Beating the odds

Yesterday was a super challenging day. Thankfully today is much better.  Yesterday on my way to my final appointment with my transplant doc,  I got into a fender bender (my fault).  Thankfully no one was hurt and very minimal damage to the other girl's car and nothing wrong with John's car which I was driving at the time.  I was worried that I was going to be late to my appointment but made it in time just to hear some news that wasn't what I wanted to hear.  My doc said that there was major concern about one of my lung functioning tests that I'd completed as part of my workup.  He explained that the radiation that they are going to use as part of the transplant has potential to damage the lungs and he needs more information about why my score was so low before we proceed so that we can make adjustments as needed.  So, my amazing nurse coordinator got on the phone right then & there and started working on getting me an urgent appointment with a pulmonologist in town to repeat my pulmonary function test and get a chest CT scan.

I hung out at the hospital all day today getting my lung scan, bloodwork and repeating my pulmonary function test.  I met with a pulmonolgist this afternoon and GOOD NEWS:  my tests today were right within the normal limits.  He wasn't able to figure out why I had  had such a low result/value on one of the tests 11 days ago (I was at 60% capacity that day, and today I was at 125% capacity).  Nonetheless, the pulmonologist said that he didn't see any issues and he called Dr. Nash to consult.  Dr. Nash's nurse called me this afternoon & said he's happy with the information now and we can proceed to transplant at planned.  So I will admit to the hospital on Monday at o'dark thirty :)

The other bad news I got yesterday from my doc was that my long term survival expectations following transplant are lower than I'd hoped to hear.  :(  I had really hoped for something above 50% and instead Dr. Nash said he believed it was closer to 30-40%.  I lost it when he left the room and cried a big ol' ugly cry.  My nurse was in there with me and comforted me the best she could.  I've also since talked to John, family members and a few friends.  One of my good friends is a young mom as well and she reminded me that as mom's we do EVERYTHING we can for our kids.  She reminded me that we fight for our kids and that was exactly what I needed to hear.  I will do absolutely everything in my power to make sure I'm around "long term" and I'm one of the 30-40%. As my parents have said before "someone has to be in that percent...might as well be me" :)   My first official Mother's Day may be spent in the hospital and I won't be able to see Scotty, but I plan to be around for many more Mother's Days to come!!!

On a fun/happy note, Scotty has cut his first tooth!  Its about time, I thought for sure my baby was gonna be the "toothless wonder" till he was 16 :) lol  Bottom left chomper is coming in with a vengence.  He doesn't like letting me see it but I sneak a peak everytime I can.  I am so glad that I got to be home for this "first"!  He's also starting to roll over consistently.  I swear, this boy is going to do all sorts of new "firsts" while I'm in the hospital and will have lots of fun new "tricks" when I get home in a month.  We are starting him on solid foods this week.  I am really looking forward to the reports from John as Scotty tries new foods and whether or not he likes them.  If he's anything like me, he'll love peach baby food :)  YUM!

-Chellie