I made it to 35!!

Well, it's a very Happy Birthday this year!  I made it to 35!  Not that I really ever doubted it, but it's still a very happy day.  It's actually kind of cool that when I turn 40 I'll be 5 years post-tx.  THAT will be some kind of kick-ass party!  Everyone's invited!  I guess I should ask Jeff to plan something... :-P

So I broke out my pink party dress with the gold trim.  I bought it for my birthday years ago.  Like 2005.  But now I can fit into it again (no more water baby!) and I have NO pump to hide.  It's so awesome.  Yes, I know I'm not going anywhere fun, but at least I can look pretty while I'm sitting on my couch!  I was wearing skinny white pants yesterday (sigh... still no booty to fill up the back) and Jeff has had to help me take skinny jeans off at night for YEARS.  So Jeff started to come over to help me and I said, "Wait! Lemme see if I can do this alone."  Holy cow.  It is much easier to take off pants when your legs aren't all swollen with edema!!  I balanced on one leg and got the pants off with ease.  And I could bend over to get them off!  It is the little things that just get me all emotional.

Ha ha!  So my doctor said I was a bit dehydrated and I need to drink more.  Did you read that?  I need to DRINK MORE.  Ha ha!  I LOVE it!  Oh, sorry for all of the shouting, but it's kind of one of those days that screams for shouting... ugh... yes, I thought that was funny.  Screams for shouting.

I'm sorry it's taken so long to post!  I pretty much slept all weekend.  And lots of naps the past few days.  Lots of sleeping!

My brain is definitely becoming affected by the medications.  I tried to blog last night but just got increasingly frustrated.  I like to use 50 cent words and all I could think of were penny words.  Very annoying.  I lose my train of thought very easily and can't complete a sentence.  I can't remember anything.  I have to take notes if I want to mention something in the blog or it will be lost in the recesses of my crazy mind.

After my clinic visit yesterday we had to wait on some new meds at the pharmacy.  So we had lunch by the beach before Jeff had to go to work (he went to work and Jeff's Dad took me back to the pharmacy and then home).  John went to get my meds and I was sitting in the car and noticed a ladybug on the strap of my mask that was in my lap.  I carefully took it off, made a wish, opened the car door, and threw it up in the air.  I didn't notice if it flew away...  but it was cool anyway.  And then I hand sanitized.

I have been healing quite a bit.  All of the glue on my clamshell chest scar is gone!  It is much easier to expand my ribcage and breathe deeply.  I had Pulmonary Rehab on Monday.  I am excited to start doing some weight training.  I can't go to a gym yet (eek! think of the germs!), so this is my only real way to do weight training.  I did a 6-min walk and I walked 475 meters.  Sigh... I walked about that much with PH.  Sometimes I walked 500-ish meters!  My legs are now my liming factor, not my breathing.  My legs turned into Jell-O about 2 minutes in.  But I can fix that in time :-)

Fred and Kathy brought us a hummingbird feeder!!! I was SO excited!  We have hummingbirds all over and I had been meaning to get a feeder for a while now.  I hung it on our gazebo.  Jeff opened the blinds yesterday and I can see the feeder from my side of the bed.  There was a bird on it and I had a good time watching it try to balance on the feeder and get the sugar water.  No hummingbirds that I've seen yet, but Kathy said it might take a few days for them to find it.

Jeff's Dad got here on Monday and it's been great so far!  He gave me the most awesome running gear!  I have been very excited to go buy all new running gear, so I am really excited to have some cute new clothes to motivate me.  I can't wait to put them on and go jog down the street... with my baseball bat in case there are flesh-eating dogs around.  Sheesh.  Actually, the owner of the dogs stopped by this morning b/c John was doing some yard work and talked to him about the incident.  I was the only one who called 911.  The pitbull was put down.  It was a rescue dog and had previously bitten someone and she was sued.  She expected to be sued again b/c of this.  She was very apologetic and wanted to meet us.  Jeff and I will probably walk over at some point to meet her...  I feel bad, but I just couldn't let that guy get eaten!  I'm actually kind of surprised how much it affected me.  Jeff and I walked last night (it felt awesome!) and he carried a baseball bat :-(  But I can't take any chances!

Fred and Kathy brought us some amazing manicotti and Scott and Maresa cooked us an awesome pasta casserole for last night.  They were both delicious!  We are SO grateful for all of the support!  Everyone has been so amazing- I don't think we'll ever be able to thank you enough.  Thank you all again and again and again...!

I am trying to keep up with communicating with everyone.  It's kind of hard- please be patient with me :-)  I sleep for about 15 hours a day.  Then I spend time at the doctor's office, or lab, or wait for pills outside of the pharmacy.  It still takes me over 30 minutes to shower, have Jeff take care of my ulcer and get dressed.  I need to eat and take the handfulls of pills.  So I promise that I haven't forgotten about anyone... I just lose time every day so quickly!  And I forget things A LOT.  My brain is a little fuzzy and it's really hard to focus and concentrate.  And you guys know how easily distracted I was before!! ha ha!  Hard to imagine it's gotten worse!