Its hard to believe we are already 5 weeks post op! And as of midnight last night, I am off of 24 hour required supervision at home! Not to worry…Nurse Mom is close by!

Overall, we are just dealing with recovery this week. While, I did accept a high risk heart, we have chosen to only share why the heart was considered high risk with family at this time, out of respect to my donor. It does require me to take medication for 3 months. My stomach doesn’t love the new medication, but the transplant team and pharmacist are trying to come up with a solution for my stomach. Prayers that the medication works and that we can help my stomach, that would be appreciated. We must complete this 3 months of medication before we can restart my lipid medications.

Speaking of Lipids…thats been the most asked question? Will I get disease in the new heart? We surely hope not. The idea is new ‘pipes’ not exposed to 32 years of genetic conditions are setting me up for better success…The Transplant Team was already in discussions with my Lipid Specialist Cardiologist while I was inpatient and he followed my case the whole time I was inpatient. I had a telemedicine appt with my PCP this week who was so excited for me and we talked through everything, but her next question was “whats Dr. M’s plan for your lipids to protect this new heart?” Good question.. we have a hour long telemedicine appt Friday to discuss this plan…

Another question has been how do you feel? Still Chest pain (Angina) free. Mom and I walked half a mile today and I had no chest pain. You guys…I couldnt walk more than down the hall before without chest pain. My old heart, god bless it, was bad. The cardiomypathy team was shocked at how bad it was when they studied it after transplant. In time, I will go more into this, but the Lord truly has His hand over my life.

A lot of people have been asking, hows your appetite? Well, the team wants me to eat, so I eat what sounds good (within reason). There are restrictions due to drug interactions. We are also dealing with steroid induced hyperglycemia, so we have to watch that. That celebratory pint of ice cream we bought? Still in the freezer untouched. My endocronologist and the transplant team are coordinating treatment and I check in with my endocronologist ever 2 days with my numbers as we try to get numbers in range and adjust insulin. I’m taking more insulin in a day than I did in a week pre-transplant. Steroids are used as an anti-rejection medication and slowly tapered off, but they cause you to be insulin resistant, so it requires a lot of insulin.

We are also trying to get my Tacro levels (anti-rejection) levels down. Thanks to my stomach calming down in one sense, lets just say meds have time to actually be absorbed before ‘passing through’ (haha!) so now my levels are high. We are running labs every 3-5 days and pulling back the dose.

I can honestly say I have never called/been called by doctors office so often but the transplant clinic is outstanding and no question or concern is too small or dumb to them and they respond very quickly. My PCP encouraged me this week to remember that this team and she have always believed me, that I am not having to prove myself again, so to let go of the stress of calling in and allow this team to care for my concerns.

The team was realistic that it will take about 3-6 months to feel like myself again and I will be honest, this recovery is 10x tougher than my other cardiac surgery. This recovery time too will one day be a distant memory and so we take the sore moments and give praise that they are often a little less than the day before.

Lastly, Mom and I are truly overwhelmed by the generosity and love being sent via mail, email and on our Hope Wins shirt sale and donations. This will be of tremendous help to us. We are already putting some of the donations to use toward the round of medication refills this week. Thank you truly! We have been driven to tears of gratitude by everyones support. Every donation is truly a gift! Proper thank you notes will follow (because my mama raised me right) in time, I just ask for your patience as I can only tackle them as my energy allows.

#HOPEWINS #becauseofjesusandadonor