[Roger Spence]

My husband, Roger, was diagnosed in Spring 2022 with ILD. After an excellent extensive workup, they were not able to get a more specific diagnosis. His MD started him on Cellcept, an immune suppressant, with the hope of stopping the inflammatory process. He did not have extensive fibrosis. His ILD was stable and not progressing on the meds. We had hoped that he would do well for a significant period of time. However, he had an unrelated medical situation in March 2023 that required immediate laparoscopic surgery. He did well with the surgery, but a few days later, he developed an infection, became septic and died 7 weeks later. His hospital care was excellent. They did everything they could, but they could not stop the infection and inflammatory process. Because he was immunocompromised he was not able to fend off the infection. In 2022 at the time he was started on the medications, he was given the choice of an immune suppressant, an antifibrotic, or monitoring with wait and see what developed. He chose the immune suppressant. Looking back now, I wonder whether he made the best choice. Just some thoughts about choices we have to make and risks we take. He was extremely well educated and very knowledgable about his medical condition. Just bad luck and very sad for all of us. Mary Spence