Mystery Blisters, Crab Legs, & Haagen-Daz

It has been a very busy last three days. So busy that I have not had any energy to type at the end of the day. I have been composing updates in my head, and I wish that I could just plug a USB cable into my ear or something and have a new posting transfer over to my computer and type itself, but as far as I know they have not come up with that kind of technology yet.

Monday was an epically long day. Every Monday I have my clinic appointment with the Transplant Team. Before the actual appointment I have to get blood drawn to check drug levels, do PFT's (Pulmonary Function Tests to measure lung function), and get a chest x-ray. This week my blood draw was at the lovely time of 7:30am. It takes us about 25 minutes to get to the hospital, so we have to be leaving by 7am. I am not a morning person. 

Clinic went really well. All the drug levels were good, my weight is stabalizing, and PFT's are really good. The only minor set back is that I cultured pseudomonas. (I had a bronchoscopy last friday and one of the things that they do is take mucous samples to see if anything is growing in the new lungs. Pseudomonus was something I grew in my old lungs, and it is still in my sinuses, so there is always the chance for it to trickle down into my new lungs.) This is of course not ideal, I want to keep these lungs as pristine as possible, but in the broad spectrum of potential complications this is fairly minor. I find it more annoying than anything because I have had to start one more medication, and I am already on enough drugs to kill a horse, so the last thing I really wanted was to add one more thing to my toxic cocktail. But that is how it goes, and I REALLY want to take care of these lungs, so you just do what you have to do.

This week was also my first appointment with the surgeon since being discharged. (yes ladies, the hot one!) So after about three hours in the Transplant Clinic we had just enough time to grab some lunch before my appointment with the surgeon.

Dr. Mulligan, my surgical god, got called into surgery right before my appointment, so we ended up having to wait over an hour for him. (This is not at all unusual, a lot of his surgeries happen unexpectedly and as frustrating as it is to have to do a lot of waiting, you really can't get upset because he is saving someone's life.) This waiting time did give me the opportunity for a much needed nap, so really it worked out fine.

I got a very good report from him. I am healing nicely. My x-ray looked good, except for one spot on the lower right that is still retaining some fluid, but he said that that is very common and as I continue to get more active it will take care of itself. My incision looks good, and my chest tube sites are healing well too. The only thing that is weird are these mystery blisters!! Dr. Mulligan had no idea what they were, his Physicians Assistant had no idea, the nurse had not idea.......basically everyone is puzzled. 

So my last appointment on monday was with yet another doctor (since I obviously don't have enough already) in the Dermatology Clinic. Dr. Wang is a tall, quiet, Asian man with a slight lisp. He was very nice and very thorough, but it was kind a funny moment when I had to pull my exam gown apart and show him, his two male Fellows, and the flamboyantly gay nurse these weird blisters, which are on my boobs. There is nothing quite like bearing your breasts to four men at the same time and having all of them gasp in unison and then let out four consecutive puzzled "hmmmm.....'s" 

They took two biopsy's of the larger blister sight, which has popped now but was very deep so I have this sort of concave spot just to the left of my sternum that is starting to scab over. Both blisters each have a red ring around them that kind of looks like ring worm. Weird.

The biopsy's were sent off to the lab, and we should be getting the results next week. So really, I have no conclusive information about the mystery blisters, except that they are indeed a mystery.

Other highlights from this week: My friend Elizabeth came up over the weekend, and along with a bunch of random things my parents and I had requested from Eugene, she also brought a pizza from PRI!!! Now, for those of you not familiar with PRI, I will explain. The Pizza Research Institute, or PRI, is a local, family owned restaurant in Eugene. It is a 100% vegetarian and vegan establishment, 100% organic, and only uses local and regional ingredients. They make the most AMAZING pizza!! A lot of you might find it weird, since there is no meat, and they put pretty much every fruit and vegetable known to man on their pizza. As weird as that might sound, just wait until you have your first experience with ricotta and peaches and portobello mushroom! Mmmm!! Delicious! 

Also while Elizabeth was here, we all went to Ivar's Salmon House dinner saturday night. I gorged myself on 1lbs. of Alaskan King Crab Legs. Try as I might I was not able to eat the entire pound, but I got awful close. I LOVE crab, but I think the best part about crab legs is getting to play with your food and dissect the meat out. It makes you savor it all the more, having to work for it.

On sunday two more of my girlfriends came up from Portland. I have known both Petrel and Jennifer since first grade. We went to a Thai Restaurant not far from our apartment that I had been wanting to try, and had a lovely, lingering lunch just talking and catching up. 

(As you can probably tell I have been doing a lot of eating. Now that I have my appetite back I am actually enjoying food, and eating is something I find pleasurable again. I am finding particular delight in ice cream. For longer than I can remember I have not liked ice cream because the coldness of it irritated my throat, which would then irritate my lungs and then make me cough and cough and cough. Now though, ice cream doesn't make me cough!!! And I think I am making up for lost time, because I cannot get enough Haagen-Daz to save my life! I have been eating about three ice cream bars a day, the vanilla ones with milk chocolate and almonds. Mmmmm!!)

Along with lots of eating, I have also been doing lots of sleeping. On monday I was so tired after all my appointments I went to bed at 7 o'clock. 

An now, thinking about it I think it is time for another ice cream bar, and then a nap.