Back on the Train

Well, I hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day weekend! Cheers to all the Veterans and troops.

When I last left you all I was down in Chapel Hill recovering from the OR bronch and waiting on some test results. I was discharged late on Weds. night. Around 6pm, and I drove home eager to get back to maryland. I was actually feeling better and on the mend. The results turned out to be good. There was no current sign of any rejection! That was good news. All the cultures and tests were negative except for a positive culuture for the Rhinovirus. Basically, a common cold! Apparently, I caught a common cold a few weeks back. Makes sense, I had a runny nose, congestion etc. This was on the high dose of prednisone. However, it migrated to my lower airways. This is failry unusual and aside from new research available 5 years or so ago, they though it was impossible for the common cold to migrate to the lower airways. But new research has shown that indeed it can and cause serious problems if not addressed. However, with a virus there is not much you can really do except let it take its course, but you can make sure all other areas of the body are being treated appropriately.

So, they kept me on the antibiotics, and lower prednisone dose. I have been slowly feeling better. My chest no longer hurts when breathing. My energy and endurance is improving. I still am not quite breathing as well as I would like, but tolerating activity much better. I worked out yesterday and did very well. Again, my sats do drop when I start to really exert myself cardiovascularly, but I recover fine. I hope I will continue to improve albeit slowly.

It is just a very careful balancing game right now. My body is trying to reach a happy middle-ground with these new lungs and the immunosupression. Too much suppression and I get a cold or infection. Too little and rejection is possible. Also, my body experiences more side effect with more of the medications.

I feel much better though these last few days and hopefully will continue.

Thanks for all the calls, texts, voicemails, and a few posts. They keep me motivated. I do need to focus on the big picture and it has been great. 'Everyone dies, but not every man lives life', or something like that. Just read that the other day in a book I am reading. I have definitely been living life and enjoying it.

-Mitch