Conductor John Mauceri is no stranger to health struggles.He was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis in 2017, then chronic lymphocytic leukemia and interstitial lung disease in 2019.
Medication treated the conditions and sent the cancer into remission, but he has remained on the lookout for recurrence. In December 2024, Mauceri, then 78, contracted COVID-19.He struggled to climb the stairs and developed a "troublesome" cough.
He went to the emergency room at NYU Langone, where he has previously received medical care.An X-ray found viral pneumonia and severe lung disease.
Doctors removed three liters of liquid from his right lung.The only relief, he said, was that there was no trace of cancer.
He left the hospital about a week later. Within weeks, new symptoms quickly emerged.First, his left ankle swelled.
Then the swelling continued up his leg.As the weeks passed, the swelling entered his abdomen and inched down his right leg.
At one point, Mauceri was gaining a pound every day.He was also dealing with fatigue and shortness of breath.
He couldn't conduct. "I was wearing somebody else's body, at least from my waist down.I couldn't wear normal clothes," Mauceri said.
"Putting shoes on was hard.I couldn't walk through my house." No one on his care team could identify what was causing the symptoms. "I had an oncologist, I had a pulmonologist, a rheumatologist.
I had a lot of doctors, and they all thought it was somebody else's domain," Mauceri said. Searching for a diagnosis Dr.Adam Skolnick, a cardiologist at NYU Langone and one of Mauceri's doctors, said the team first looked for more common causes for the swelling.
Mauceri underwent MRIs and other tests.An exam found his lymph system was working normally.
Cardiac catheterization, where a thin tube is guided through the heart, found no signs of heart disease.There were no signs of blood clots, cancer recurrence or other likely conditions. Meanwhile, the swelling was beginning to strain ...