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| The daily dose of pills that keeps Frankenstein's monster alive. |
The migraine preventative has kicked in and I am having consecutive days of no migraines. This is nice. However, I'm still doing the Neupogen injections weekly for the low white blood cell count. They still cause the usual muscle aches and bone pain. I have no other option at this point. But, at least I am staying out of the ER, right?
When I originally wrote this I had finally mentioned my battle with increased menses and breakthrough bleeding. Originally I felt it was not that important to share. But it did come to a point where it needed to be addressed because I was extremely anemic despite being on iron supplements. After a battery of tests to rule out several things, we decided to go through with endometrial ablation. This procedure took place ast week and should help with the anemia.
If you happened to read my blog post before my revision you may remember my little rant about pulmonary rehab. And, you may be surprised to learn that I am continuing my rehab for another month. Something happened. A good thing. And continuing will be good for me. I have built up quite a bit of endurance since I first started. I'm still limited, especially since I still deal with quite a bit of pain and have my limitations. But, I am still doing pretty well considering.
They recently rearranged the exercise equipment. Since I can no longer see the television from the recumbant bike I started taking in a sizeable memoir to read. It has been a long time since I have tried to focus on actual book reading. Since the surgery, I have found it hard to focus, often having to read slower than I used to and reread things. I have noticed memory loss since the surgery, and perhaps due to the medication I now take, I often misplace words or forget words. I find myself consulting the dictiononary and/or asking my daughter and husband how to spell words I know I used to know how to spell. It is frustrating. It was actually one of those hurdles I was hesitant to tackle. The books seem so daunting now. I used to love a thick non-fiction book with several pages of footnotes. I am certain that stupid lung disease killed off some brain cells while it was busy killing my lungs...
Anyway, rehab has helped me build up some muscle strength but my body takes a beating from that and the Neupogen. Some days I can barely get around. I hear that chronic pain may always be somewhat of a battle, being that I am on a lot of medications that cause bone loss and muscle pain, etc. I will always have to work harder at everything. It comes with being a transplant patient. I will always have pills to take. I will always be immuno-compromised. I will never be out of the woods.
Speaking of the woods... they are taking on beautiful hues of scarlet, crimson, and umber. It will not be long before winter will be here. This summer really happened. And I was here! And what a different summer it was. A new summer--the first with my new lungs. Even though there was a lot I had to give up and much I had to do differently, I always say it is better than the alternative.
They recently rearranged the exercise equipment. Since I can no longer see the television from the recumbant bike I started taking in a sizeable memoir to read. It has been a long time since I have tried to focus on actual book reading. Since the surgery, I have found it hard to focus, often having to read slower than I used to and reread things. I have noticed memory loss since the surgery, and perhaps due to the medication I now take, I often misplace words or forget words. I find myself consulting the dictiononary and/or asking my daughter and husband how to spell words I know I used to know how to spell. It is frustrating. It was actually one of those hurdles I was hesitant to tackle. The books seem so daunting now. I used to love a thick non-fiction book with several pages of footnotes. I am certain that stupid lung disease killed off some brain cells while it was busy killing my lungs...
Anyway, rehab has helped me build up some muscle strength but my body takes a beating from that and the Neupogen. Some days I can barely get around. I hear that chronic pain may always be somewhat of a battle, being that I am on a lot of medications that cause bone loss and muscle pain, etc. I will always have to work harder at everything. It comes with being a transplant patient. I will always have pills to take. I will always be immuno-compromised. I will never be out of the woods.
Speaking of the woods... they are taking on beautiful hues of scarlet, crimson, and umber. It will not be long before winter will be here. This summer really happened. And I was here! And what a different summer it was. A new summer--the first with my new lungs. Even though there was a lot I had to give up and much I had to do differently, I always say it is better than the alternative.
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