Over the River and Through the Woods...

Wednesday is my 4 week anniversary!!! 

Exercise -It won't be long and I'll be running over the river and through the woods.  I am now going to do an exercise bike Tuesday and Thursday and treadmill on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  I'm currently walking 1.6 miles in 30 minutes. I can't walk much faster so to increase my workout I will have to increase elevation. I biked 4.6 miles in half an hour today. It was a first and my legs are needing some workout.  I still do leg lifts with ankle weights to strengthen them for right now. After six weeks I will be able to do some arm exercises as well.  Saturday I branched out and walked two miles on the treadmill.  I am quite excited that I can exercise with such ease at this point in my life!  If things continue to go well I think I would like to try a 5k somewhere just to say I did it, running distance is not my favorite thing to do! I would much rather play basketball or baseball or kickball or you get the point.

Bronchoscopy -  I had my first bronch last Wednesday. It was a pleasant experience and the team was great. They sedate me lightly and then they numb my throat and vocal cords.  When numb, they insert a probe to look at the stitching in the airways, and the lungs themselves.  On the end of the probe is a small forceps that they use to take small pencil point biopsies. The twelve 12 biopsies are use to determine if rejection is present. The other use of the bronch is to get good sputum cultures from the lungs to see if any infection is present. After the procedure I spent the rest of the day sleeping from the sedation. I did eat good and I'm sure I entertained my mom with my silly talk from the sedation.  The final results show NO rejection!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I did however culture for an infection that is treatable with oral antibiotics, another pill to the regimen for two weeks (no biggie)!

PFTs - Pulmonary Function Test, the test used to determine how well a person lungs are tested by blowing in a machine and measuring different value! See PFT description and variables I now have to blow PFTs every week until 12 weeks and then once a month. As posted before my FEV1 from my first PFT was 72%, the following week 76%, and this week it reached a whopping 90%. I have not been at that level in several years, so here's to hoping I get to 100 and stay there for a while!!  I am super stoked about the results.

Other Mentionables -

• Thanks to Karen Meyers for the nice write up in the Missourian (see link)
• Not culturing for fungus, so I get to drop two pills
• Even though Mom and I spend all day together we still have not killed each other
• I had an excellent weekend with Brayden, and get to see him this Christmas weekend
• I get to stop doing my nebulizer treatments all together
• I get to send my oxygen back to Apria
• My x-rays continue to look well
• I am still thankful to the Lord for everyday he continues to give me
• I appreciate all the thoughts and prayers coming my way
• I can sleep on my side for small amounts at a time
• I am not as sore,  I can feel the muscle and cuts healing up
• I want to encourage Organ Donation as much as possible

Merry Christmas to ALL, God bless you and keep you safe this weekend,

AB