Struggles

 Everyone has obstacles in their life. For some, it's a  flat tire and late for work. For transplant recipients, it seems as though we are in a constant struggle to get healthy. We feel great. We get sick and have to start back at the beginning . Continually..

Immediately post transplant we want to go out and conquer the world. As years pass, our medicines take a toll and aging of our new organ creates some nasty side effects.

I'm at that cross roads. We're trying a new direction in treating my antibiotic resistant Pseudomonas.  I've stopped all nebulizer treatments.  Amikacin made it so I could barely get out of bed or make it through the day. Collistin tightened my airways so I could barely breathe.  I struggled with the known side effects of inhaled Tobramycin and lost. 

I now see a local Infectious Disease Specialist and Pulmonary physician. I was told the Tobramycin could cause hearing loss, what I was not told the loss is permanent.  Since it affects the inner ear, loss of balance is a huge problem. I was starting to notice that issue, as well as painful tinnitis.

Yesterdays walk was a little slower pace. Today was at a snails pace. Granted we had high humidity too. My low grade temperature is back which means it's time for IV antibiotics again. We're treating with antibiotics - only- right now.

Instead of letting all this get me down, I will keep trying that walk. Remember... accomplish one thing each day. If that's all you do, you accomplished that !  I Downed a few Tylenol and drank a little Root Beer to settle my stomach. Took a short nap and now feel ready to face the afternoon. 

This wee squirrel was my motivation on my walk.  He ran down the sidewalk right up to me before realizing I was real.  Looked twice and scampered off.  He gave me my morning laugh.

Find joy in each day.

Don't let negativity to rule you.

Take that walk. (Accomplish)

The Grand Adventures of Oz.

Many of you already know Oz. For those who do not, Oz is the last of my 3 boys.
we lost Dibs in February 2 years ago, his brother CC in March of this year. Oz is our Skye Terrier who after being dropped off at my house at 8 weeks- rescued me.

After losing CC, a deal was made with Ozzi. He will be our only dog , as long as he promises to live forever :)

Since he is now 13 and greying, and I decided to start working on my Bucket List again. I thought , how about we check items off together !

Without further ado.... may I present Ozzi.

Oz here....
Mom & Dad are taking me everywhere ! Being the only dog has it's  advantages.  It was great having Dibs & CC around for fun and blaming each other when we dug up the yard... but like Mom says...
It's Good To Be The King!

We're off in the Motorhome, my first time without my brothers. We had mechanical issues -again- but no blown tires on the highway... yay ! We left the 1st campground in a hurry... yuck... but now are in a great place on a lake with lots of ducks!!!

Today was my 1st trip to a Flea Market. I walked with my tail high acting like I owned the place.  Mom kept telling me to slow down, but I wanted to sniff everything! I have to remember Mom can't catch her breath like when we walked 3-4 miles every morning. But this was her 1st trip to a place like this in a long time too.

Then we rode the highway looking for a place for lunch. Dad said it had to have outside seating so I could go to.. they love me soooo much. Yay for Firehouse  Subs!

Mom is always sharing her meals with me.  Don't tell Dad,but I take her to lunch when he's  working...lol. Back in the car and headed back to our motor home,I heard Mom say they wore me out !  I'm  gonna let Em think that until I get out of the car.
Tonight Gracie & Ashton will be flying in ! I really love the girls !

Tomorrow we drive out for a new grand adventure. ...

Ozzi out fur now ...

Go Gators

Now I don't mean the Florida Gators at University of Florida. I mean the Florida Gators as in alligators.
For the last few weeks on my morning walks I've seen a family of turtles (4-5) sunning the bank at a small pond on the Sumter Greenway. They always manage to duck back into the water before I can snap a picture.
  This morning was a little different. As we started out and rounded the corner from my street onto Sumter, I again greeted the turtles but slowly floating in this small pond was a small alligator. It was no more than 3-3.5 feet in length. I quickly grabbed my phone to snap a photo, but alas having had my Blackberry only 2 days I took longer than he wanted me to. He slid to the bottom. Hopefully, NOT to jump out and attempt to grab one of my boys. Then it would be a fight to the death. No one messes with my boys.
    We continued on our walk so the turtles could come back out and have a peaceful afternoon. At the next drainage pond, I looked in the distance searching for the 4 footer that usually basks on this bank. He was there. Suddenly I heard a loud splash close by-signalling possibly another gator in the area. Seeing nothing I went back in an attempt to zoom in on the other gator in the distance for a photo. I took a few and as I was leaving glanced down to the drain opening and there it was. The other gator that made the splash. Nose pointing at me, definitely warning me to stay out of his pond. I snapped a few quick photos, tightened the boys leashes and we finished on our walk.
      Nature makes my morning walks much more enjoyable to trudging on the treadmill. My dogs chasing everything makes the walk interesting. I've been concerned that our little area might find it difficult recovering the unusual cold winter we've had. Thousands of fish were killed and had to be removed from our waterways due to the 10 days of continual freezing lows. Our yard is normaly filled with lizards of every kind and variety, but none so far... disappointing indeed. My giant rain frog who is renting space in my rain barrel is still alive, but I think his wife has gone to a warmer climate.
    These walks as well as all my little creatures make my day easier. It's a calming way to face the day with no stress.  Release those endorphins and take a short walk-or just sit outside and enjoy nature. The effects can be amazing..

P.S... I am a UF Gator too... Born that way-and thanks to the great people at Shands reborn that way.

Insulin results

Sorry no post yesterday, Hubby surprised me with a trip to the beach. Motor home, boys and me all on the road for a day.The beach at Nokomis was beautiful. A sunny 87 degrees and a beautiful Gulf breeze.
My blood sugar has been doing great in my experiment. The first day it was kinda wonky ( a  new word of mine) but still in range. As of yesterday it started to level off and stay where I wanted it :80-90 range.
   Now I actually feel hungry as the insulin starts lowering the blood sugar. My weight has started to decrease as well... YAY!! I'm able to eat the type of foods I like and keep my blood sugar in range.   I'm a healthy eater, love fish, chicken, veggies and fruit so this also helps keep everything ok. 
   We went out last Friday night for fish and Larry wanted to share a platter. I should  have known better. It was a fried platter and I even commented that it had too much batter and not enough seafood. This should have been my first clue. Three hours later my blood sugar reading at bedtime was a whopping 175!  This did not sit well with me. I decided there and then that I would take back control.

      Along with the diet, I've incorporated more exercise. I now walk more in the morning as well as the evening. Our days are less humid and we're now getting the Gulf trade winds so walking is enjoyable instead of a chore. My lil guy DB loves it too. He's a big concern with the heart problem, so he's getting his heart walks too. This along with writing down my calories/fat content at each meal and a final tally for the day help me understand just where I need to tighten the belt so to speak.

  I still have the pain in my left side, hopeful it's fractured ribs and not something more serious and today my right ankle is extremely painful.  I've said many times I live with some sort of pain each day, now I guess it'll be a few pains each day. Still walked, still did laundry and cooking. If I'm going to be in pain, I intend to have a darn good reason for it.

Daily obstacles

After Saturdays heart rate issues, I felt drained on Sunday. My heart rate was at 75 in the morning-not what I wanted or where it should be.But I'll take it. I took another pill as I as told to do and kept busy so my blood pressure would stay in a normal range.
I left for my morning walk feeling kinda blue funky. I hadn't realized that during the night a major cold front (yes in s. Florida) had moved in. It was rather chilly in shorts and a t-shirt!

Me & the boys walked faster! Poor lil Deebs with his bad heart was doing great with the drop in humidity and cooler weather. Glad he was. I started sneezing, coughing and thought"great all I need now". I now knew why I was feeling so funky.

When we finally got home, I decided it was time to take it easy and get over this fast. I've always been a firm believer that if I'm going to pay for advice and a physician I'm going to do what they say. Why pay out precious money if I'm not gonna follow through. After all a doctor can only take my health so far, the rest is up to me. WooHoo bon-bons, the couch, a good movie, and my boys! Well, skip the bon bons-I'm diabetic and hate taking insulin.

By Sunday evening, my heart rate was back to normal. Now the dilemma. Do I call Melissa (my coordinator) and tell her about the sneezing & coughing or see what transpires? Monday morning and I was feeling great, like my old self (as good as that can be). I decided to let it ride since I was no longer coughing and sneezing and my spirometry looked good too.

In case you're wondering, spirometry is a lung function test we recipients perform at home. It allows us to keep watch on our numbers and can help signal possible rejection (acute not chronic) in time to stop it. Spirometry can be uplifting or depressing. While in chronic rejection and waiting for my 2nd lung transplant watching the numbers steadily drop was such an emotional upheaval. The doctor finally told me to stop the spirometry-we knew what was happening and it was worse for me to see that I was actually dying than to know it mentally. At that point the adage "reality sucks" was true.

Monday also brought about major comcast issues with the internet adding this to a slow pc and I didn't accomplish much online. Even my 3 online stores suffered from lack of attention.

The PC is slow and the laptop wasn't charging...lovely day of obstacles. But, that's changed for a little --YYYYaaaayyyyyy. For some unknown reason the laptop decided to start charging, just as I was going to buy a new battery.. Thank You God!!!! You seem to take me to the brink and then just when I make a decision you show me a different route to take.

Well, feeling better today (Tuesday) I'm hitting the treadmill. Wearing my Dash for Donation 5K t-shirt from the 2006 US Transplant Games for encouragement I'm psyched. Then on to the drudgery of laundry, floors, dishes (already did those once today) and eventually relaxing with my boys (all 4 of them).