I Will Survive Cont...

Wednesday July 17th

Both Grandma and I got up pretty early.  Neither one of us slept too well the night before.  I could tell she was tired, but I was doing better.  I was using words correctly, but I was still having a hard time finding them.  I would want to say something and the word would be on the tip of my tongue, but I could not come up with it.  I was also off with the present date.  I really had no idea what year it was.  When Dad got there he went out and got me a doughnut for breakfast.  He brought me back this huge glazed doughnut.  It was so good. Lol  I ended up eating the whole thing and both Grandma and Dad were surprised.  After the doughnut I still ate some of the breakfast that the hospital gave me.  I say some because most of it did not taste that great.  I was trying out what they had and still wasn’t sure what was good and what wasn’t.  Hospital food is far from great, but after trying things I learn what is good and what I should avoid.  The one problem I had from eating the doughnut was my blood sugar.  When the nurse checked it before lunch, it was a little over 400.  A normal blood sugar should not be above 200 after eating.  The Prednisone really affects blood sugar. I am use to being able to eat what I want when I want so this is going to be a learning curve.

I Will Survive

I was moved to floor seven on Monday July 15th and was there for five days.  Although I was better health wise, this was probably the hardest time for me.  I was alert and knew what was going on, but physically I was sore and could not do anything for myself.  I lost any independence that I had and I had to lose my modesty.  I needed help with everything. I knew things would get easier as days went by, so that is what I did.  I went day to day knowing things were already better.  I knew it would be a journey even after I got the lungs. I didn't expect it to be easy.  I got the lungs so there was not much to complain about.

Weak and Confused

This is going to be written in blocks of time, because this is how I remember it.  My mind was a mess through this whole time and I only remember things in chunks.  I will do my best to explain myself to everyone and hopefully you will all be able to follow along.  If not please feel free to ask me anything.

A Second Chance

For me, waiting for the lungs was the excruciating part.  I was completely lost when I got the call...sitting on my bed while Jason was running around crazy.  Then when I was on the plane I could not sleep because my mind was in so many places.  I will admit that I was nervous.  I could feel my heart beating (not as hard as when I realized I was getting the call) and I could not settle down.  I wanted these lungs more than anything at the moment, but I was scared too.

Hanging By a Moment

This whole transplantation has been surreal to me.  Part of me can't believe that this has happened.  I know it has, I feel it has, the breathing is amazing but the like I said, it doesn't feel real.  This is something that we have been talking about for more than a year now, but I was so use to not being able to breathe that part of me didn't know if it would ever chance.

Pittsburgh Evaluation

Last week I spent four days in Pittsburgh, PA for a lung transplant evaluation.  As most of you know, New York wanted me to be double listed because after a year of being on the list, I still have not gotten a call.  My doctor wants to increase my chances of getting lungs sooner so she made this suggestion to me.  NY Presbyterian sent a referral along with some files to University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC).  After collecting all my medical information and getting insurance approval, I was given an itinerary to come to Pittsburgh.

Deterioration of the Fight or Flight Response

I failed at being able to tolerate the NG tube.  It was my first try though and I am not going to give up on it completely.  I am going to try again tonight to see if I can get it down all the way and tolerate it.  This is a snapshot of one of the attempts.  Here is what happened.