It’s been a little over 6 months since my life-saving double lung transplant. In some ways, it feels like forever. In other ways, it feels like it was yesterday. To give you an idea of what has been going on these last 6 months, I guess I should talk about how my daily life has changed.

Since having the transplant, I’ve been breathing like a normal person. I’m walking up stairs, I’m parking blocks away and walking to stores without needing to catch my breath, I’m just living life! I’m 100% more conscious of hygiene (of myself and everyone else I come in contact with), I’m very concerned with food cleanliness, and I’m no longer drinking alcohol. Not like I was a big drinker before, but now I’m conscious of how much drinking is involved with EVERY social event ever. 

What my followers on Facebook and Instagram don’t see is how everyday life has changed- not necessarily for the worse, but different.

*Every morning and every evening I take 15 pills that keep me alive. I’m a pro at taking pills and just need a splash of something to drink. I’ve been taking pills my entire life, so this is nothing new- just the quantity has increased.

*Every two weeks since September, I go to the hospital for a bronchoscopy. This involves me going to the outpatient clinic, I breathe in lidocaine to numb my throat, the doctor puts me under, goes in through my throat to access my lungs. They clean out any junk that’s been growing and check the junk for any bugs or rejection. Each time, the culture grows pseudomonas which means I need to be on antibiotics to clear the infection. This means I still have a picc line from September used 3 times a day to do IV antibiotics (early in the morning, middle of the day, and right before bed). Sometimes the antibiotics take 5 minutes to administer, sometimes they take 1.5 hours each time. Luckily, I’m able to do these at home on my own (except when my hand was broken and I needed Nick and my mom to help). Every week, a nurse comes to my house to change the dressing. One day, hopefully, I’ll stop culturing pseudomonas and can get this picc line pulled. I’ve never had one for this long. (It’s in my upper arm and not visible when I’m wearing long sleeves.) I would really love to take a normal shower again without having to cover the picc line.

*Once a month I have a treatment called IVIG administered through my picc line. The nurse comes to my house and I have a 4 hour long infusion of this medicine. I’m so thankful that this can be done at home instead of going to the hospital where there is a greater chance of catching something from another sick person.

*I wear a mask whenever I go to the hospital, if I fly, or whenever I’m in a situation with a bunch of coughing people that I can’t escape from. Not ashamed to look weird wearing a mask if it means protecting my new lungs.

*I still am using my nebulizer to administer one antibiotic. Previously, I was nebulizing 4 times/day. But now, just once a day. I’m saving so much time!

*I no longer need to do my VEST treatment. I would wear a compression vest (looks like a life vest) filled with air that would vibrate to loosen the junk in my lungs. The goal was to get the gunk to unstick and for me to cough it up and out. Again, saving so much time not doing this twice a day.

*I’ve had increased heartburn, but that was solved with an increase of a medication I was already taking.

*I’ve had nausea and vomiting randomly (not triggered by something I ate or sickness), but we’ve hopefully solved that with adding yet another medication. The chance of rejection increases when acid from the stomach enters/damages your lungs. So keeping heartburn and vomiting under control is vital.

I am getting out of the house as often as possible to see friends, go on walks with Nick and Madison, and explore new restaurants. We recently drove to Houston (our first trip out of the state since February 2019) to visit cousins and NASA. It was wonderful to have our car instead of flying. I would hate to have caught some bug in the airport. And, we were able to have as cooler with us stocked with drinks and all my antibiotics that needed to be kept cold. We are hesitant to plan another trip at this time since we never know what could happen with my health. Hopefully I remain stable and can start looking to the future!