More testing…

Hey everyone!

Well, the last week has been a rough one, but I have made it through.  🙂  Starting things off, I had the flu for 3 days, got better the next day, and then got a horrible cold and lost my voice.  Moving right along…Tuesday and Wednesday were spent in Iowa City doing lung transplant testing.  Man, can I first start by saying that the lung transplant team in Iowa City is absolutely AMAZING!!!!!  They all listen so well and are so honest and caring.  I could not be any more blessed.

I had a ton of testing.  I had a VQ scan, a meeting with the nutrition dietitian, echocardiogram (heart ultrasound), psychosocial examination, blood work, etc.  And the most DREADED was a heart catheterization.  It is a surgical procedure where a needle and tube is put into your neck vein and travels down into the heart to measure blood pressures.  It was incredibly painful.  I cannot describe how much it hurt!  I am SOOOOOOOOOOO glad that one is over, let me tell you.

One of the best things over the 2 days was a two hour presentation to my family and friend support group by the lung transplant team.  I had the largest support group they have ever had.  🙂  So, what does that tell you?  I am so blessed in that way.  They explained all of what to expect before, during and after transplant.  They answered questions, and it was a nice way for my family and friends to be able to meet together for this.  A lung transplantation is not a cure, like I have said before.  Really, I will be trading one set of problems (my inability to function or breathe with these lungs any more) for another problem (replacement of my sick lungs with donor lungs and all of the toxic drugs and high risk things that go along with transplant).  Unfortunately in my situation, I don’t have a choice BUT to trade my problems in.  But, it was a good way for everyone to understand what I am going through and what to expect.  I feel so blessed to have had so much support.

I pray that a miracle is coming, and I am praying that it comes before transplant.  But, regardless of if it comes before or not, the rest of my life will be up to God.  As I have stated before, a lung transplant will only ADD years to my life.  It will not allow for having more children or for many of the things I would like to do and see in my life.  And every year someone lives after a transplant increases the toxic damage being done to the inside of the body by the daily drug intake, and every day that is lived offers the chance that your body will decide to permanently reject the foreign lungs.  SO…my point is…God will have plenty of time and ways to heal my body.  I don’t pretend to know when or why He does what He does.  So…I will sit and wait.  And just believe that His Will is being done.

Anyhow, that is all all for now, really.  I am gathering requested medical records for the transplant team, and now we wait until January 1st to finish up testing and get officially listed for transplant.  I could then get the call for lung transplant in 1 day, or it could be a year or longer.  No one knows.  But I am ready to take this step forward and see where God and this life leads me.

Merry Christmas if I do not write sooner.  🙂  I cannot wait to spend this Christmas with my friends and family.  Christmas is a day to celebrate the birth of my savior and to celebrate with all of the many people that God has put into my life and blessed me with.  I am one lucky woman, and I never EVER forget that.

xoxoxoxooxoxoxox