January 31: PROGRESS REPORT
I've been home a week and it's been WONDERFUL! Love my flannel sheets; the sounds of the kids (at the moment, Charlotte is singing loudly in the shower); all the yummy food that's still being dropped off to help out the family; the surprise new car Scot bought for me (apparently these lungs are too good for a mini-van -- I have the prettiest Toyota Highlander you've ever seen, though sadly I can't drive it until mid-March); and all the help I'm getting in the house -- currently, my awesome sis-in-law Robin Kinnard is here and it's such a treat for all of us...and I don't know what we would do without niece Jessi Nunes being the "primary parent" still, as Scot's been back at work and I'm not ready to take that on.
I'm getting stronger each day -- made it up 4 stairs unassisted twice today and am turning into a pretty good putterer around the house. I had my first post-tx clinic appointment yesterday and have my first outpatient physical therapy tomorrow. There's still some mysterious fluid in my left lung so next week, in addition to an xray, pulmonary function test, clinic and meeting the surgeon, I'll also have both a CT scan and Bronchoscopy to see if any action is needed.
My to-do list is growing -- this whole transplant ordeal swirls around in my head and I have a LOT of processing to do regarding it. Seems like every time I talk to someone, I remember something else that happened during my lengthy hospital stay or I get kind of overwhelmed with how huge it is to have someone else's lungs in me and how I am now a person who no longer has Pulmonary Hypertension and no longer needs a new set of lungs. I do, however, seem to have a new set of cheeks -- chubby cheeks are a very common side effect of the huge dose of Prednisone I'm on and although Scot thinks they are a-DOR-a-ble, I'm really hoping that as we taper down the meds over the next several months, the cheekage tapers as well. But on the plus side, it sure smooths out all my wrinkles!
I'm getting stronger each day -- made it up 4 stairs unassisted twice today and am turning into a pretty good putterer around the house. I had my first post-tx clinic appointment yesterday and have my first outpatient physical therapy tomorrow. There's still some mysterious fluid in my left lung so next week, in addition to an xray, pulmonary function test, clinic and meeting the surgeon, I'll also have both a CT scan and Bronchoscopy to see if any action is needed.
My to-do list is growing -- this whole transplant ordeal swirls around in my head and I have a LOT of processing to do regarding it. Seems like every time I talk to someone, I remember something else that happened during my lengthy hospital stay or I get kind of overwhelmed with how huge it is to have someone else's lungs in me and how I am now a person who no longer has Pulmonary Hypertension and no longer needs a new set of lungs. I do, however, seem to have a new set of cheeks -- chubby cheeks are a very common side effect of the huge dose of Prednisone I'm on and although Scot thinks they are a-DOR-a-ble, I'm really hoping that as we taper down the meds over the next several months, the cheekage tapers as well. But on the plus side, it sure smooths out all my wrinkles!
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