One year anniversary

Today is one year from the date of my transplant. I feel a sense of peace writing that, living it, believing it.

I'm living at home, by myself again. I'm working. I'm travelling and planning. I'm doing things to my house. Sewing. Seeing friends, eating out, cooking in. All wonderful things.

The liver biopsy today was predictable with no complications. It was an interesting morning though. I spent a full two hours going from one part of the hospital to another doing the preparatory things. My letter with instructions to not eat after midnight and show up at 7:15 said to go to radiology first then admitting. Radiology said go to admitting first. Radiology did a sonogram of my liver and marked the spot between my ribs to stick the needle. The radiologist was a pleasant fellow who said my liver looked pretty good.

Then to the GI clinic, but back to the lab. A very young fellow was learning his way around the lab and I discovered he is a recent graduate of K-State when my arm bled and threatened to soil my purple sweatshirt. Likewise his mentor was a wildcat. A refreshing twist in a very blue and red hospital.

Finally to the GI clinic. Dr. Gilroy, who is Australian, had me sign the consent form and we chatted a bit. I told him Dr. Abhyankar said he always calls him "matey" on the phone. Dr. Gilroy replied "these guys confuse me with a sailor. I call him MATE." I must report that he is as good at the liver biopsy as he said he was. I was given sedation that put me to sleep after I was on the way back to the recovery room. It was over that fast. I contributed blood and tissue to a study. The nurse working on the study collection said they had only about 15 patients like me so it would be a real help to have my contribution. I was so willing...they have no idea how willing I am to help. The actual biopsy is done with a long hollow needle he inserts into my liver and removes a very small cylinder of tissue.

Fifteen patients "like me" is a clue about my situation as a transplant patient at KU. The nurses tell me things like "if there was a prize for the most weird treatments you would get it." And report the times the doctors sent me to the hospital from the clinic and did not feel good about it. We were all holding our breath about this last transplant. So many things were up in the air. I could not have a full transplant because my lungs were fragile and my liver was inflamed. I could not have an unrelated donor transplant because of the lungs. All the things the doctors had planned to do to make the second transplant work, they could not do.

But as I said last night, they are nothing if not creative. I received a different chemo as part of the mini-transplant. It was horrid but it worked. And they poured every single stem cell they got from Walt into me instead of just the amount called for according to my weight.

It was a very long haul, and very difficult. The few days I expected to be in the hospital turned into 7 weeks. I didn't eat for much of that time. The lungs were up and down. The acute graft v. host was extreme. (Acute refers to gvhd symptoms in the first 3 months after the transplant.)

Ah, but here I am a year later. Thriving.
I am glad to have the liver biopsy out of the way.

Walt came over tonight and brought me a blooming potted plant. I'm thrilled to have something blooming for my house. I feel pretty good and expect to go home tomorrow after spending the night with Mom & Dad.

Conor and Annie will be Oklahoma the next few days showing off their babies. I will miss that opportunity to see them, but this biopsy was already postponed from an appointment during my May trip to Chicago. I will see them soon.

Thanks to all of you who read the blog. To those of you who comment and those of you who don't. The blog is good for me. I think when I post regularly, I don't struggle with the blues. The blog is not going away. There might be more daily trivia included but this recovery is still a work in progress so I will continue to update. If you have an opinion, I welcome it. Here or via email.

My canoe is steady in mid-stream heading down river. I'm thinking of things like sun defense and balance so this tells me I'm getting better. The visual world in my head is broadening.

~Cathi