Thanksgiving with Friends

I didn't get to be home for Thanksgiving this year. This is the first time ever that I haven't been with my family for Thanksgiving. We did have a Thanksgiving meal along with other transplant families in the main dining room of the hotel. It was really nice to be able to spend time with my extended family. I even met a few new transplant patients and their family.
I know everyone is thankful at Thanksgiving, but this year is something special. I am thankful to still be alive. I am thankful for my loving family and friends. I am thankful for my donor and his/her family for giving me a second chance at life.

10 things I'm thankful for:
1. My hubby, Philip, who has taken excellent care of me through all of the transplant process.
2. The new friends I have met since coming to North Carolina.
3. Breathing without O2
4. Being able to walk at least 2 miles and being able to talk during the walk.
5. Understanding my pill regimen and filling my medicine container without my med list, lol.
6. That my lungs are doing great.
7. That I'll be going home soon. (provided nothing else goes wrong)
8. Mama's Home Cooking (I miss it!)
9. My baby dog Diamond (she will be 11 in April, I miss my doggie)
10.To God for His loving mercy he has bestowed upon me.

That is only a small portion of what I have to be thankful for this year. It is still amazing to me to be able to do everyday activities without being exhausted after doing one task and then needing a nap. I've said it many times already, but there is no other way to sum it up. I am truly blessed. God Rules!

Mmm Mmm Red Lobster

I got to eat at Red Lobster today. Oh how I love seafood. I've been told by my hubby, "if it swims in the ocean you'll eat it". I don't know about that, but I do like a variety of seafood. That is the first seafood I've had since we got here back in June. Well, I did have fish in the hospital (nasty) so that doesn't count. Just wanted to say, "I'm full and happy!" Love To All and can't wait to get home to MS!

Did I Mention I'm Ready To Go Home?

I like staying here in Durham, NC, but I am sooo ready for the next three weeks to be up. I am praying hard that we will get to head out to MS this time. I am trying to take it easy with my exercising and just general moving around. I certainly do not want to fracture any more bones, lol! It's ridiculous how many little setbacks I've had. Now enough is enough. I've made the joke that if we have to go home on Christmas Eve and come back up here Christmas Day, I WILL be home for Christmas! I don't expect that to happen, but with my track record of things going wrong who knows what might happen?

On another note: I'm still loving my hair. I've had it cut like this before, but being able to breathe now makes it even easier to fix than before. I was excited the other day when I was getting ready to meet a friend and I took a shower, washed my hair, put on makeup, fixed my hair, and got dressed all in 45 minutes! That is awesome! It used to take me at least 2 hrs to get ready to go somewhere with all the rests I would have to take. Oh, and there wasn't any washing hair and showering at the same time or I would have been too tired to finish getting ready to go anywhere. I love my life now. I can't wait to get back to my "normal" life back home and really know what I can accomplish with my new breathers. They are awesome! I'm planning to eat at Red Lobster tomorrow. I'm having cravings for seafood and I know Red Lobster is good so don't give me grief about finding a new seafood place while we're here. I'm a little bit of a comfort zone type person when it comes to food :-)

I want to thank my donor and I continue to pray for my donor's family. Love To All!

Got A New Do!

I thought I might better update my profile pic with my latest hairdo. I was so tired of my "natural" color (light brown) and the plain ole bob I had. I've had my hair cut like this before and I got many compliments on it. Even though my face is puffy I think it still helps it some to look a little slimmer than the other hairdo. Anyway, here is the pic. Let me know what you think. I'm up for constructive criticizm too :-P Love To All!

Good Ole Waffle House

This morning I woke up about 3:30am and couldn't go back to sleep. Not long afterward Philip got up wanting breakfast. Of course no fast food joint is open at that time of the morning, except waffle house. It's a trusty standby and it was good too. It was always a good place to go after a night of dancing, back in my wilder days, hee hee. I was proud of myself for not overstuffing, but I enjoyed it. It was 35 degrees outside and we were freezing saying "why are we out in this cold for something to eat?". It was fun too. Something different. When we got back he got on the couch and went back to sleep. Me, I'm still wide awake and can probably eat something else in a little bit. :) Thank goodness the nausea is subsiding. Maybe my tummy is back to normal. Feels like it anyway. Love to All!

Ortho Appt.

Today I had to go to the ortho doc for a follow up from my surgery. I got the staples out and the doc said the bone didn't look like it was healing yet, but with all the steroids I've been on it's not uncommon. It'll just take a looong time to completely heal. I'll just be glad when the muscles get stretched back out or whatever it is they are doing. I do know my left leg hurts when I walk. It IS the muscle this time. I mentioned to the doc I wish I knew how it happened and he said, it could have been wear over time. It was probably nothing I did that made it happen immediately, I just have brittle bones. Thanks Prednisone!(Sarcasm) It could be worse I know that. It could always be worse, but after today I've got to go back to see the doc in a month. This means that we won't get to come home till after Dec. 10th. Please continue to pray that these aggravating setbacks are behind us now. :) Love To All!

I Wanna Go Home! A Rant

As much as I've loved having the opportunity for a new life and being able to breathe freely, I am coming to the point that I am ready to go home to Mississippi. I miss my family, friends, and my life. My life has been on hold all year long with transplant, rejections, fractures, doctor visits, and just being away from my home. I don't want this post to be a pitty party of sorts, but I am a bit down in the dumps tonight. I try to stay upbeat and a trooper, but even the strongest have weak points and I am reaching mine. I just get so tired of thinking "just a couple more weeks" and I'll be able to go home, then something else falls apart. I know it could be a lot worse, but to me it is getting to be bad enough to weigh on my mind. I am blessed I know this, but I can't help my feelings. It doesn't help that I've been in the hospital for a week now and I hope to heck to go home to the hotel tomorrow. At least back to the hotel at this point will be tolerable. I can't stand it in here much longer. I am going stir crazy and I have lost almost all the strength I had gained on top of it all. It doesn't take long to lose what you gained when you are layed up in a hospital. Besides I was already weak from not being able to walk on my fractured hip for two weeks. GRRRR!!! Okay, I'm finished ranting now. Only better days tomorrow. I won't give up hope :) Love To All!

I Am Still Blessed.....

After all I have been through since coming to Duke in June, I have to say I am very fortunate to still be here. Just a recap of my journey I received my double lung transplant on July 1st. Not long afterward I developed a seroma which is a fluid filled pocket, this was located in my groin area. I wore a wound vac pump for three months until it finally healed. In the meantime, I battled a bout of mild rejection which formed as fluid around my lung. Once that was taken care of, I was on the mend, until my left hip developed a stress fracture. The only assumption is that I got it from prolonged steroid use. Currently, I am still recovering from the hip surgery and it is going great only now I have a bowel blockage from too many pain meds. I've had an ng tube down my nose into my stomach with no food only ice chips, until earlier today. I finally got cleared to have clear liquids and laxatives and an enema. Oh yay! I also had mild rejection again with the last bronchoscopy. I've been treated again with solumedrol (iv steroids). This is not uncommon after lung transplant so I am not alarmed. I am breathing good and this is another techicallity keeping me from getting home to MS. At least I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel again and hopefully will be getting out of here by the weekend (back to the hotel). I am still optimistic because compared to how sick I was before I got here, what I am dealing with now is minor compared to where I was only four months ago. God Is Great!

I haven't been on the computer for a couple days so when I logged back on to check blog updates I see inspiring and heartbreaking news. It makes me stop in my tracks and say a prayer for the families that are having much harder times than my own. People like myself tend to be selfish when we don't feel good physically or things aren't going the way we want them too. That was me until today. I read about a fellow Cfer who lost his battle waiting for a lung and liver transplant. I also read of the great progress another fellow Cfer is making from receiving her double lung transplant. I'm so happy for her and her family and so sad for his lose to this terrible disease.