Three Months

It's been three months since my surgery, as of yesterday. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone! I guess the changing seasons help me to realize how long it's been. Summer and Fall have come and gone, and yesterday we woke up to snow. It looks like Winter has arrived! I don't think I'm ready for it yet!

I officially finished my physio program on Friday, but I'll be spending one extra week in the gym by choice. I did a six-minute walk test last week and I was able to walk twice as far as I could pre-transplant. It's amazing. I also had my last doctor's appointment, with my next one scheduled in two weeks. I will continue weekly bloodwork for a while to monitor my drug levels. Since stopping the VFend, my Tac levels have dropped so we've doubled my dose. My white blood cell count is also very low (for a second time) so I'm holding another immuno-suppressant for a couple of days to try and improve that.

I finally did it... and wrote my letter to my donor's family. I have thought about that letter every single day since transplant, but it was still hard to write. I wanted to make sure I said everything I wanted to and didn't leave anything out. I hope the family appreciates the letter and I hope it helps them have closure. I would love to receive a letter back from the family one day, but I have no idea if that will happen. Time will tell.

Over the weekend I noticed that my blood sugars started running low, which certainly hasn't happened in the last three months! I had been worried that I wouldn't feel the symptoms anymore, or that they'd be different, but I was able to identify the problem pretty quick. It looks like my body is slowly readjusting, and I have been able to scale back on my insulin. This is really encouraging! I was starting to worry that I'd be stuck on 80 units of insulin a day forever!

I have noticed a couple of other little things that make me happy, like my fingers becoming less clubbed. They weren't too bad before, but they are definitely reversing themselves!

I have noticed a couple of little things that bother me too- mostly minor side effects of the drugs. My blood pressure is high for the first time in my life, but I started a med to control that. I have had a harder time concentrating lately. I used to enjoy watching tv and being on the computer, but now I can only handle small doses, and I'm usually doing something else at the same time. I'm still always thinking about food, but I'm trying not to eat everything in sight! Time to learn how to like veggies for snacks! Since transplant, I have been obsessed with dill pickle chips. I liked them before, but they weren't my favorite and I only had them the odd time. Now I can't leave the grocery store without another bag- just in case I run out of chips at home. That would be a disaster! I also used to go to McDonald's at least once a week pre-transplant, and I haven't gone once since transplant. I haven't had the urge at all. Isn't that strange? I'm thinking it's my new lungs!

With the first three months gone by so quickly, I can't imagine how fast the next three will pass. It's hard to guess what's in store for me these next few months... all of the rules we've lived by no longer apply. I'm so excited for my new life!