The Time It Takes to Grow a Baby 10/12/2011
Heart and Soul – One woman’s journey through a heart transplant
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 will post to this blog every Monday and Wednesday so you can ride this bumpy road with her.
Yesterday was 9 months since my transplant. That’s what it takes to grow a baby. As a former midwife, I can use that as an effective analogy. While in one sense I have new life, new energy, new freedom from disease, I did not expect all the ups and downs the drugs (or the trials of parenting) bring. But it’s all worth it. It’s all good. My latest biopsy result was a 1, so it appears the rejection scare has been taken care of by the two high dose steroid pulses and returning to tacrolimus as my primary immunosuppressant. The migraines have returned but are better managed with a whole arsenal of drugs from prophylaxis to prevent them to triptans and narcotics and anti-nausea meds when I do. We don’t have the levels quite right yet. I’m still Alice in Wonderland, too high or too low with just the slightest change of a drug, but we’re working on it. I have faith they/we will figure it out and hopefully soon!
*disclaimer*
The author is a heart failure patient going through the transplant listing 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.
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