Adjusting To Me.....

I was thinking the other day how I used to blog quite frequently before my transplant and during my recovery. Now that I'm home and living life I feel like I don't have any interesting news to report. Then I realized, me living life is news! If I had not gotten a lung transplant I would not be here today to have a life to enjoy.

Now that the weather is heating up it is time to start thinking about flip flops, capris, shorts, and cute little summer shirts. I love Summer. It is my favorite season. On one of these warm days, I went to my closet to find something summery to wear and I realized just how much weight I have gained! I know part of it is from medications, but the rest is from eating! My head still thinks I can eat like I used to which included eating ANYTHING I wanted without gaining weight. That was due to my body working so hard to breathe that I was burning some serious calories. Not anymore. I'm thinking of starting Weight Watchers. I barely have anything to wear in my wardrobe. There is good news from all of this: I get to go shopping! New summer clothes will go great with my super short pixie. The hair is another story. Keep reading....

Back in January I was taking some meds that caused my liver function to decline to the point that I was put in the hospital (I'm sure there is a blog entry about it). These meds also caused my hair to start thinning to the point that I bought a wig. The wig worked great. People thought it was my hair, unless I chose to tell them the truth. During the cooler winter/spring months it was nice, but now that it is warm the wig has been retired. I had my head shaved back in Feb. and it is growing back nice and even. It is a pretty brunette color and right now it is barely long enough to call a pixie. The timing of my natural hair growing back is perfect with the changing seasons. I've always wanted to try a pixie haircut but was too afraid to go that short. Now I'm in love! It is super easy to style and I'm all about simple styling now days. I'll post some pics later.

I have always had a tan for summer but due to some of the meds I take now I can no longer get a tan from the sun or a tanning bed. The meds increase the chance for someone to get cancer, namely skin cancer. I have been researching sunless tanning products. I've used them in the past to spray my feet and hands after tanning in a tanning bed. It worked well for a small area like that, but to spray it all over, yuk! It's sticky, I feel dirty, and it rubs off on my clothes.

These are just a few things I am making adjustments to but it is small sacrifices compared to my new life I am enjoying. I know I will continue to get to know the new me and I will wake up each morning knowing just how blessed I am.

Yes! I'm Living Life

I have a lot to catch up on since my last post. I've been helping my baby sister for the past couple weeks. She had her second baby on February 9th. Andy weighed 6 lbs 10oz and was 20 1/2 in. long. She also has a two year old sweet baby boy, Joey. He is my heart and now I have two babies to fill my heart with joy. This is one of the many things I've wanted to do since I've had my transplant is to be able to spend time with my baby and now I have two babies to spend time with and spoil. It feels great to be able to play in their backyard pushing Joey around on his tricycle and in his swing. My middle name is Louise so he calls me Aunt Lu. It is so sweet to hear him call my name. I'll be going home this weekend to give my sis a chance to see how things go without a third hand, lol. I know she'll be fine, I'm just not looking forward to leaving. I've had the best time with my babies and spending time with my sis.

I am still doing great since my last appointment at Duke. I'm still loving food again, maybe too much ;). I'm getting strong again and feeling better than I can ever remember feeling. The weather has been wonderful the past week. It has been in the mid to upper 70's and I have spring fever! Last year all I had planned was hospital stays and trying to survive from one day to the next till I got a transplant and this year I can plan on fun things to do again.

Also since my last post, my friend Kerry got her call on February 3rd for her new lungs, liver, and pancreas! What blessings God gives us! Kerry is doing great. She has had a few setbacks, but that is to be expected. I can't wait to see her at the end of March when I go back to Duke for my 9 month bronch. Awesome! Time flies because it will be eight months on March 1st since my transplant. I have been truly blessed and am thankful to God everday for my breath of life. Please keep me and all of my transplant friends in your prayers. Save a life. Become and Organ Donor.

Life As I Knew It

I thought I might need to put an update of what is going on with me, since I'm the one that created this blog for friends and family. :) I've just been reflecting on my life and wondering how did I get here? I don't mean in the hospital on Iv's, I mean for my CF lungs to be so bad that I am on a list for a double lung transplant. When I was in my 20's I used to always have the mantra "CF won't kill me, it will just aggravate me the rest of my life". I also said I never wanted to get a transplant. Back then I was working, spending time with friends and family, shopping, just living life. Now I am just existing. It seems like so long ago. It makes the decision to have a transplant much easier when you get to the point that your everyday life has come to a halt. Some of the things I miss is being able to visit friends and family. To be able to get out of my house is a treat in itself these days, but I don't have the energy most days. I save outings for doctor appointments. I miss shopping, even grocery shopping. I remember when I COULD grocery shop I thought I hated it. Now I long to have those days back. To be able to "run to mom's house". Although I never actually ran any step of it, I could jump in my car and go without worrying about becoming too tired from having to sit down many times, in the process of getting dressed, to catch my breath back even though I was wearing oxygen.

There are a lot of things I miss and I believe I will be able to do again. I may receive a call for lungs today and it may be a year from today and it may never come. No matter how this journey ends, I will have no regrets.............