I am still here, still kickin', and still keeping very busy! I am so grateful to be feeling so good, so soon after transplant and that things are still looking up for me. I am now going to clinic once a week, and biopsies are every other week. Even going from a biopsy every week to every other week was huge and is such a nice break. That will continue to spread out more and more over the first year after transplant; assuming all biopsies come back clean and without rejection. Of course, any rejection is a setback and that slows down the whole process.
Even though I only have clinic once a week, I'm still at the hospital at least 3-4 days per week for cardiac rehab. Like I've posted about before, they continue to be amazed at the progress I am making there and continue to tell me that they have never seen a transplant patient do what I'm doing this soon and this consistently, which is so awesome to hear. Today, I had clinic and then did rehab afterwards, and I did 35 minutes at a 2.5 grade and working up to a 3.3 speed on the treadmill, and then another 30 minutes at level 5 intensity on the NuStep machine, which is a stepping machine with resistance. I am still not cleared to use any upper body strength or lift my arms above my head, so I am definitely ready to get that clearance so I can start building my strength back in my upper body as well. It's amazing how weak you become when you are unable to use those muscles for so long.
My two biggest complaints right now are just the fact that I am SO shaky and the pain from the actual surgery. I am still having a lot of incision pain and am just so sore still. Being so shaky makes the simplest tasks so hard - and again, you don't realize something until you can't do it! Eating, writing, even typing this is made so much more difficult because of the shakes. I had my blood drawn this morning at clinic and they just called though and said that my Prograf level was extremely high, which is one of the medications that causes me to be so shaky, so that could explain why it has been extra bad in the last few days. They told me to decrease the dose and they will check it again to see if it is more in range at next week's appointment. Other than those two things, I really am feeling great and still have so much energy! It's pretty remarkable how well I feel and how much I do already when you stop to think about it. I don't ever remember feeling this well, this soon with my first transplant, but I also had a lot more complications, rejection, and reactions to the medications with the first. I've been extremely lucky this time around, and know just how blessed I am.
On a side note, Curt took the day off today to take me to my appointment this morning with the heart docs, then stayed with me during rehab, and we had some time before another appointment this afternoon, so we caught a movie! I still have to be very careful in crowds, but on a Thursday afternoon, there was no crowd! We were actually the ONLY ones in our whole theater. We went and saw Pitch Perfect 2 - which I had been dying to see but obviously couldn't when it came out! So funny. It was great to just be out of the house and enjoy a little date with Curtis!
The puffiness in my face and body is still in full swing from the prednisone. Not a fun side effect at all, but like I've said, I'll take that over an unhealthy heart - I have to pick my battles! I just have to remember that it is temporary, it will go away with time. I am here, and that is what matters!!!
Excellent job!
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