Easter

So it's been a while since I've had a real health post. I guess all good streaks come to an end eventually...

I went to my family's Easter party on Saturday. That went fine and I was happy to see everyone. I had been a little tired that whole week, but all of my being tired I usually contribute to school stress. Anyway, I went to bed a little early since I planned on getting up extra early for church.

About 2am I woke up and was freezing. I got up to take my temperature (I was surrounded by dogs, there was no way that I was just normally cold) and ended up getting sick twice. I took my temperature and was at 99.5 degrees, which is a fever for me. I normally run around 97. So I took a couple tylenol to head things off and went back to bed. I didn't sleep well since I was still feeling so cold.

Around 5am I woke back up and was still shivering so I took my temperature again. At this point, my fever had risen to 102, so I knew it was time to give Cleveland a call and check in. After a brief chat with the pulmonary fellow on-call, we decided it would be best for me to head to the ER to get checked out, just to make sure there wasn't something else going on that couldn't be diagnosed over the phone.

After waking Cameron up, we headed to UC's emergency room. In hind sight, I should have never gone there, I should have tried to go to Children's... But anyway... Things ran smoothly for the first hour I was there, then they had a shift change and I got a horrible resident who insisted that I be admitted. She kept telling me that I had a pneumonia, but I don't think that's the case. I have some scaring on my left lung and the doctors not familiar with my case see it as pneumonia. I had a ton of things due in classes the following week and flat out told the resident that I hated the hospital and refused to be admitted there. I told her to set up a transfer to either Children's or to Cleveland. Children's doctor on the floor wasn't comfortable with me coming there so I thought I was heading to Cleveland.

At that point, Cameron called Dr. Trapnell and they came up with a plan for me to do IV antibiotics at home instead of being admitted. He figured that I probably had a GI thing going on, not pulmonary involvement. The UC ER doc didn't like that plan and made me sign out AMA (against medical advice). Since I had to sign the AMA, no home healthcare company would take my case to do the home IVs. Making a 12 hour story a little shorter, the next day Dr. Trapnell and I made the decision not to do IVs since we were mostly sure that I only had a stomach bug. Looking back on my weekend, I probably brought this on myself.

Earlier that weekend I had dinner at a friend's house. They weren't completely aware of my dietary restrictions since transplant and well... I didn't have the heart to tell them that I couldn't eat the food (It had feta cheese) but figured I could chance it and it would probably be ok. I'm guessing that's where the vomiting and fever came from. Regardless, it still falls under the GI bug category, so I just left the details out from Dr. Trapnell because I felt bad for being a "bad transplant patient"

Now, 2 weeks later, the only thing that I have are a few giant bruises from the IVs and a small lecture from Dr. Trapnell that I should have called him sooner than I did. You could tell by what he said that he honestly cares about me.

I only have a few more weeks left of school and then I'm done for the summer. Still waiting to hear if I got my clinicals. Figured I'd give them until the end of the week (which I have now) and then go to the office next week and talk to them face to face and see what the hold up is (which I will do on monday).

Hope everyone's having a wonderful spring!

Projects

So I've decided I'm going to be more active. I mean that in multiple ways.

1) I am going to start taking care of my diabetes. Honestly, I am not the best when it comes to checking sugars or taking my insulin. I go in phases where for about a month, I'll be really good about things. Then I miss a day, and that day turns into 2, which turns into a week, which turns into a month. Then I realize that I haven't been taking care of myself, and start the pattern over again. Well I've had it with myself. I'm going to start being responsible. I am going to watch my diet and avoid excessive sugar (like having 4 sodas in one day) hopefully that won't have an impact on my weight.

2) I'm going to start running. I got it in my head that I want to run the Flying Pigs Marathon. Right now, I'm just going to train for next year (2012) and I'm aiming to run the half-marathon. If I get really good at running and really enjoy it, I may do the full... but I wouldn't get your hopes up on that one. I'm a little nervous about doing this though. Mostly because I don't have great joints from all the years of dance and I am also worried that such an increase in my cardio will cause me to loose weight. I have been trying to do my research about diets to have while running and ways to not injure myself. We'll see if I can manage that much.

I have a theory with the running though. I have been hovering around 70% with my FEV1 post transplant. I have been disappointed by that, since most people I know that are post have a lung function in the 100s. I am hoping that by running and breathing deeper that I can get my lung function to increase in volume.

I'm really hoping that now that I have these things down in writing that I'll keep myself accountable. We'll see!!

And the Craziness Continues!

The Winter quarter was rough!! I had Literature (the topic was travel writing during the Romantic period) which I got an A- in, Cell Biology (the HARDEST class I've ever taken!) which I got a B- in, and the 2nd quarter of Anatomy and Physiology which I got an A. Overall, I was happy with how my grades turned out. That was pretty much all I've done in the last few months.

I did go to a couple of Kelly's dance competitions. Sad to think that these are her last ones since she graduates. I'm sure I'll see her dance in college though. She's already planning on joining the dance team at the school she decides on. She hasn't picked a school yet, but I'm sure that decision will come soon :)

Had another appointment in Cleveland last week. Everything went well and I don't have to go back for another 6 months. Finally, I have been pushed to every 6 months!! I have been waiting for that for a while since it means that I'm far enough out and that I'm stable. It makes me happy :)

I started the new quarter today. I'm taking Ecology, which is going to be rough since I am not interested in this subject at all, the last quarter of Anatomy and Statistics. My Stats class is Tuesdays from 6-8:50. That's going to be the eternal class :( Wish me Luck!!!

One quarter ends.... another begins!

Since my last post, I've had sinus surgery (verdict is still out on whether or not it was successful), written a research paper on the gene that codes for alpha-1 antitrypsin, taken 2 final exams, and started my new quarter at UC.

The sinus surgery went well. The recovery was quick, which was all I was really hoping for. I'm still super congested and having headaches. The doc put me on a steroid rinse, so that hopefully will help with everything. Also on the health front, I went back to Cleveland for a checkup. All is well again. PFTs were actually a little bit higher, so the goal is to keep moving and maybe they'll go up some more! My white blood count was a little low when I was up there, so they had me re-check it a few weeks later, and it was back in normal range.

School went well. I was proud of how I did with my first quarter back. I got an A in anatomy, and a B in genetics. The B in genetics was the hardest B I've ever earned! But I think a lot of it had to do with the paper I wrote on alpha-1 antitrypsin. It was the hardest paper I've ever written due to the fact that I couldn't find information that was on my level of knowledge. Everything I found was written for people doing research on the gene. Definitely not meant for an undergrad genetics student! Somehow I made it work though and got a 100% - yay!

Had a good break and a wonderful holiday season. Spent a lot of time with family and a good amount of time catching up on sleep and relaxing with my poodle. During that time, a friend of the family, Tina, received her double lung transplant and is doing wonderful! She got out of the hospital in 10 days and is now back at home. AMAZING! I'm so proud of her and reading her story on her caringbridge site just brings back all of the emotions I had when I went through my transplant.

I started the winter quarter today, which so far is looking promising. I'm taking Topics in Literature (writings about travel in the romantic period - yawn), Cell Structure and Function (could be promising, but mostly boring so far) and Anatomy II (Getting more in depth on other systems we didn't cover last quarter) so I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for straight As. We'll see.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and best of luck to everyone in 2011!!

Oh My...

So I just realized that it's been a LONG time since I've had a post. Most of that is due to the fact that I moved out of my parents' house.

Cameron and I bought a house in Westwood! :) It's already been a month since I've moved in and it has already been a lot of work. We haven't had to deal with yard work or any major repairs yet. Just little things, but it's still been a lot! The worst has been working on the kitchen sink, which despite our best efforts, is still leaking. I think it may be time to call in a plumber... or maybe a Daddy :)

The other thing that has been going on is I started school again! Yay! I'm only taking 2 classes, but it's 8 credit hours, which is a good amount considering it's been 3 years since I've been in school. Genetics and Anatomy I. Anatomy isn't too bad since I took it in high school, so a lot of it is review for me. Genetics on the other hand... wow, way more difficult than I was expecting! So far I'm doing OK in my classes. As and Bs, which I can't really ask for more since I'm re-learning how to learn.

On the health side, I've been having recurring sinus infections, so it's back for some sinus surgery for me! November 17th... and I'm going to have my dog vaccinated around then so he'll be at my parents' house for a week during that time. Figured it'd be best to have him out of the house while I'm recovering so I don't have to care for him while I'm trying to heal. It shouldn't be more than a day or two until I'm mobile, but it just times out well.

Hopefully I'll write more again when the quarter ends. Just don't have a ton of time right now!