Got Me!

Welcome to the weekly blog of a Donate Life Northwest volunteer who has graciously offered to tell the story of her journey through the organ transplant process. She posts to this blog every Wednesday so you can ride this interesting, bumpy road with her.

It was bound to happen. I am at almost 11 months post transplant and have not been sick. Not even a sniffle. I told my family and friends back east this, and I guess I should have knocked on more wood. But then, I got to thinking about it during some of my 3:00am wake ups.  For the first 3 months post transplant, I really didn’t venture out much.  If I did, it was only to appointments (many) or basketball games, and then I was masked and gloved.  Plus I was on antibacterial drugs and antiviral drugs (with huge co-pays!)  So it’s no wonder that while my household came down with strep and pneumonia and I was freaking out and hiding out in our guest room, I never got sick. Well, until now.

Seems I caught some version of the pesky common cold for the first time since transplant. From an intellectual standpoint, I will be curious to see how my body responds, or more likely doesn’t, and how the transplant center reacts. Gargling with salt water and snorting it as well seemed to help for a bit, but now it has taken hold. I feel crappy and am having a full-fledged pajama day.  I debated calling the transplant center – you know, why bother them over a common cold, but then again, it’s new for me.  My blood pressure is low, I have a slight fever. Yes, these are the dilemmas in transplant land. I called.

The author is a heart failure patient going through the post-transplant process. She also is a nurse and former hospital administrator. She would like to thank Donate Life Northwest for permitting her to post her observations on the Donate Life Northwest website. She also wants to emphasize that all opinions and views stated in the posts are her own and not those of Donate Life Northwest.

Tags: heart transplant, Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, organ donation