Spoons - Revisited

I was talking to Cameron the other day about my blog and have come to realize that my favorite blog entry, the one I always get the most comments about, the one that was the most personal to me was the one where I referenced the spoon theory. I wrote it about a month before my lung transplant and I was re-reading it tonight. Wow, what a difference a new set of lungs makes!

I said that on average, I had 10 spoons a day. Now, I have an easy 20 on a bad day. A BAD day... I don't think I could even comprehend that when I wrote the original! A bad day for me is when I am not getting sleep because the meds have kept me awake, the meds have upset my stomach, exhausted because my EBV titers are high from the donor lungs, but all in all, I still can breathe, I can run up the stairs if I wanted to, and the amount of care that I need is next to none. The most help that I need to take care of myself now is the occasional preparring of meals or running upstairs for me to fetch something. And that really, is because I'm too lazy to do it myself, not because I can't do it.

It's an amazing feeling to take a look back and see how far I've come. I've come so far that I'm getting ready to move out on my own... something that I wasn't sure if it was possible pre-tx. I'm making plans to travel down to Knoxville to visit my college roommate, Stefanie. Plans that are WEEKS in the future, not DAYS. I was always so scarred to make plans before. I never knew how I would be feeling, if I'd be on IVs again, plus... having to lug all of that equipment around. Seesh! Even when I went to Cameron's family reunion, I only had a duffle back and another small extra bag for toiletries - leave it to being a girl to add bags to my packing :)

Anyway, for those who would like to know... a typical day for me:

I wake up at 8am and take my morning pills. Sometimes I fall back asleep, but most days I'm up for the day. I sit around, sometimes do some house work (or, atleast I did until my dad lost his job and took those over to keep himself busy).

Come lunch time, either Dad or I make lunch for the both of us. Right now we've been trying to sit outside with the dogs and eat it if it's not too hot.

Then I run my erronds or do some more sitting around or sometimes, exercise... depending on how the weather is.

Then comes dinner and hanging out with the family and Cameron. 8pm I take my evening pills. Then I hang out with everyone until it's time to go to bed.

Once a month I do an inhaled antibiotic in the afternoon, but that's the only extra medical thing I do.

That's it... that's my post-transplant living. You have to admmit, compared to all that I had to go through on a daily basis before, it's pretty sweet living :)