Cough! Sniff! Smile!

I have a cold!  A marvelously mundane, run-of-the-mill, COLD!  Never before (and probably never again) have I been this happy to have a sore throat, cough and runny nose.  See, I've spent these past three months worried about my super-suppressed immune system and what was going to happen once I contracted some virus (despite my masks and copious amounts of hand sanitizer): Would it settle into my new lungs and compromise them?  Would a mere ordinary virus render me incapacitated somehow?   Will a strong cough hurt my still-healing sternum?

Turns out, none of the above.  I, being the mere mortal that I am, can get sick just like all y’all.  So bring on the tissue (and Sudafed!  For the first time in 7 years, I’m allowed to have regular cold medicines!  THESE ARE VICTORIES, PEOPLE.). I’ll be sniffing, snorting and hacking here at home with a big ol’ smile on my face.

And in other update-news:

• I had clinic today at UW (which includes labs, pulmonary function tests, xray, doctor, echo).  Everything is looking good, though my lab work and echo results won’t be available for the doctor to see until later today so tomorrow, I’ll hear back if there’s any concerns.  If all is still fine, next appointment will be in two weeks.  
• I get to drop two more meds so now I’m *only* on 15 daily medications.  
• This Saturday will mark three months since my transplant.
• Physical therapy is once a week – I do really well when I’m there, though it’s hard to get the motivation to do all my exercises here at home (see aforementioned “cold” as my latest excuse).
• Cheeks and chin(s) still in abundance.  Hand tremors are manageable.  Have weird hematomas popping up all over my body.   Still crave sweets like crazy.  All this, and more, to be blamed on the large amount of prednisone I’m on.  Stupid (but kind of miraculous) prednisone.