I started IV's the first of December and was excited to stop them the first week of January. My thrill was short lived as my newly acquired 31% lung function dropped to below 26% only a week and a half later. Back on the meds I went and I'm still on them. Having to be on nearly continuous/continuous IV's can put someone within their transplant window. I am returning to Duke this weekend for my standing appointment with Dr. Palmer. I will probably find out on Tuesday the 17th what the team recommends. Will I be looking out that window once again?
Amazingly it has been 3 years since I first traveled to Duke for my transplant evaluation--it was in February of 2012. I've managed to go longer than they predicted I would before needing to come back for transplant. It's been a long time to
Although I felt miserable with nausea, weakness, dizziness, and anxiety through the holidays, I still had some great moments with my family.
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| Christina was able to fly home for Christmas this year. She just moved up a rank to Petty Officer Third Class! |
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| Maggie waiting for her turn to play the candy bar game on Christmas Eve. |
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| Wrapped in tons of saran wrap, candy bars were freed with glove-covered hands until the next person rolled doubles on the dice then they got a chance to unwrap as much candy as possible. It was wild and crazy fun. |
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| Max demonstrates the next game-- candy cane pick up. It was harder than it looks. |
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| Christmas morning present opening. Santa brought Christina a pair of Uggs. |
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| We didn't take too many pictures Christmas morning because we got distracted by gifts. Rheid gave me a massage certificate. |
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| The night after Christmas we took the kids to Candlelight Dinner Theater to see Miracle on 34th Street-The Musical. Rheid and I were excited to share the experience with them since we've been there several times. How were we to know that not every wonderful movie should be turned into a musical...yeah, not as impressive as we would have hoped. |
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| Had I been feeling better and the weather more cooperative, we would have taken a trip to Utah to see this beautiful couple, my niece, Krista, and her husband, Logan sealed in the Draper Temple. Our hearts were there; I was so sad to miss it. |
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| And just cuz it was so cool that I captured this picture, I am sharing the 1:00 a.m. photo I caught of two marauding raccoons who had pulled our bird feeder down and were snacking on our premium birdfood--blast them--until I surprised them and the more timid one ran over to the flower bed (blob near top right of photo.) We had caught one raccoon a couple of times but didn't know we were being tag-teamed. |
