Bagels and cream cheese anyone?

Hey everyone!

Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend so far. My weekend is going splendidly if I do say so myself. Last night I went out to eat a fabulous dinner at Mama Dips with my friend Ann and her husband Alex. It was so tasty. But I HAVE to stop going out to eat before I go broke. But it's just so fun to enjoy being able to go out and not getting tired or out of breath and to just enjoy myself or have to worry about running out of O2. :)

Then today my Mom went home for the weekend and my brother drove up here to hang out and stay over with me so I wouldn't be alone. We ordered pizza for lunch from Alfredo's and it was super tasty. I love their pizza. So good. Then we just hung out, he watched some football while I facebooked and chatted. lol Around dinner time we went out and rented a couple movies, so I'm writing this while we're watching The Last House on the Left. Boy this movie is more disturbing than the first version! I also rented Hounddog with Dakota Fanning. Bree told me that it was also pretty disturbing. Great.

Clinic went pretty well yesterday. They still are waiting to put me back on a profalactic antibiotic. Which makes me a little nervous but, I trust their expertise. They said my x ray looked fine, a lil better. Which is good. But, they discovered a pollup in my nose, which they said COULD be what's causing all of my coughing and the blood streaks in the sputum those times. Or it could be something else. or it could just be nothing to worry about. B/c I haven't had any temperature or shortness of breath or anythign else. But, just to be on the safe side, they've moved my 3 month bronch. up from the 17th of Sept. to this coming Thursday. I'm a little nervous about it. But, I'm being positive. :)

Tomorrow night Bo (my brother) is going to be back at home since he has to work in the morning. And Mom is staying home again and coming back up here Mon. morning in time to take me to P.T. So, I'll be staying alone tomorrow night. My FIRST night alone post transplant, all by myself. With no Dr.'s or nurses or Mom around. I'm a bit nervous but more excited than anything! Wish me luck!!!!

GUESS WHAT! I believe I've discovered what I inherited from my Donor!!! BAGELS! She must have loved bagels. B/c ever since my transplant I have craved them non stop. And before transplant i hardly EVER ate them. Not that I didn't like them at all, It's just i rarely ate them. And when I say rarely - i mean like once ever 6 months to a year, I'd eat a bagel. Now I can't get enough of their goodness! I clump on cream cheese and spread it allllllllll over and then practically inhale them. I eat them with breakfast at least 4 or 5 days out of a week. And still crave them during the day (but don't eat them during the day). Well occassionally I will if i didn't eat them at breakfast that day. :) Its so odd! But definitely cool to have such a connection with my Donor.

Well I'm going go watch Hounddog now. I'll blog at y'all later! Here's a pic of my Pomeranian Prince, Neeko, to make you smile! He always makes me smile!


Neeko loves corn on the cob!

Shrimp Sauce, Shrimp Sauce, where for art thou, Shrimp Sauce..????

Helloooooooo y'all.

Hope everyone had a great Thursday. I had a pretty low key day. It was one of my day's off from P.T. so I just lounged aorund all day until time to get ready to go out. Then tonight I went out to eat dinner with Stephenie. OHhhh my gosh. I'm so effin' full. All I've done all day is eat it feels like. Prednisone is NO JOKE! It makes me so hungry!!! We went to a Japenese steak house in Durham. It was soooooooooooooo tasty. It was the first time i'd eaten Japanese since my transplant. It sooo hit the spot. I ate sooo much! Oh how I've missed that shrimp sauce!!!! While, the food was wonderful, our cook was lacking on the trick skills. He messed up sooo many times. He must have either been new or he was having an "off" night. He went to flip the bowl up ontop of his hat and dropped it on all 3 tries. One time it missed his head completely and flew behind him.

But that's okay. It was just super exciting to be back at a Japanese steak house for the first time in forever. The first time sans oxygen. EVER. I didn't have to back away from the table or cover my face when he did the fire trick!!! Yay! Fire is no longer my enemy!!! :)

Then we went to Super Target, b/c she had to get some little gifts for her trainees at work. Okay I have a confession. Even though it is the stupidest ugliest thing I've ever seen...I've really wanted a Snuggie blanket ever since I first saw the commercial. Well.....they had them at Super Target...and....well...I was weak! I bought one! A pink one! I can't wait to get cold again so I can use it! :) Don't laugh at me! I hear your cackles! You're just jealous you don't have a Snuggie!!! lol

Tomorrow I have tx clinic and P.T. Then, I believe I'm going out to eat with Ann and her husband. God, I feel like all I do is eat these days. lol

Okay, I'm done for now. I'll see y'all later!!!!! *POOF*



Steph and I at the Japanese steak house! Her last night in Durham!

Mallin' it.

Hi strangers.

I've come to the conclusion that my new lungs are yesterday's news. :) I haven't had any comments in forever!!! Are you guys still reading this? Or should I give it up!?? lol Oh well. It gives me something to do whether you guys read or not! :)

Anywho's......

Today I had P.T. I walked on the treadmill for about 25 mins before Rich (the P.T.) stopped me b/c I was limping a little too much. The ankle is still giving me issues. It hurts when I put weight on it and walk. So, after the treadmill, he fitted me for an arch support thingy and put it in my shoe on that foot. I hope it helps. B/c I'm getting tired of hurting when I walk. He said it was probably a result of my broken knee trying to overcompensate. B/c I'm not used to being so active and now post transplant b/c I'm walking so much more, and the way my left leg and foot don't line up exactly straight, its causing me pain in the ankle region. Hopefully, when I get used to the arch support thingy, it will fix the pain issue.

Yesterday we went out to the drug store so I could pick up some of my pills. Then Mom wanted to get her hair done so we went to University Mall and she went to a salon there. Well b/c she walked in wihtout an appointment she had to wait a lil' while. She was in there for over 2 fricken' hours. So, I bounced! Left her there and went exploring the mall alone. Boy, that was a lot of walking. My ankle was killing me by the time we left and my legs were soooooo tired. But, it felt very liberating to go walking and shopping on my own, sans O2, sans gasping for breath and having to rest every couple minutes. I felt so Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! And happy.

While I was there, I spent money. :-( Dammit. I'm so weak. lol  I bought a book to read and a book to send to Luke. Also, I got a cute water bottle and a pack of blank cd's so I can transfer some pics from my computer to get developed so I can start my scrapbook. I might have bought something else, but I can't remember for sure. lol

Last night I went out to dinner with Stephenie. We ate at Elmo's diner. It was the 2nd time I've been there. It was pretty tasty. Then we went to TCBY and got some yogurt! Mmmmmm. We're going out again probably Thursday. This is her last week staying in Durham for work. Friday I have plans to go to dinner with Ann and her husband Alex. I love being able to go out so much and actually have the breath and energy to have a good time!! Thank you donor and donor family!

Tonight I have support group at 6pm. So i plan on resting the rest of the day. I may play my Wii a little bit. Now that I'm off sternum precautions! I'm ready to bowl and play some pool! My Mom is going home on Saturday. Woo hoo! Mom free weekend! My brother Bo is coming up to stay with me Saturday night. We'll probably go out somewhere to eat and a movie or something. Who knows!

I'm off! Hope everyone is having a great week so far!

Still breathing. Effortlessly.

What's up bitches?!

Hope everyone is doing great. I'm doing pretty decent. I had P.T. today, it wasn't too bad. My ankle is STILL sore. So she only made me walk on the treadmill for 20 minutes. THen i did the bike with my legs for 20 minutes. Then I was done. I just wish my ankle would stop hurting when I walk. I bought an gel ice pack thingie to wrap around it after P.T. or when it's hurting.

Friday I had clinic. It went pretty well. They said the pleural effusion that they saw the week before on my x-ray, looked like it was improving, slowly. It's good that it's improving itself without the need for any kind of extra treatment or procedure. But, they did say it was doing it slowly. Plus, I've been coughing a lot more lately, but haven't had any temp. or shortness of breath or anything other symptoms that could mean something was wrong. But, he said that if I kept coughing like that, they may move my bronch. up and do it before Sept. 17.

Saturday evening, around 9:30pm., Stephenie, her husband Keith and I all went out to the DSI Comedy Theater in Carborro. (just outside Chapel hill) I had first heard about it from Tiffany. She takes improv classes there. So after visiting their website, I decided I'd love to go see some improv comedy. I'd never even been to any kind of stand up comedy club or anything. So, needless to say, I was super excited. lol It was really funny. We had a good time.

Yesterday afternoon, mom and I went over to Vicki and Chris's house to celebrate Shawn's birthday. I had a great time. Tiffany was there also, so we finally got to hang out again. I hadn't seen her since my birthday party, a month ago.

At P.T. I asked if my friend Candace who got her new lungs earlier this year, was still in the hospital. She had come into the hospital when I was still inpatient post transplant. She has been having a rough time lately. Kristin (the PT) told me that she was still inpatient at the moment. But couldn't tell me anything else. (HIPPA laws) I also found out that my transplant buddy at rehab that I work out with, Joe, is back in the hospital. He got his transplant like a month or so before me and was doing awesome. I'm not sure what the problem is, since legally no one can give me any info without his or his family permission. But, please keep Candace and him in your thoughts and prayers!

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it yet or not, but my Bronchiectasis twin Bree got her transplant recently on 7/8!!!!! I'm so psyched for her! Ironically, we both got our transplants very close to our birthdays. So we both got to celebrate our birthdays post tx, and o2 free!!!!!!!!!!!! :) Congrats again Bree! Check out her blog link under my links, it's called "The Blog Blog."

Well, I'm going to go find something to do. Or try at least. :) *POOF*

Shopping - the root of all evil.

What's up People?

Hope everyone is well. Rehab has been a bitch this week. I think they are trying to kill me. lol  Monday, I forgot and wore my flip flops to PT. B/c I was coming straight from Lexington and I had forgotten to pack my tennis shoes. So they worked my ass out. lol  Then yesterday, b/c my ankle was hurting, Kristen had me do only 25 mins on the treadmill. I thought maybe she was letting me off easy. But, then she announced she would be walking me over to the new Quizno's at the hospital, to show me where it is. Which consisted of going outside and walking up about 25 steps. Whew! It was so hot outside!!! Plus the steps! I thought i was going to fall down in a puddle and die. But, I did better than I thought I'd do. So, finally, when we got back inside the PT department, I thought maybe I was done, but then she announced I had 15 minutes left. So she put me on the leg press machine. Which I really didn't mind, but then she set the weight to 25 lbs and I about shit myself. I had to do 3 sets of 10 leg presses at 25 lbs each time. I was exhausted and red all over from being hot and sweaty. That's the most I've ever sweated in like 17 years.

Today was one of my days off from Rehab, so Vicki and I went shoe shopping. I needed to get some decent tennis shoes for Rehab(since mine don't have backs on them and just slip on). We went to DSW and I ended up spending way too much money. I got 2 pairs of tennis shoes and like 3 or 4 pairs of other shoes, and some socks and heel inserts. Then we went to A.C. Moore which is like a Michael's. I spent way too much money in there too. All b/c I want to make a scrapbook of my transplant experience. Overall today, my wallet is severely damaged lol  I have to remember to transfer some of my savings back into my checking lol  But, at least I'll have some more supportive shoes to walk on the treadmill with. Hopefully, it will keep my ankle/s from hurting.

Luke and his friend have left this afternoon, on their "man journey" aka "Survival trip" down some river. I'm a bit worried. There's no telling what he might get himself into. At least I know he can take care of himself.

Anyways, I gotta take another hike up the Pilla-layas and maybe watch a movie. See ya later!

Back in L-Town, aka Stale -Town, aka Lex-Vegas, aka Lexington,NC. (home)

What's up y'all!

I'm finally back in Lexington (Home) for a couple days. It's the first time I've been home since my transplant. It's been pretty good so far. We got home around 11 a.m. yesterday (Saturday). I took a nap for a while and then my friend Jonathan and I went to Sonic for dinner. YAY SONIC. Another first since transplant. Man I missed Sonic, something bad. lol It was a tasty treat. lol

Then, after dinner, I went to a party for my friend's birthday. It was good to get out and I got to see some people I hadn't seen in a long time, including a friend of mine that I hadn't seen since my transplant. (Brooke) Since I can't drive yet (sternum precautions) Brooke and her husband Josh came and picked me up for the party. It was fun and good to see everyone. I got home around 10:15 pm or so. Then watched a couple episodes of True Blood. Ahhh I finally got a fix. lol There is more to watch tonight before I'm all caught up. Man I miss my HBO and Showtime shows. Shit, I miss my DVR, period!

Today I went to church. I hadn't been since before my surgery. I'm glad I went but, when I went to do communion, I spilled my wine all over myself. lol Typical Meghann. Thanks a lot prograf! You suck! My hands were pretty shaky this morning, apparently lol The preacher acknowledged my presence and welcomed me back to church in front of the whole congregation, which was nice, but embarrassing b/c then everyone clapped. I hid behind my church program. lol

Right now, I'm hangin' out over at Lori Beth's house with her for the afternoon. I hadn't been online since before I left Chapel Hill to come home, so I hopped on via her laptop.

This morning around 8:00 am, my knee (the good one) woke me up. This is like, the 3rd time that this has happened. The other two times was back in Chapel Hill at the house we're staying at. Those times, my knee kept me up all night hurting when I was trying to sleep. This time I woke up from the pain shooting through it. NO matter what position I put it in, it still hurt super bad. So i had to get up early and wake my Mom up and get some pain medicine. It was hurting me so bad that I actually cried a little. I haven't even cried from my post tx chest pain. That's how bad the knee was hurting.

But, luckily the pain medicine helped in time for me to attend church. Probably b/c I took a lil extra than I normally do. (But well within my limit, of course!)But then, before church let out, the pain was starting to come back. So I had to take some more before I left to come over here to Lori's. I just don't understand why this knee is doing this. I would think it would be my bad one. The one with all the pins and the plate in it. I brought my pain med. with me over here, b/c I'm gonna be here for a while.

Later when I get back home to my parent's house I have a date with Neeko. I'm going to take him on our first REAL walk together. EVER. I'm so relieved that he seems happy to see me. He's been sitting with me a lot and paying me a lot of attention. I was worried that he wouldn't love me anymore or not really give a shit that I was there. Like, maybe he had forgotten about me. But he hasn't! Yay! I miss him when I go back to Chapel Hill tomorrow morning.

Later after I get back home to the 'rents house, my friend Emily is coming over. I haven't seen her since Halloween 08!!! Jonathan might come back over to watch some more True Blood. I'm not sure.

Tomorrow morning, around 8:00 am, I'm going to go by Physical Therapy at the hospital to see my girls. (my PT's for about 17 years on and off.) They are going to shit themselves when they see me without my o2. lol Then we're going to be on the road back to Chapel Hill by 9:00am b/c I have PT at 11:00 am.

Anyway, I wrote a book. My fingers are tired from typing. Until next time, stalkers. :)

In Rob's words, "I'm headin' out like a fetus!"

LOLOLOLOLOL

The Treadmill vs. The Cripple Knee : Treadmill - 1 Cripple Knee - 0

What's up ya'll.

I'm home from Rehab (P.T.) and eating lunch at McAllister's Deli.  MMmmm it sure was tasty. Rehab was good today, except I lifted my leg up while I was on the treadmill to scratch it and ended up slamming it into the front handles on it. OUCH! So i had to stop for about 30 seconds to rub the soreness out. Luke got a huge laugh out of that situation when I told him. lol It was my "bad" knee too. The one with all the metal in it. But, luckily I didn't hit it on the side with the pins in it. Whew. That could have been disasterous. But, aside from that, everything went well. I walked for 40 minutes and increased my speed all the way up to 2.3 mph. That is incredible fast for me. I did 2.3 for at least 10 or 15 minutes at the end. My legs and ankles are sooo tired. But, at least I survived! Woo Hoo! Slick Richie said that I did great and that they were going to have to start finding me more things to do b/c I'm getting too good on the treadmill. MUahahahahahaha. :) *evil grin*

My aunt Jane is here right now spending the afternoon, until her son (my cousin Matt) comes to pick her up. He lives in Durham and she is going to stay the night at his house. Then tomorrow, she is going to come back over here and stay the night with us. Also, Lori Beth is supposed to be coming up here this afternoon and staying the night with me. Mom, Lori, and I are going to support group tonight at 6pm and then afterwards, Wal-Mart. I need to get some more clothes to wear to rehab. Mom's paying with ther Sam's Club card. :) YAY. Thanks Mom!

Well, thats all for now. Tootles.

Bloggin' it up y'all.

What's up y'all?

I'm back again. You'll never escape me!!! :) Hope everyone had a wonderful Monday. Ughhh I hate Mondays. But, actually, my day was pretty good. I had rehab like I mentioned in the last post. I surprised myself with how good I did. I broke a couple of my treadmill records. I actually walked for 45 mins non stop. Before, 40 mins was the max. I had walked on the "Beast." And also, I walked at 1.9 for a lot of the time, which is the fastest I've ever walked. Before my transplant, I couldn't walk more than like 1.2 or 1.3 without thinking I was going to pass out. So, Yay for me.

After rehab, we walked up to the 4th floor to the Tx clinic b/c I needed to make sure I had my appointment down for Friday. And I had left my personal copy of my PFT's from Friday in clinic, so I wanted to get another copy. After we left the clinic, we walked down to Anderson South, which is the unit I was on after ICU. I wanted to see the nurses for the first time since I got discharged. I saw a couple of them and then asked them if my friend Candace was still there on the floor. She had her double lung transplant earlier this year. But when I was in the hospital after mine, she was readmitted with some complications. Two weeks ago I was told by the social worker that she wasn't doing very well, so while I was at the hospital today visiting the floor, I asked them if she was still there b/c I wanted to see her. I found out she was in the ICU on the 2nd floor. (Where we all go straight after the transplant surgery) One of the nurses led us down there and went into the ICU to see if she could have visitors. She wasn't able to have visitors, but her parents were in there. They were upset and didn't want to talk at the time, so they gave the nurse permission to let me know what was going on with Candace. I won't go into it, b/c it's not my place to tell, but she's very sick right now and they don't know what is going to happen. It makes me so sad. It is so upsetting. I found myself crying in the hallway. Please keep her in your prayers!

I'm changing the subject before I cry again....

After we left the hospital, we were both hungry, so we went to Bailey's to eat lunch. Mmmmmm Bailey's. The food was excellent. And we had a really nice waitress. Plus it wasn't very crowded. That's always a plus. After we got home, I've just been hanging out, resting from rehab. And of course I talked to Luke. You know that is always a given. :)

My brother sent me another pic to my Crackberry today of my 'lil pomeranian prince, Neeko. I can't wait to go home on Saturday and see him. I want to hold his furry little body in my arms and squeeze him for hours. I hope he still loves me and doesn't feel like I've neglected him or ignored him on purpose. Surely he'll understand, right?

Well, I'm off for the night. Sleep well, my loyal followers. For tomorrow is another day. And you never know what it may bring!

Go lungs go.

Hidey Ho, stalkers. :) (jk)

I hope everyone has had a good week and weekend. My week was decent. I just did the usual routine that I'm pretty much getting used to by now. Rehab on Mon, Wed and Friday, along with tx clinic on Friday as well. Rehab went okay this week. I had a couple minor issues that were Non-rehab related that kept me from doing as much as I could on a couple of the days, but nothing serious. I intend to make up for it this week. Tomorrow morning can't come soon enough. (Pysche Pysche, your momma ride's a motor bike.) lol For Seeeeerial though, I do want to kick ass in rehab from now on b/c I have a lot of travel plans to make for the not so distant future and I intend to be in shape so I can take the most advantage of my trips.

Where do I plan on traveling to, you ask? Lots of places. KY to see Luke, MD to see Monica and Mike (where we'll also go to DC since they live so close). Also, I intend on going to Wilmington one weekend in October I think it is, to attend a party with Emily and her brothers. And of course I will take a trip down to Myrtle Beach to see my Dad's side of the fam. I'd also like to save up some money and go on a cruise. But who knows if that will happen. lol I've been spending enough money as it is.

Clinic on Friday went well. I went up 5% on my FEV1. (Forced Expitory Volume over 1 second - part of the Pulmonary Function Tests,for you non-lung disease folks.) The blood work was good, except they said my liver stuff was elevated a little bit. But they said it could be from the Bactrim they started me on as a profalactic. So the Dr. just told me to quit taking it and they would recheck it next time. He said my x-ray looked the same, if not a little better. So that is good. My blood pressure was pretty high though. But, I think that was mostly b/c my mom and I weren't having a "good" day together, so I had already been arguing and stressed when I went into clinic. So, all in all, they said I was doing great, so that was a relief.

The one bad thing that they told me was NOT to sleep with a fan on. WHAT? Are they insane? I don't think that I can go the rest of my life without feeling that relaxing sound in my ears and comfortable breeze against my face while I sleep. They just don't understand. I will have to revisit this topic with them on Friday and see if I can make them see it my way. Wish me luck. lol 

This weekend has been pretty laid back. Friday I don't think I did anything but rest after rehab and clinic. Then on Saturday, family and Nate and Susie came into town for Bo's belated birthday dinner. We went to Carborro to Tyler's Tap Room. Good food, HORRIBLE SERVICE. DON'T EVER GO THERE. My cousin said he and his wife have been to the one in Durham several times and it is great. So MAYBE i'll try there one day. BUT NEVER will I step foot in the one in Carborro again. It took them and Hour and half to seat us. And we got there at 7pm. Then it took them another hour to bring our food. And they didn't even take my appetizer order. they completely skipped me. So, I had to order my appetizer with my dinner. PLUS, they completely neglected to bring my cousin Matt's food at all. He finally got his food when we all were finished eating and they were taking our plates and bringing Bo's cake out. And speaking of the cake...we brought our own. Which they promptly informed us was against the health code and that they would be charging us $1 per person to eat our own cake. RE-FRICKEN-DICULOUS!!!!! We were about to leave, but everyone had come from out of town and was already there, so we decided to stay. I offered to pay the $11 extra dollars for the cake fee. I'm so sweet. :)  But luckily, I didn't have to pay it b/c they waived the fee since we they gave us such shitty service and we had to wait so long to feed our face holes. My cousin Matt really let the manager have it when we were finished. It was AWESOME. Muahahahahaha. Take that, Tyler's Tap room!

Plus it was hot as hell in there. I was sweating like a whore in church and I had let my cousin borrow my only hair twisty. But that's okay. I love my cousin even though she pinches and it hurts like hell. And my gut hole sprung a leak before dinner and I had to go to the bathroom and fix that disaster. But besides all the negative, we enjoyed seeing everyone and Bo had a good time. Maybe a little too much of a good time, since he promptly passed out when we got back to the house in Chapel Hill. :) Happy Birthday Bortle!

Today, Mom and I went shopping at Stein Mart. It was the first time I'd ever been to a Stein Mart, b/c we don't have one in our town. It was pretty cool. I spent $85 of my birthday money on a new bag, some socks, a pair of panties, some Burt's Beez lip stuff, and a couple pairs of earrings. I also discovered that they had Kathy Von Zeeland bags. It took every ounce of my lung transplanted ass not to buy one..or two. But at least I know where to go to find them for cheaper. But, the new junk I bought wasn't the good part of the day. The good part was that it was the first time I went really shopping in 17 years without o2 or without being in a wheelchair or having to sit down every 5 minutes and rest. And we were there for like close to 2 hours. YAY ME! But, I was super tired and sore when we were done. So we stopped and ate some dinner and then came back to the house.

I'm beat. I got rehab tomorrow morning at 11. And of course have to start my treck up the Pill-alayas at 9:00 am. So...I will bid you good night. Have a good week.

Peace and chicken grease.

G-tubes are evil and can go to Hell!

Hey Y'all.

I'm beat. Although today wasn't all that productive. I had rehab today of course. (It is Wed. isn't it) But, Mom and I gaged the time wrong and ended up getting there 10 min late. My appt. was at 1pm. We stopped to get lunch at Quizno's and Mom had to run in and get the food, then rush to P.T. Rich (the p.t.) was nice enough to let me eat and take my pills before I started working out. By the time I started it was like 1:30. I got on the treadmill and then 12 min. into it..the hole in my tummy from where they had the g-tube, sprung a leak from under the bandage. (sorry for graphic description, but hey, that's my life) So, I had to stop and change the bandage. By the time that was all done...It was time for my appt. to be over. He told me I was done for the day.

So, I took the walk of shame out of rehab with my head hanging low, after only accomplishing 12 min. worth of exercise. Thank goodness no one else was in there working out at the time. That would have been even more embarrassing!

Tonight, my friend that I hadn't seen in years, Stephenie went out to eat dinner at Bailey's. The food was good. Mmmm teriyaki chicken. It was good to catch up with her. It was just like old times. We are supposed to go shopping tomorrow after she gets off work. She's in Durham for a month for work. Yay. We both need to get birthday presents for our brothers.

On another note...the lone part of my incision scab is seesawing right on the edge of coming off. YAY. Then I will start putting some Vitamen E on the scar and hopefully manipulating it into becoming less and less noticible as time goes by. :) *fingers crossed* Not that it bothers me that bad. It really isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Dr. Haithcock did an amazing job. Thanks again Dr. Haithcock! Hopefully my g-tube wound will be all healed up and I can go swimming before the summer is over.

How else am I going to start my early training for the Tx Games next summer? :) Watch out all you games participants, THIS  fish will be back in the water soon. Your medals will be MINE! Muahahahahahahahha! *cocky evil grin*  Enjoy the pic below. It's an REAL oldie but a goody!

Luke is supposed to call me back, so I'm gonna get ready for bed while I'm waiting patiently. I'm off like my prom dress never came! (LOL)


Me circa 1980'something!

Out on the town!

What's up Y'all!

Hope everyone is having a good Tues. It's good for me b/c it's one of my 2 days off during the week from Rehab. (Tues. and Thurs.) Yesterday was a busy day. I went to rehab and kicked the treadmill's ass. 40 minutes walking, without a break, sans 02. Then Mom and I went to Brueger's Bagels and got a cream cheese bagel. I'd never been there before. Man, those are some good bagels. After that we went to the grocery store. Stayed longer than I thought we would, so I didn't get home til around 4 pm and was exhausted.

But, alas, my day wasn't over. I rested for a little while, talked to my Luke for a few and then changed clothes. After putting on my makeup, Ann got over here to the house. We hung out for a little while and then left to go out to dinner. Just the two of us. It was awesome. My first night out on the town, sans O2, sans Mom. FREEEEEEEEDOM. WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I got back home about 9:30. SO needless to say I was exhausted. Eventually when I got off the phone with my Babe again, I was ready to call it a night. But, couldn't sleep. So...I ended up staying up 'til 4 A.M. on the computer, organizing and editing ALL the photos on my computer.

I finally laid down and didn't sleep very well. Kept waking up. But, that was okay..b/c I knew I had the day off today. :) So today has been wonderful. All I've done is get up this morning, do all my morning transplant stuff, eat breakfast and then lay back down and nap. I got back up at 1pm and climbed the pillalayas once more and ate lunch. It's been a great, lazy day. I needed to rest.

Tonight, dinner is being cooked for the house in the dining room. We signed up to eat. BBQ Chicken. MMMM. It will be the first time i've left the comfort of our suite all day. :) But for food...it's worth it!

Below is a pic of Ann and I last night before we went out to eat. Enjoy!

Oxygen, Shmoxygen. Pshh!

What's up my loyal followers! :)

I'm back! As you most of you know or have heard or read through various social networking sites that I can't drag myself away from, even in the hospital after major cardio-thoracic surgery - I officially have new lungs! WOO HOO! I got my transplant on June 21. (Father's Day - thanks Daddy!) I was in the hospital for a month. I got out on Mon, July 20. Three days before my 29th birthday. What a great birthday gift, huh? BREATH. LIFE. A FUTURE. It's all so surreal, still. Ha that rhymed. :)

I was in the hospital for so long b/c my new lungs had a reprofusion injury. (look it up lol) It's not uncommoon, in fact I think it may happen to most people, on varying degrees. But don't quote me on that. They weren't too concerned with it. It's been healing and looks better each x ray. So that's a good thing. And also the 2nd or 3rd week post tx, (tx stands for transplant if you didn't know already) after I was already on the regular floor, I developed a bit of acute rejection that they quickly treated with heavy duty I.V. steroids for 3 days. Wow those were some miserable days! lol I had a slight mental breakdown the last day or so. Prednisone is no joke, y'all! Already having anxiety disorder, this whole transplant experience has been a bit nervewrecking for me. Thank God, they had Ativan on hand when I needed it. I don't think I could have emotionally survived without it at times.

I don't remember much of anything aobut the days I was in ICU b/c they had me so drugged and out of it. But, apparantly according to my Mom, I was pretty vocal. And stubborn. And a bit bitchy. And snappy. Especially when they got me up to walk. She said I yelled at them to all get out of my room and to leave me alone. I also apparantly cussed out one of the respitory therapists. And called a nurse Rhinocerous. But, in my defense..my MOm said some of the Dr.'s that saw me in ICU said some unncessary things to me, very unprofessional things. She had to go off on a few of them.  My cantankernous became a bit of a known thing during those weeks in the hospital. They kept asking Kristin (My physical therapist - who I already knew pretty well) if I was "Normally like this."  Tehehehehehe :) Also, my friend Lori told me I also kept trying to convince her that "they" were trying to kill me and not to let "them" near me. I must have been pretty out of it.

After the rejection was treated, things started moving along quicker and I was able to do more, etc, etc. But, because of the roadbumps, I was slow to get off my O2. So, I ended up leaving the hospital with it. I was using it for walking still and when I slept. But, now I can pretty much say that i'm officially FREE from the O2 and the choke hold it's leash had on my life. WOO HOO.

My surgeon, Dr. Haithcock is amazing. Very talented and obviously knows what he's doing. My incision is damn near as perfect as it can get. They DID have to cut my sternum though. So, I may hurt a little longer than those that don't have to get theirs cut. I've been on sternum precautions b/c of it. My PFT's (Pulmonary Funtion Tests) results have increased a lot! And they say that they should keep getting better and better. My weight has been up and down, back and forth, left and right, etc. And of course my face is getting fat from the prednisone. :-(  Not happy about that. But, hey at least I can breathe. I got my chest tube stitches out on Friday (the 27th) so they feel a bit better and are healing up.

The hospital food was actually halfway decent. Well...it was pretty edible most of the time. There were those days that it looked like something I'd rather starve than eat. But, Luckily for me, Mom was there so on those days she just went to one of the in-house cafe eatery places and got me some real food. Yay for Mom's. Although, we have been together every day since June 21st. So, needless to say, it hasn't always been pretty. But, I couldn't have done it without her. My friends have been great also. Coming as far away as Lexington (hometown) just to visit me, repeatedly some of them. I'm so lucky to have such wonderful friends and family. My brother has been up here most weekends which has been great.

As previously mentioned, my birthday was on July 23rd. Three days after I was released from medical prison. I wanted to have a big bash and celebrate since I had gotten the best early birthday gift EVER.  We had the party on Sat. instead of on my birthday on Thurs. b/c then people were off work and could come. We all went out to eat at this place here in Chapel Hill called Bailey's Grill and Pub. One of the Physical therapists at the hospital suggested it. The food was awesome. And apparantly the beer and alcohol was too, cuz my party sure was guzzling it down. :) (those of you know who you are) HEHE. I wore a big tiara on my head, in typical queen fashion. B/c it was MY night to celebrate. :) It was the first time some of my friends had seen me without O2 in years and years. Some of them had NEVER seen me without O2. So it was definitely a night to remember. Although there were some people missing that couldn't come that I wish could have been there. But, all in all, it was wonderful to celebrate my birthday with so many friends and family.

I have rehab (physical therapy) every Mon. Wed. and Fri. and also for right now, I have to go to transplant clinic every Friday morning as well. They draw blood to check my medication levels, do a chest x-ray, PFT's and then I see the Pulmonologists and sometimes the surgeon and ALWAYS Ken, my coordinator. Unless he's off work or out of town. Then Becky (the other coordinator) sees me. Friday she gave me the go ahead to go home for the weekend. I didn't this weekend, but weekend after this coming weekend, I will probably go home for the night Sat. I can't wait to see my dog and really walk him for the first time.

That's all for now. I have finally posted. Now it's bedtime. Nighty Night. :)