It’s funny how you think some things you will never forget, those BIG moments in your life that you swear you will remember every detail. Well, let’s just say that I did not recall all of the details from the first transplant, and so it was kind of neat to be able to go back and read my journal entries and remember what exactly happened. I am not too focused on them because, well, that was a different journey, and Erin is a different Erin. All that being said, it’s been helpful to gage where she was at this point in her journey 8 years ago. Despite the complexity and forewarned challenging recovery due to a second transplant, Erin is keeping pace and sometimes outperforming her first recovery. A lot of that is due to all of the hard work she put in prior to transplant.

Today marks several big milestones. Catheter out, check. Atrial IV out, check. Multiple IV meds stopped, check. Two of the four chest tubes out, check. And tonight…. she will be attempting her first walk! All of this by Day 5!! in retrospect, her did her first walk on Day 8 last time!! She has had a few setbacks and concerns along the way – troubles with her feeding tube, nausea, and temporary paralysis of her vocal cords, but she is taking everything in stride. She is getting stronger each day and continues to surprise even her biggest supporters. Thank you for your continued support.

P.S. When your feeding tube is secured with a plastic ‘zip tie’ through your nostrils and a nurse accidently pulls it, it REALLY REALLY REALLY hurts!