lots of updates!

Hey everyone!

I made it to 7 months and now going on 8! I feel bad it's been awhile since I have updated but I actually had a few problems recently and wasn't able to blog.

June 11 I had to go back into the hospital. A week before I ended up going in, I was starting to feel really bad. Just feeling exhausted, tired and nauseous. I found out I had the CMV virus which is common but can be deadly in transplant patients. CMV is a virus that almost everyone has had in their lifetime. Its kinda like chicken pox, you get it once, get over it, but it's always positive in your blood. My donor was positive for it, which is not a big deal. If they didn't transplant the organs that were positive for CMV, we wouldn't have any!

Anyway, I was in the hospital for 2.5 weeks. It was NOT fun, but I got to be under the care of my doctors and nurses that were there through my transplant, so it felt a little more "homie."
They did some tests and had to change up my medicines a few times but I slowly started to get better. I had to get a PICC line put in for long term anti-virals. I give myself Ganciclovir 2x a day. It's going well and I seem to tolerate the medicine pretty good. Stinks that I can't go back to work for awhile though, not until the PICC is out. I miss all my co-workers and patients..and my boss has been so supportive. I am lucky to have such a great, supportive team of nurses to work with and for!

On the bright side, I did finally move into my house in Canton with my 3 roommates, Julie, Alex and Meghan. Our house is so nice and I am loving every minute of city life so far! LuLu is too!

I also attended the Annual Transplant Conference Hopkins holds every year. My mom and I were picked to speak about our experiences and answer questions from soon to be transplant recipients. My mom didn't get to speak much, but I met some cool people and hopefully helped some too. This one couple I met is now especially special to me. She is about to receive her gift and I am looking forward to her feeling how good it feels and helping her along the way. No one else in this world can help more than people that have been through it.

Thank you to everyone for the phone calls, visits to me in the hospital, cards, and everything. Being in the hospital that long was hard and lonely. I couldn't have done it without all of your help. There were nights where I'd cry because I felt alone and scared..and my friends and family were right there. My parents also were my heroes. They busted their butts to be by my side..every single day...sometimes even twice a day. I hope I can be a good parents like that to my kids one day! Thanks Mom and Dad


xo, Rach