Clinic Visit

Yesterday I had a clinic visit with my favorite and main transplant physician, Dr. Bzowej. I haven't seen her since June so was excited for the visit. Even though she is in constant contact with my transplant nurse regarding my care it is always nice to have an appointment dedicated to my list of questions. The mains topics we discussed were:

• Returning to work! I know you are probably sick of this topic and thinking to yourself that I need to enjoy the time off but I am ready to resume my normal life. Everyone keeps telling me I will have a normal life and without me back at work, my life is not normal. I also was never the type of person to call in sick so being off of work so long has been hard. The good news is that she is confident I will be returning back to work but the bad news is that she wants me to wait until January 15th. My WBC is still not stable enough and she wants some more time to be able to tweak my medicine and neupogen shots with the ability of being in my bubble if needed. My WBC counts have been high these last two weeks so I am not needing daily injections so she is hoping my body is finally getting used to the medicine. She confirmed that my body is difficult but we already knew that! Although I was hoping I would get to go back sooner, I never have had the Holiday season off so will enjoy it while I can. I was so sick last Christmas so I am excited to celebrate this year!
•  My narrowing artery. I had an ultrasound to check on my two arteries that narrowed after my transplant and GREAT news... the aspirin therapy is working and the ultrasound showed a normal blood flow to my liver!! That means they will not have to do an additional surgery to insert a shunt. 
• Dentist and vaccines. I have finally been cleared to go to the Dentist and get both my flu shot and pneumonia vaccine. My teeth are so happy to get cleaned and I also need two crowns. I needed the crowns before I got sick so hopefully won't need additional work since I waited so long. 
• Prednisone. She is taking me off steroids!!  Prednisone is an anti-rejection drug and she is tapering me off over the next eight weeks. I hope this will decrease my cravings for dessert!  
• Hernia. I may have a hernia near my incision site so she ordered a CT scan to determine if surgery will be needed to fix. I will keep you updated on the results

 Overall, I feel great and getting more energy every day! I am happy for the great clinic visit and hope for a healthy next couple of months!