Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying

Since I have been off the antibiotics I have been feeling relatively good. The first couple days after I got home I was still getting winded easily.  A couple days ago though I have been noticing an increase in my energy.  I am doing my best to keep myself as active as possible without over doing it.  It feels great to be able to do things.  Today I even had energy to do some cleaning in the second bedroom.  We still have a few boxes that we never unpacked so I decided to tackle some of that while I had the ambition.  lol  Hopefully this lasts for a little while.

I met with the volunteer people at Roswell.  I had told her at the orientation that I wanted to work with research and she told me she would look into it.  I sat down with her and gave her my paperwork and she told me that I was going to be volunteering in the epidemiology department doing data entry.  I was very happy to hear this.  My doctor put on my paperwork that I could not be in contact with patients so this position was perfect.  I am working on my own entering in data and getting the experience I need for when I am well enough to start my career.  Since I am too sick to have a full time job now, I might as well do something with my time so I am ready when my lungs are.

Oh I also got a few medical things.  I bought an oximeter and a small device called a Peak flow meter that measures my FEV1 right at home.  I have included a picture of them so you can see what they look like.  I have used both and like them a lot.  The oximeter is used to read pulse and oxygen levels.  It is pretty accurate.  I took it with me to the hospital and it was right on with the one at the office.  I got it on Amazon for $30.  The FEV1 thing is nice to have too.  I used it yesterday and it is reading me at 29.  I believe it because I do feel better than I did when I was at the office so I would say this is close too. To test the accuracy of the FEV1 though I am going to bring it with me the next time I go to the doctors and see if it is the same.  I really think these things would be useful for me.  The oximeter is to help with seeing if I need oxygen.  Most of the time I can tell if I need it, but there were times in the hospital when I felt fine and my oxygen was at 88 or 89.  Also the FEV1 can give me an idea of when I am declining before I even notice it myself.  This is going to be useful too after the transplant.  I read that a sign of rejection and infection is a decrease in FEV1. Not sure if that is completely true so that is question for the doctors when I go back to NYC.  In the meantime though it is still a nice thing to have. Jay seems to like it too.  So if not for anything else it is a fun toy for him. ;)