Sunday, March 27, 2011

Gainesville Update!

Well I got my biopsy results back from my bronch last Monday and they were NEGATIVE!! Woo Hoo! So relieved....its kind of stressful waiting for those results.

Thursday I had the pressure test done on my legs and both have 100% blood flow in them, they are perfect! Well...except for the little bit of numbing I have on my left shin and parts of my left foot. The doctor said after the year mark of my surgery any numbing that I still have will probably be permanent but at this point its to early to tell what if any I will have!

Thursday night Mom and I met a great gal by the name of Lori. I have been reading her blog for some time now and she reads mine as well. When she emailed me and told me that she would be visiting her cousin in Jacksonville and would I like to meet up for dinner I jumped at the chance! We had an awesome time and I can't wait till the next time we can hang out...who knows maybe I might have to take a trip to NC soon! :)

Physical therapy is going good. Not to much to report there. Still working on our downstairs bathroom...its half painted its just needs the glaze but Danny has been working so much he hasn't had time to finish it. I wish I could help but painting is a no-no for me! Oh well it will
get done soon one thing Danny is not is a slacker!

Here are a few pictures of dinner the other night!! :)

Me & Lori

Lori, Me & Mom

Me & my Mom :)

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Busy Week!

Hello! I think I told you all in my last post that I was scheduled for a bronch/biopsy on the 24th and then I had other appts as well with other Dr's since we were up there. I figured get everything done in a couple days then we don't have to drive to Gainesville for awhile.

Well that was a great plan until my transplant Dr called last week and wanted to move my bronch from Thursday morning to Monday morning. So needless to say we had to drive to Gainesville Sunday night to sleep in a hotel, woke up had my bronch (first one since my trach has been removed I will get more into that in a minute) slept in recovery for a couple hours, was released to go home, had lunch at Fridays, got in the car slept some more and then finally arrived home! AND because we still have all my other appts that I made we get to do it all over again on Thursday and Friday minus all the sleeping since I am not having another bronch!

Its not so bad I just hate being in the car for HOURS....especially if its just me and one other person because then I feel like I have to stay awake and talk to keep them company when all I really want to do is sleep so the trip goes by faster!! Ever since I was a kid when I go on road trips my eyelids get very heavy and I am usually asleep before we have left the driveway! LOL Happens every time.....

I don't have the results of my biopsy yet but all my blood work came back ok and Dr. Baz said my lungs looked really good and that they were clear! Now onto my bronch experience...this was my first bronch post-trach and the first time going in through my nose so I wasn't entirely sure on what to expect.

First of all, the lidocaine breathing treatment taste gross let me just throw that out there. SO then my Dr comes in we chat for a minute he asks how im doing I get a few Rx from him etc., he tells the nurse to give me the meds (300mcg of Fentanyl and 3mg of Versed) and then he basically starts the procedure right away. So I felt him numbing my nose and while I don't really remember the whole procedure I do recall bits and pieces and I could feel some of it too. So I think if he gave me the medicine and waited I don't know 5 minutes maybe I would be more out of it than if he just started right away. Plus I think next time I am gonna see if he can give me 4mg of versed since I know of other people who get DOUBLE that amount! He can be so stingy when it comes to pain medicine and things like that....

Other than being sleepy for the rest of the day the only other side effect I had was a minor sore throat but that only lasted the rest of the day when I woke up Tuesday I was fine. One of the things I talked to my Dr about was the fact that im not happy with my weight....all 92.8 pounds of it! He asked me how my appetite was and I said that it was ok but not great so he gave me a Rx for Megace. Has anybody ever taken this before and if so how did it work out?

Onto more exciting stuff other than bronchs and weight gaining....we are almost done with the downstairs bathroom! Danny did the first couple coats of paint Sunday and Monday while I was out of town and hopefully if he has time this weekend he will do the glazed sponge paint on top of that! It looks SO good already I love my beach theme bathroom! :)

I went to my first post-tx yoga class on Friday and it was AWESOME! I also started physical therapy last week too. I will be going to PT 3 times a week where I will walk the treadmill/maybe start on the elliptical, work on my leg and foot a little since I still have a lot of numbness there from my arterial bypass surgery and then the BEST part of all is the massages since I have been having so much trouble with my lower back lately. I have an appt today at 4! :)

Well I think this post is long enough....I probably wont post again till I get back from Gainesville so I will let you all know then the results of my biopsy and how all my other appts went! Have a good rest of the week!

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Im Home! :)

Friday morning at around 7:30am I officially had my trach removed and before lunch I was discharged from the hospital!

We had some loose ends to take care of at the apartment (equipment pick-up etc) but were on the road and made it safe and sound to our house at around 4:00pm!

Friday night Danny and I went to my favorite pizza place for dinner and then on Saturday we went to Target in the morning and then spent the whole rest of the day deep cleaning (I say we loosely because I kind of sat there and "supervised") the house and putting away the Halloween decorations that were still up...yes thats right I said Halloween because I haven't been home since October!!!

My kitchen looks so pretty! When I was in the hospital I did a little shopping on Amazon (I tend to shop online when I am in the hospital...oops) and got new kitchen knives (which are FABULOUS by the way I have never cut an onion so well in my life!) and a really cute bottle to hold EVOO....that extra virgin olive oil for anybody who doesnt watch Rachael Ray on the Food Network! I will have to take some pictures of my kitchen tomorrow when I am downstairs and post them so you all can see. We have lived in the house 3 years and its just now starting to come together with the decorating for the longest time there was nothing on the walls and I didnt know where to start but its all coming together nicely!

This weekend I am re-doing the downstairs bathroom....3 years of palm trees and I am over it. I am gonna have my mom paint the bathroom this really pretty blue color and then I am going to do a beach theme in there! I found this shower curtain with flip flops on it thats really cute...I can't wait! :) I will take before and after pics of that as well....

Next week on the 24th and 25th I have to be in Gainesville for a bronch/biopsy and then see the vascular doctors as well and have the pressures in my leg tested to see how that is doing. Lets keep the fingers and toes crossed that its a CLEAR bronch and everything goes well!

Ok well its midnight so I SHOULD probably turn off the computer and try to go to sleep......wish me luck! Good Night :)

XoxoX

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

:(

SO....unfortunately I am STILL in the hospital. Poo!! :(

Today marks day 10 and my doctor still doesn't know when I will be discharged. He is doing a bronch tomorrow to check things out (I already had a biopsy Monday....No Rejection WOOP WOOP!!) and says he will have more of a game plan of when I can either go home home or tx-housing home depending on what he sees and if I can keep my stupid fevers lower than 99 for 48 hours.

As of right now I am on Colistin nebs twice a day, Vancomycin, and Cefepime for the Pneumonia and I guess he says I have a bladder infection too which is weird I have never had one before and I am peeing fine so how would one know if you have a BI...isn't it supposed to burn when you pee?

Oh yeah one quick question before I go. Has any post-tx out there noticed a change in there body temperature since there surgery? I used to freeze any and everyone out of every room I was in cause I had to have the A/C on COLD now Danny complains that I keep it like a sauna because I am always freezing. It's really weird! But hey on the bright side our electric bill should go down! LOL

OK, well im sure once I know more I will post about it seeing as I have not much else to do. I just really, really, really, really want to go home! My little brother comes home this weekend for spring break from Ohio and I am stuck 4 hours away from home. :(

Have a good day guys!
XoxoX