6 Month Post Transplant!

Today I’m officially 6 months post-transplant.  I’m very grateful that I’ve made it these past 6 months without any major setbacks (other than the early onset of the Listeria in September).

You would think my recent struggle should be trying to remain healthy in a household that has been overtaken first by a child with a respiratory infection in mid-January.  The good Lord carried me through that without the hint of any symptoms.  Now the next hurdle was a child who came down with a similar cough, but then ran a fever over 101 for more than a week.  The doctor finally confirmed she not only had strep (without a sore throat of any kind) but also full blown Pneumonia!  UM…..how do I swing over this one?  By praying for more grace from God, drinking Emergen-C, diffusing essential oils 24 hours, Oregano oil on the bottom of my feet, and LOTS of handwashing.  

I’d hoped that would suffice and went the next day to my primary care (per my transplant teams request) and had a chest x-ray and prescription of Tamiflu filled, as she and the team felt Leah may have/had the flu.

My appointment on the 13^th at Stanford was changed to the 9^th, as over the weekend my cough worsened & I began to run a fever with aches.  So it seems I could not completely abstain from getting sick from the germs swarming around our home.  Thankfully the team didn’t feel it was necessary to admit me on my visit to Stanford on the 9th, and I returned home.  

I’m still feeling blah with low-grade fever, cough, and loss of appetite.  Praying I feel well enough to enjoy whatever dinner Scott and the kids will prepare me for my birthday on Tuesday.

And even with all this going on in the house, it has not been my biggest struggle.  No, what I’m surprisingly struggling with is my thank you letter to my donor’s family.  I’ve been told I can write to the family 6 months post-transplant.  My plan was to take the letter to my coordinator at my next visit on February 13^th.  However, feeling under the weather and writer’s block prevented me from making this goal.  (Plus the appointment change date). 

The first couple months post-transplant I wrote letters in my head to the family every night while I lay awake-struggling to sleep.  Now, I cannot for the life of me recall those profound, encouraging words that gripped my newly, normal beating heart.

I’ve sat down many times in front of my computer to compose this letter.  And now when I finally have permission to write it, I have writer’s block.  

How in the world do you thank someone for your life?  How do you thank a family for making a decision that would change another person’s life, in the midst of what may have been the greatest tragedy of theirs? 

I can’t recall my first letter after my first heart transplant.  I have a vague memory of the letter I sent to them that included a wedding invitation, 10 years later. But for that miracle, my donor was 17, just like me.  And I felt I was sharing with his parents’ experiences that he was able to accomplish through me.

 

This time it feels different.  This time I’m a parent and my donor was only 4 years older than Leah.  My feelings and thoughts are from a completely different perspective from when I was 17.   I don’t know what I’d want to hear from the recipient of my child’s heart.  So I will be praying for an answer to that question alone.  If the tables were turned…what would I want to hear?

I suppose I should be working on that letter instead of this blog.  So I’ll end it here for now.

Have a beautiful rest of February my friends!

Click below to listen to my latest song

Words I Would Say by Sidewalk Prophets