Hi all. I haven't blogged because I felt that I didn't really have much exciting to say. It was the same old "blah blah blah" and I got into a routine that left out time for blogging. I'm sorry about that and I will try to be better at it in the future. My family and friends mean so much to me and this really is a way to feel closer when I don't get to see them often!
With that out of the way :-)...I did get a new stomach wrap in March and it has really worked! I felt great afterwards and I haven't had any food inhalation problems. That's so great! April was a pretty quiet month. Lee and I decided that our rental house was just not cutting it! We had NO storage and I just couldn't get into the carport idea. So with surprisingly little work we found our new house and by now we are done relocating around NC! Good or bad this house stays:-)
Some of you are probably wondering why we haven't just packed up and headed back to CA. Well we both need to say that it's really not that easy! First of all, I have not received a medical clearance for us to move back. In fact they haven't even mentioned it. None of this treatment is cut and dried. We have no idea when we would move back to CA so we both want to be as comfortable as possible while we live here.
As I said earlier, April was great. We got the news that I now had finally reached two months in a row with no rejection! That was beyond super for us! We were so excited and so were the Docs and nurses. I don't even like to think about what they had planned if the results were different! But they weren't so we sort of scooted through the month. We went to the NC Farmer's Market in Greensboro and got some great zucchini to stuff and bake. Yummy!
We went to see our good friends Don and Susan Biggerstaff and that was so much fun. They live about two hours from us and have a gorgeous house that easily accommodates Lee, Missy and me for a visit. We went to stay for the day and ended up staying for the night. Most embarrassing part was when Missy got upstairs, she didn't quite understand how to get down again. I think it was fear and Lee of course said we just hadn't taught her yet! Either way, Lee ended up carrying Missy down the stairs. I considered just leaving money for food and asking Susan to call me if Missy ever came downstairs :-) ! Other than that, the three of us look forward to going back to see them again!
Then May rolled in....
We had beautiful weather so we went to the Kernersville Spring Folly which is a giant street fair in the downtown historic part of Kernersville. Well, we weren't the only first time people at the Folly. CNN had a huge truck/bus there with interviews etc. Lee and I ran into them later and asked what brought them to this particular event. They said that the Kernersville area was documented as one of the fastest growing areas in the United States and they wanted to see why! Well..is there a better way to see the true Kerenersville than attending the Spring Folly? Maybe...maybe not! There was a great turnout!! Lee and I chit chatted with the local firemen and policemen and business people and fellow Kernersvillians (ok, I'm sure I made that word up!)
They had a craft area and and entertainment area and of course, a food area. We just couldn't pass up that blooming onion. It was huge and calling our name so we split one with ranch dressing to dip it in...really good but it became the beginning of the end.
We headed home after we'd seen most of Folly and had a great rest of the day and then dinner. At midnight everything broke loose! I woke up sooooo sick. I tried so hard to vomit but thanks to Dr. Onideas my stomach wrap prevented that from happening so my insides just kept wrenching those muscles while I had awful diarrhea. Yes I know my Amy says I should not discuss this kind of stuff but I have to say it was horrible! This same combination of activities took place every 10-15 minutes from Midnight until about 9:00 a.m. I was drained and feeling close to death!!! Of course God didn't plan on me dying right then but I was sure game!
Being this sick kept me from attending a really great picnic at the park for Mother's Day. I was so disappointed. Several families attended and everyone had a great time! I stayed super sick through the following Thursday when I called my Transplant Coordinator for the second time and said I just didn't feel any better. So....off to Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem for IV fluids. Baptist is a good hospital and it's only abut 20 minutes away while Duke is 80 - 90 minutes away.
The IV fluids immediately made me feel better. Even though I was trying to drinking as much water as possible I had gotten really dehydrated. I thought this trip would be like going to the gas station...you know "fill her up" and head on home. Except it turns out that the dehydration had put me in renal failure which is not a good thing. I ended up being a patient at Baptist from Thursday - Saturday. My renal problems came under control and I felt so much better after being plumped up with fluids I was not 'cured' but I was sure well enough to go back home.
Lee and I were both so glad that I was feeling better. Did I mention that Lee was also sicker than I think I've ever seen him. That made it so much worse! Poor guy...he had us all moved into the new house while I was in the hospital and he was sick too! All we needed to do was lay down and feel cruddy for a few days and then all would be well with the world! Nope! Lee did get better but I just kept getting worse and worse and neither of us knew what to do. I was trying everything and it just didn't stay in my body!
Another call to Tracie (my coordinator) and I was being admitted to Duke. I think Lee and I both knew this was going to happen but we were hoping and praying I'd get better. Lee brought me down to the hospital and stayed with me until I was situated in 7800 again. After a million tests and IVs and meds they finally decided I didn't have C Diff, CMV or several other very nasty bugs or diseases. It was basically a case of me having no immune system and getting food poisoning or a virus allowed the bugs to take over my immunosuppressed body. Well my body fought back...it just took two long stays in the hospital and the help of my unbelievably helpful husband! I just love him so much!
Lee and I were both feeling well and looking forward to getting the house a little organized. Boy this is when I need Sharen, Vanessa, Terri, Amy and a and bunch of others that are way better than me at organizing!!!!
We also realized that we need more furniture. This house has an eating area in the kitchen and we need a table and chest of some kind (so I can store my cookbooks etc) The following weekend was Memorial Weekend so we trucked all over the place looking for tables etc. Ugh! It wasn't fun at all because we couldn't find just what we wanted. Monday morning we went to one more place and found a table! Yay! We were both so excited but I still didn't have my chest (-: Lee didn't care. We had a table and he was done for awhile with furniture shopping. I couldn't blame him!
That afternoon I went to the fabric store - alone of course :-) On my way home I saw a furniture store we hadn't been to (didn't know there was one!) I swung in with high hopes of finding the perfect chest for the kitchen! That would just complete our day!
I walked all over the store and finally, in the back of the store, I found a hutch that might just work. But...there wasn't a price tag on it! Everything but this one item had tags on it! Just my luck! I saw a table and chairs set that had prices listed on a paper and thought the hutch might be listed. One turn of my body and then a step or two and I really could say "just my luck"! My foot caught on a rug that was higher and stiffer than all the others. My foot didn't move and my body sort of launched or fell to the cement floor so that my hip hit first! I don't know if any of you have ever had an injury where you could immediately say to yourself "oh this isn't good". Well that was my injury! The people at the furniture store weren't super helpful - 30 minutes + until the EMS arrived and the staff seemed very non-chalant that they had a customer laying on their floor who couldn't move. Finally got to a hospital in Greensboro and Lee and Amy and Michael arrived. The doc came in and said my hip was broken and he didn't care what hospital I chose to have surgery but surgery it would be!
Amy suggested we ask Duke if they were good with us staying in Greensboro or if they wanted us to come to Duke. I looked at Amy like she had grown a new head! Everyone thought that was a great idea while I thought they had lost their minds...Duke was not going to let me out of their hands for major surgery!
I was right...They wanted to have me transported to Duke under the care of Dr. Zaas (when did my pulmonologist become an ortho specialist???)
They shipped me by ambulance to Duke Monday night and I had surgery on Wednesday. Lee and Amy were here and I just felt safe. As much as I didn't want to make the drive down to Duke, I had all my docs in one place with new Duke Ortho guys and God, Lee and Amy watching over it all, I new I was going to be just fine! Amy would make sure of it! Lee and I have found in medical situations that she is a "take-charge" kind of girl and everybody better shape up and do their part correctly! That includes Lee and Me!!!
It's now a week after the fall and Lee and I (plus friends and family) have been through a lot! Physical Therapy was excruciating at times but I know the effort and pain will pay off and that someday I should be able to walk without a walker or maybe even without a cane! I'm working my butt off towards that end! This is going to be a tremendous amount of work - not just for me! - and it will be costly but it's worth it. And just think...through the whole thing I can breathe!!!!! Praise God for that one!!!
Love and Hugs to everyone and because there will be changing updates, I'll blog a lot more often!
Lee, Missy and Wendy
