Transplant Class and I have to stop eating comfort food!

What a lousy day.  In the last two months I have apparently indulged in too much comfort food because I cannot fit into my pants.  I need to do comfort walking and comfort yoga.  I need to do it fast.  I also received beautiful red roses today from the Cyber Crew, a group of consultants who stay in touch “no holds barred”.  These women are unbelievably wonderful and supportive, and I am so grateful for their care and prayers.  Love you, Cyber Crew!

Today was Transplant Class.  Possible heart and Lung transplantees and their primary caregivers were present…plus me, with my beautiful stitched up eye and nose.  Yes, they all stared.  The first two thirds of the class I already knew from my own research and reading UT’s material, and the last 3rd of the class was about being the caregiver.  Transplant patients cannot be alone for about 10-12 weeks.  2 or 3 times a week Randy will need to go up to UT for tests, rehabilitation, and more tests.  I have a list of things that still need to get done around here:  no down comforters or pillows, I need to put hand sanitizer in every corner and a box of clorox wipes in every room.  Just the medications alone are enough to overwhelm a person…and they must be taken for the rest of his life.

There was a 2 year post lung transplantee with us at the end of class, a 55 year old woman who had her transplant 2 years ago.  She said she has had no real problems, no rejection problems, and she and her husband are off to Europe next week.  She wears a mask in public, and wipes everything down with clorox that she will touch.  She talked about ATMs, they never get cleaned, imagine the germs!  Door handles, countertops, your plane seat and tray and the seat in front of you.  Hotel rooms are gone over with clorox wipes as well.  Washing hands really does save lives….and washing everything near you.  No raw meat or fish, no meat that is not cooked through and through.  Too much bacteria.  No oysters.  No alchohol.  NO ONE with a sniffle can come near him.  Many people had grandchildren and were worried about that, but they were told that children are exposed to so much that one has to be very careful that they are clean, clean, clean.  She said you relax after the first year, but she is still cautious.

After the surgery no one will see Randy without washing, masking and putting on gloves.  He will be in an Isolation Room after the surgical ICU.  They have also increased his oxygen as he continues to work out and lose weight, and they put his score at 93 instead of 91.  They did a transplant up there yesterday, but the lungs were blood type B, and he needs O.  Randy said he thinks it will happen in the next couple of days….I have the feeling that lungs outside the immediate zone are being considered or negotiated.  The person who was transplanted yesterday, who received B lungs, had a score of 37.

So, it is clear that the kids and I have plenty of work to do in every room of this house.  I’m going to pull the rugs, too.  Luke and Lucy will be shaved down to be Labs instead of Goldens.  So, Randy is making a prophecy that he is only a day or two away…he told the docs he is ready.  So, we are still playing the waiting game.  Oh, and I think my hair is turning white.