Clinic Day!

Last night was an interesting one. I was wore out from diabetes clinic and then our adventure to Target, needless to say I was out as soon as my head hit the pillow. I woke up at 2:00 am in a coughing fit, scared the be jeez out of my mom. I had some post surgical junk break loose and decided it wanted to come out. It was a nasty looking goober! I crawled back into bed and fell right back to sleep, until the alarm went off at 6:00 am. Got out of bed did my morning routine, ate breakfast, jumped in the shower, got ready for the day and out the door we went at 7:30.

We had our first post transplant clinic visit today. Started off with an 8:00 appointment for a blood draw out of my port. Well my port decided to be stubborn, it wouldn’t give up any blood! The nurse had to use some “special” tricks, it took about an hour before my port would work correctly. Since I’m on Tacrolimus it’s a timed blood draw, it has to be drawn by 9:00 am before I take my morning dose. I ended up getting poked in the arm. Silly port!!! After we resolved the issue with my port, it was off to do PFT’s (pulmonary lung function test). Today my FEV1 level (which is how much air you can push out in one second) was 63%!! Remind you on Friday when I was discharged my FEV1 was 59%!! My FVC (which is how much air you can take in when in one second) was 71% and last Friday it was 60%!! The best part about doing PFT’s it only took me maybe ten minutes to complete!! Pre transplant it would take me close to forty five minutes or so to complete. I would have horrible coughing spells, trying to recover and catch my breathe took a lot of energy. Not today!! I was amazed at how well I did, and how amazing it felt!! After PFT’s we headed around the corner for a chest X-ray. We had a slight hiccup and had to wait longer than expected, once we got back to the X-ray room it only took a few minutes to take the picture. Finally we completed that step, then it was back upstairs to follow up with the thoracic team. We met with Dr. Kapnadak (or Dr. K) today, very nice man. We went through my medication list, answered any questions we had. He pulled up my X-rays, and said everything looked great! Next on discussion was my PFT’s, which I was really excited to talk about. In Dr. K’s words “I’m way ahead of the game!” He went on to explain most post transplant patients don’t usually have that big of a change in their PFT’s within just a couple days. He also said “it takes most post transplant patients 2-3 months to find their new “baseline” in PFT’s, and If I continue to do well my baseline should be great!” We moved onto my journal. He looked over all my measurements, and blood sugars and was very pleased with our numbers. Next he listened to my new breathers and said they sound clear as a bell! Again I was very pleased!!! It was a quick visit with Dr. K but both my mom and I were delighted with my progress! The last stop on our list was the pharmacy. Time to refill all of my medications, holy moly I felt like I purchased the entire pharmacy! Ha ha. We finally left UW Medical Center at 1:30, needless to say I was worn out!! My mom retrieved the car from valet and we were on our way back to the hotel. Once we arrived we both kicked off our shoes, ate some lunch and then I laid down and took a two and half hour nap. It was a much needed nap! My batteries feel recharged!

After my nap, my mom and I filled up my SAM’s (self administered medication) box. It’s a weeks worth of medication for me. It looks like a lot of medication now, but over time the number of pills should decrease. It was a lot of cutting, and sorting,9 Well I should say my mom did, I just put them in the correct spaces. Ha ha

After completing SAM’s my mom cooked a delicious fish and rice dinner, and now we are just relaxing on the couch before we call it a day. I will post a picture down below of my SAM’s box.

Sama J Sherman wrote in and asked “How long will the lungs last?” “Would you do it all over again?” “Do the lungs feel like yours?” On average if you don’t go through rejection your transplant can last up to ten years. But I have met and read so many post transplant stories of people living 15 years to 20 years post transplant. YES a million times yes I would do it all over again! Oh man “do the lungs feel like mine?” No they don’t. Just because I can breathe easy now. My old lungs I struggled constantly to breathe. But to be completely honest I’m still having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact I just had a double lung transplant. Even though my chest is still sore, it’s still hard to comprehend!

Well my eyelids are getting heavy, it’s been a busy couple of days! Hope everyone had a great Wednesday!

Until next time………

~Jen~
“Just Breathe”