Christmas in August?!? Yup.

Wee hee, woo hoo!  I only have to go to clinic every other week!!!!!  Do you know what this means?  I might actually not see the inside of that hospital for 13 days.  THAT, my friends, is very, very exciting.

Everything looked good today!  All of my numbers are stabilizing and things are where they want them.  My Prograf is still high (it was 26 on Friday!  Ha ha!  Double where they want it).  I was down to 17.9 today.  What's really bizarre is that my tremors were worse at the lower dose.  I haven't had the shakes at all since I've had crazy-high Prograf levels.  One more reason that I am not the "normal" patient.  I am going to restart the Bactrim and hope I don't start puking my guts out again.  I don't really think it was the Bactrim.  I took it a few years ago when I was stupid and tried to catch Gracie without a full-leather bodysuit of protection and she bit my hand.  Hard.  Stupid freakin' cat.

AND, drumroll please... I have walked over 2.5 miles over the last 2 days!  Jeff and I walked a mile on Monday night.  Oh my gosh, it felt SO good.  Just being able to breathe feels so damn good!  I even took off my mask for parts of the walk where plants weren't growing right next to the sidewalk and the fresh air was so amazing.  I walked a mile during Pulmonary Rehab today too!  And Jeff, John and I walked to the wine bar a few blocks away, had dinner (and maybe I snuck in a small glass of sparkling wine... shhh...), and walked back tonight.  I speed-walked one of the short block lengths and I wasn't even short of breath.  Oh, and then I came home and baked cookies (and you guys know how much I love baking... not)! Thanks, Lauren, for the link to the recipe!  I think Jeff is starting to get very scared to be dealing with even a small part of the "old Katie."  I keep telling him that I am a "tad" more obsessive compulsive with more energy.  I definitely see the pressing need for an entire closet reorganization at 10pm some night...  Funny story- the guys on my first deployment forbade me from drinking caffeine if I was flying that night.  Otherwise they wanted to kill me... and I valued my life :-)  I just thought my incessant talking would keep them awake during the 0200-0800 bag (that's pilot speak for flight).  I guess they thought I was mildly annoying.  Moi?  That's crazy talk.  Sheer crazy talk.

I am dying to get to a gym.  I know, I know... icky sweat germs are everywhere.  But I go to the gym on MCRD (Marine Corps Recruit Depot), so most of those people are relatively healthy, right?  Sigh... I'll probably continue to wait before I decide to tackle that endeavor.  My goal for tomorrow is to get to the flippin' mall so I can buy a bra that fits.  Baby steps!

Oh!  And one more X-mas in August present!  ALL of my bioglue is gone.  My ECMO scar finally lost the last little bit tonight.  I am glue free!  I do still keep finding tape residue (okay, that is gross on so many levels... like how many showers have I had over the last 7 weeks and I STILL find tape residue??).  I am almost pain med free so I can start driving again (watch out San Diego!).

I just feel so ALIVE.  I haven't felt this way in probably about 6 years (it took me a year and a half to finally admit I was having problems breathing).  I can't even imagine how exhilarating it is for people who had PH for a lot more years than I did and then had a transplant.  Mind-blowing.

My doc asked about my butt wound today (healing nicely, thanks for asking) and said that he hasn't seen an ulcer develop that quickly.  So either my body was in serious shut-down mode just trying to keep my main organs afloat during the "scary" time and/ or my tooshie was already weakened.  I laughed and said of course it was weakened, I spent 3 years in Pensacola sitting on my hiney (and I am not a normal patient)!  And the only way to make treating the butt wound fun is to sing the Batman theme song (Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na, butt wound!).  Yes, I am weird.

I also did leg-lifts today with 2 lb weights to work my quads, hip flexors, and hamstrings.  My hip flexors are really weak... I did 2 and was dreading getting through the last 10.  But there's something about muscle fatigue and fighting through it that is very rewarding.  It's so awesome knowing that my heart is just so darn happy.  I walked at a 2.3 pace on the treadmill, carried on a full conversation for 30 minutes, my oxygen stayed above 97%, and my heart rate didn't get above 114. With PH, I stepped onto the elliptical, started moving and my heart rate was above 130 and I couldn't breathe well (generally around 90% O2).  I am trying really hard to keep myself reined in a bit, though.  HAHAHA!  Oh, I hope you laughed too.  That's hilarious.  But I am really good with the mask, the hand sanitizer, and the wipes when I am out and about.

Holy cow!  It's after midnight.  I should have turned into a pumpkin 17 minutes ago...  I need to get some sleep (maybe I shouldn't have had 4 oatmeal espresso chocolate chip cookies at 9 pm... hmm...).

Here's the link to the recipe.  I even forgot the egg and vanilla until after I'd added the dry ingredients (have I mentioned that I don't bake for a reason?) and they turned out well!  Of course I added an extra half cup of chocolate chips... duh... more chocolate is mo' bettah.  I would definitely err on the side of undercooking them... mine are nice and chewy (if you like them that way).

espresso chocolate chip cookies