It wont be long, folks.  She’s getting close!!

This is a long post but important as Allie gets closer to coming home.  

She is now and always will be immunosuppressed but even more so for the first one to two years.  It is crucial she avoid illnesses.  She can easily catch anything and everything that’s out there. These precautions can be a matter of life and death for her so I thought I should share with everyone who is eager to see her a few things.  She is so thankful to everyone that I know it’ll be hard for her to not want to hug and see everyone.  I’m asking her (and all of you) to abide by her Center’s precaution recommendations. 

Anyone coming into see her should wash their hands or use hand sanitizer, take their shoes off, and wear a mask.  She will have masks and hand sanitizer for you to use.  I’m hoping she puts a little sign on her door along the line of “Please use a mask, use Purell, and remove shoes.  Please don’t come in if you are sick”.  Maybe I can get her a pretty welcome sign with this added to it.  

Please do not be offended if she or any of us ask you to please go home and take good care of yourself if you have “the sniffles”, might be coming down with something, if in the midst of a cold no matter how small it is,  or are recovering from a cold.  You should not be around her. Please don’t put her at risk. 

It would be great to call her on the phone to catch up for the first 6-12 months rather than planning visits if you’re at all unsure. How often are you fine one day, just more tired, and coming down with something the next day?

She should avoid being near kids or animals who just got LIVE vaccines (for example nasal FluMist [flu shots are OK], Varivax, Rotavirus, Chickenpox or Herpes Zoster vaccines.  It’s mostly kids diapers she should avoid changing after live vaccines or saliva from the animal.  But in the case of FluMist, oral polio vaccines or kennel cough vaccines she should not be near those people/animals for a week or two.  Regular flu vaccine are OK and encouraged!  The concern with LIVE vaccines is viral shedding, where the person/animal who got the vaccine becomes contagious for a period of time after they get the vaccine and can pass a virus to someone else. When you get sick with a cold, the flu, a cold sore, or any other contagious disease, it is not uncommon that you spread it to other people by shedding the virus or bacteria that is making you sick.  Viral shedding also happens after live vaccines (usually in stool or nasal secretions). So ask your doctor who gave the vaccine if it is live and safe for an immunocompromised person to be around the vaccinated person/animal. 

Please don’t bring her food, there are many food restrictions she has and even when cooked, there are issues around storage and etc.  Even though it is very thoughtful and a wonderful gesture, it’s  just easier to say “no” to gifts of food unless prepackaged, shelf-stable food.   

Please don’t bring her flowers or live plants. She can’t have them in her living area for the first 6-12 months and it would be sad to have to send them back home with you.  The consern is for aspergillosis, a fungus that is dangerous for a fresh lung transplant patient.  She also needs to avoid construction sites and a lawn being mowed for the same reasons. 

Please use precautions around her son and her fiancé too to some degree to see if we can keep them healthy too or it makes life pretty difficult in their home for her to avoid illness.  If you’re sick, please try to stay three feet away from Allie’s close family members: avoid kissing, hugging, or shaking hands.  And, please don’t share eating utensils or cups with Blake or kiss him on the lips.  

These are some of the precautions Allie needs to take:

She needs to avoid any inhaled irritants, especially cigarette smoke, dust flying around, strong cleaning or paint fumes. She should not be around construction or tear down remodeling sites. Also no houseplants for her.

She needs to avoid sunlight by wearing sunblock, wide brim hats, or just not being in it for very long.  She is about 66% more prone to skin cancer being immunosupressed for her lifetime.  

She should be avoiding all situations where there are crowds when she can.  When she needs to go out and about, she’ll be wearing a mask and obsessively using hand sanitizer. ????

She needs to be careful what she eats.  Her diet restrictions are much like that of a pregnant woman.  Only pasteurized dairy and juice products, no salad bars,  hot bars,  or buffets (even family buffets included, sorry, unless she’s first to go thru the line and the food hasn’t been sitting out).  No foods that multiple people are using the same utensil to get food from open containers of that sits out for very long. No fruits or veggies unless thoroughly washed, no deli meats unless cooked and eaten right away and not sitting around.  She can’t have soft served ice cream or ice from a machine.  No raw sushi or rare meats.  All these precautions are because bacteria that would not bother us can cause a serious food poisoning in her. 

Some of these may seem over the top but she needs to protect her new lungs and her life and they are precautions her team recommends.  Some of these guidelines will be strict for the first year when she will be on the highest doses of anti-rejection medications then will relax a little in some areas. Let’s help her have the longest healthiest life by using a few simple precautions to protect her.