Beginning these first two days blogging each day may be a bad idea. I'm not sure I'll be able to keep up everyday. You might actually be glad about that! Some days and things just aren't that interesting. In addition to how today went, I do have another reason for writing. Many people have asked for my mailing address while I'm here in Chicago and I finally remembered to check into that. So, if you're wanting to send something snail mail style, send it here:
The Seneca Hotel
Beth Fortwendel
200 E Chestnut St
Chicago, IL 60611
Keep in mind, this is only my address until the 2nd of October. It will change after that!
Today was a relatively good day. I had to be at the hospital a little earlier and started the day with a Pulmonary Function Test or PFT to those familiar. It's basically a breathing test and measures lung function and capacity. PFTs aren't my favorite tests but they are far from the worst! After the PFT I had a stress echo scheduled. This test, in my opinion, completely sucks. Really I'm not complaining about it because it just has to be done, but let me just give you the low down on what happens during this 90 minute test. In only a hospital gown, I laid on my side in a room cold enough to hang meat. I did have two blankets on but nothing on my hands and they get so crazy cold, it wasn't long before I was pretty miserable. But really this is the tolerable part. Besides being cold there's a blood pressure cuff on my left arm, which is the side I'm laying on, that goes off every 3 minutes. I have an IV in my right arm that is intermittently getting medication passed through. In addition the tech is jabbing an ultrasound wand thingy (I don't know what they're called) into my chest and ribs. And I mean jabbing hard enough it's painful. Also the tech is asking me to take breaths and hold it while he takes pictures and this is especially hard because I can't hold my breath as long as the normal person so we keep having to do the pictures over. And best of all, on top of all that, half way through the test they start giving me a medication that makes my heartrate go from around 80 up to 160. So my heart feels like its beating out of my chest, I'm shaking from being cold, I'm trying to remember to hold my breath long enough and hold my left arm out when the blood pressure cuff goes off. This test is NO fun and I'm always very glad when it's over.
So after all that, we had lunch in the cafeteria and got a chance to meet with the transplant doctor. Our visit was short and sweet. He reminded me of the risks of transplant and likely results. He told me that over a period of a few years I would see great improvement in my skin and potentially some in my lungs. He said there are some people who do not have much lung improvement and there are some that do. I've decided I'm ok with either, as long as they don't get worse. That's the biggest concern for me.
I was done by 2:30 so we came back to the room and had a short nap then we got a little dinner and walked through a few stores close to our hotel. I feel good about today and hopefully tomorrow is even better. One thing I have already found that troubles me about Chicago, I can't find Dr. Pepper in any restaurant I've been in. What's the deal? Didn't they know I was coming?
No comments:
Post a Comment