Today was a good day after, say, 11 when my Mom got here and gave me a magical butterscotch candy that made me feel better. No joke. That witch woman, gotta love her.
I woke up very very sore all over, which I blame on the final push to clear all these fluids and some mild dehydration while I rocked out the exercise yesterday.
Major accomplishments today: Got my neck IV pulled, so the first time since 7/27, I do NOT look like Frankenstein. I got another bulb pulled, so now I only have 2 chest tubes :) and sleeping on my right side may be possible tomorrow! AND they removed 1/2 of my staples from THE SCAR (every other stitch.) Also, my nutritionist now fully believes that under the water weight I was able to totally maintain my real weight- which is awesome! We all really worried that due to all the nutrition problems, I'd lose like 10 pounds under all that fluid!
Ok - the other thing I was gonna right about is precautions after tx for the first 6 months. Oddly, I cannot find a good list online that I can just cut and paste. Do any of you bloggies have a good post I can refer to or know a site that I can direct readers to about the changes made to avoid rejection/ infection in the first year?
Instead of brilliantly making my own list, I'magotobed.
cg
Glad you had a good day CG. Candy makes everything better! Three cheers for losing the AJ, a bulb and staples! Hoping tomorrow is another good one!
ReplyDeleteSandy
SO glad to see you posting on a regular basis and that you're getting (and feeling) better everyday. The road to recovery is now clear and straight. We love you Beth.
ReplyDeleteU-Matt
Hi CG,
ReplyDeleteWith precautions, the most critical thing to avoid is viruses. Really any little virus, even a common cold virus, can send recently tx'd patients into a tailspin. We don't have a lot of good antiviral drugs and the ones we have are nasty. So, even 7+ years out, I am still very wary of folks that look like they are coming down with a cold. A regular adenovirus infection (one of those "common cold" ones) nearly killed me--literally--one year post-tx. I had 107 degree fevers! Plus, viruses can push you into rejection. So do everything within your power to stay away from sick people--kids in particular--and use hand sanitizer everywhere. Other than that, I think other precautions have changed since I was transplanted. Avoid changing cat litter (might be a problem with your kitty) much like a pregnant woman should. I was told no fresh fruit or vegetables (unless they had a peel like oranges or bananas) for the first few months, no sushi (I don't like it anyway but I have many friends that ignored that one), no gardening/exposure to soil because of the mold/fungus spores (I don't like to do that anyway so that one wasn't hard either), and no unpasteurized cheese (like brie, goat, etc). The hardest for me were the cheese and the fruits/veggies. I never craved salad so much in my life! I'm sure your team has a list but those were the biggies 7 years ago. Every tx center is a bit different. Just stay away from the sickies!!!!
Jill from NC