Everyone asks me about the pain. I really have none. Zero.
Instead of the incision down the middle of the torso, it is arm pit to arm pit just underneath the breasts. They then cut the sternum to gain access like lifting the lid of an automobile. That is later wired shut and stays for life.
No more cracking or breaking of the ribs. They even intentionally damaged the nerves so the entire area of the breasts to the arms is numb. Completely numb. Three months after the transplants, I can feel a bit more in my upper right arm but with the continued numbness comes NO PAIN.
By the time the nerves repair themselves, everything has healed.
Brilliant!
I am down to eleven drugs and expect to begin the Prednisone step-down to 6 mgs by the one-year anniversary during my monthly meeting with a transplant clinic doctor this week. I will also once again have a CT Scan, PFT and Bronchoscopy. Last months tests were all amazing.
We are in touch with several other transplant people we met at the hotel and the hospital. They are struggling. There are issues including weight and blood sugar and medications. Some only got one lung and there are issues dealing with that mentally.
Michael recently told me that I was on a heart/lung machine, opened on the table, for over two hours waiting for the lungs. No doctor had to fly them in. No doctor had to drive them across the state. She waited her turn while everything that could be donated was removed. She just had to walk them across the hallway. There was very little time when the lungs were not in a body. That affects many things including a reduced chance of rejection.
I am convinced that is the major reason I am doing so well. The lungs are simply marvelous, young, no infections, no odd growths and just plain happy. No words can express how extremely grateful I am for them.
