Turned the Corner

5 weeks post transplant..............

First, let us not forget our friend Akihiro in Japan and send he and his family prayers of recovery and the fulfillment of the miracle. We hope that he is healing well.............

Today we left the apartment at 7:30AM to get to Stanford for blood draw, chest xray and transplant clinic. Also waiting for a clinic visit were Steve and Stephanie and Michelle. So good to see them. It was great for Anna to compare notes. Steve had his transplant one month before Anna and Michelle had hers 12 years ago. We have such a wonderful community of CFers who have been able to beat that cystic disease and take a chance on new life through transplant with new mucus free lungs.

Anna's clinic visit was so positive. They believe that she is now doing great. Creatnine is at 1.4 and her INR is below 2 now so that she can have the dialysis catheter removed tomorrow. She has been released from coming every day. Tomorrow we have the procedure at 9AM but then we do not come again until Thurs AM for blood draw and not again until Monday for clinic. Wow, such a difference a few days make. In celebration Doug and I took Anna out for lunch. It was the first "normal" thing we have done since before the "call". The food was delicious and it was such a wonderful relief. It is time now to say, "We are on our way! Anna is in recovery and will be having a new life with experiences of good health she can not even imagine." (Transplant will continue to offer its challenges to health and well being but it will be different than the past years of chronic lung disease that is for sure.)

While in the restaurant it was so striking that just a day or two ago Anna was feeling poorly, too weak and leaky to do lunch out. How did it change so fast? Things really are getting better. After lunch we met Casey at Pathology to say good bye to her old lungs. It was time. With the good news of the morning it felt like the timing was perfect to see the destroyed, end stage lungs and say adios amigo we are moving on........... It was clear to see the lack of health and vibrancy in the old wind bags. They did their thing giving Anna life as long as they could. It was clear that Anna, did need a transplant. The lungs were sliced up for research and investigation like, did this person really need this surgery? I think the answer was, yes. We could see the mucus and Anna enjoyed squeezing those puss pockets to see the slime emerge. I know that is gross but it was so satisfying. What was also special was that she saw her new Xray and compared it to her old one to see how wonderful her new ones really are.