr on 20th. I'm tired of Drs already.I will tell him about my area though.

I think maybe my immune was down due to orthopedics surgery on my knee last fall? I had a knee scope too. I kept telling my regular Dr I felt like i had chills so maybe a sinus infection at that time and he just called in a Zpack?

@pattymac It is hard to say - just keep repeating your history to each doc you see. Somewhere down the road they might put the pieces of the puzzle together and understand just what is going on. Sometimes some illnesses are just like a large jigsaw puzzle - a lot of pieces laying around and difficult to put together. Teresa