sreid's blog

Back and Forth

Generally, Melanie is doing well and enjoying  visits with friends. Short walks continue, and is happy to have recovered her taste for tea which she can share with Jake as well as some coffee. She had fun with Pat and Dileep, separate delicious lunches in nearby restaurants (missing raw sushi or course, but pleased to eat, finally) and homemade noodles with Ron and Elin. Ron's magic coffee blend is loved.  Hospital food certainly put her off "food" of all sorts-the recovery is good.    She finds still  sudden fatigue is a problem, and lasts a couple of hours at most before needing to rest, and sleeps 10 hours or more a night.  She is well enough to find getting tired irritating, and likens her day to a toddler's except for the excessive intake of various pills, numerous blood tests, and visits to VGH's clinic. .Lately, she is battling her first post-transplant cold, the dreaded beginning of school cold, brought from either UBC, UVIC, or BCIT, or even Capilano. So far, it remains a cold.  Hot pots and soup are in order.  Reading occupies a lot of the day, a mix of recent books-like Mister Pip brought by Jenny and much enjoyed or Grotesque by the bad girl of Japanese literature recommended by Alex and now in the hands of Michelle, and  re-read favourites like Austen, Herodotus, Malory, and old stories with unpronounceable titles.. So the house is starting to look as usual, with piles of books about.  Her right arm is still tingling and numb in spots, but she is getting used to working with it. In another 4 months or so, when the amount of immunosuppressants decreases,  going out to a play or a movie  will be a novelty-IMAX to come. 

More ambling

Last weekend, the weekend around Alex's birthday, was Kerrisdale Days. Friday we drove to the middle of the area and walked up and down, browsing the shops and eating rice balls and scones. We covered about 8 blocks. Saturday we did the same, eating popcorn and Nando's chicken. Saturday we covered about 10 blocks.

Yesterday Melanie and Teresa walked up to Starbucks and back, about 10 blocks. Today we walked up to London Drugs, about 10 blocks again. Melanie's a little slower than she was, but her stamina is increasing. Next week Jake and Stephen are back to school, so we have arranged for help to come in. Melanie won't need much care, but the house will need cleaning. For another month or two someone will be around all the time.

Walking around

A couple of days ago we went for a walk around the neighbourhood. Up to the park, around the lawn bowling club, back and down the alley to see the construction and home. About 4 blocks. That went well, so yesterday we tried the PNE. That turned out to be more work for Stephen and Jake, as we rented a wheelchair and pushed her around. The PNE turns out to be hilly.

Today we tried Costco. Melanie pushed a cart all over the store. She walked around for about an hour, our longest perambulation yet. A couple of weeks and she'll be ready for the Grouse Grind. Or maybe that will take a little longer.

A Walk to the Park

We have at least three signs of progess. The first is that we walked a block to the park yesterday and watched some families playing tennis. The second is that Melanie is awake all day. The third sign of progress is that she is bored with watching TV all day. She is reading a bit (only Patricia Cornwall so far) and using the computer while watching. Here's a picture of her and Jake multitasking in the TV room:

 

Computing on the couch 02

Today she developed a small fever, 38 degrees (100.4 F for Americans and very old Canadians). If she has a fever like that for an hour we have to phone the doctor. She did and based on a test from Thursday he suspected a urinary infection and prescribed an antibiotic. We have to go to the transplant clinic tomorrow and get checked out.

Sooner or later they will probably do a biopsy of her new liver. One of the doctors said the blood tests were like looking at shadows, and the only sure way to tell about rejection was to look at the liver itself. Plato's myth of the cave applied to liver transplants.

Bit by bit

Melanie lost some stamina in the hospital, but has progressed to staying awake all day. She says she is at least semi-conscious the whole time. The night before last she had a coughing spell and felt like her right lung re-inflated. That is probably why she has more energy. The hospital gave her a toy that measures how much lung power she can produce. That's her goal now, to regain her lost lung capacity.

Lung Power 01

Home again, home again, jiggity jog

Well they drained over a litre of fluid from beside Melanie's right lung. We brought her home this afternoon. She could not get up at all while the catheter was in, so she's slid back in terms of stamina. Coming home was tiring, so she's been lying in bed watching Thin Man movies. She ate a little and snuggled with her cats. Tomorrow I think she'll probably climb the stairs to the main floor.

Relief

Today the docs inserted a catheter into Melanie's back and started draining fluid. After a few hours Melanie could breathe much better and was much happier. There's a good chance it will be mostly drained by tomorrow (Friday). If an an x-ray and ultrasound look good they'll let her go then.
This seems to be a common development after a transplant, and similar things may bring her back once or twice more. Her new liver is functioning functioning very well and all of her blood tests show everything is just as it should be. Aside from healing all the cuts and joins in her body, she needs to build up her strength. She hasn't moved much in two months and is bit weak. I think once her pneumonia clears up she'll regain strength steadily.

Minor Complications

Melanie woke up this morning in a great deal of pain, and had to take an ambulance to the emergency ward. Once there, Dr. Yoshida came down to make sure that there wasn't any problem with the liver, which there wasn't, so Melanie went for an Ultrasound and CT Scan which revealed there is fluid outside of her right lung and liver, pressing on both creating the pain. This is apparently a not-uncommon side-effect of the transplant and the doctors arenn't worried. There is no sign of decreased functionality in her new liver, but this does mean that she will be re-admitted to the hospital for about two days while they drain the fluid and try to locate the cause.

More will be posted once we know something, they've only just narrowed down the cause of the pain.

An Outing

We took Melanie out to a mall nearby. The Aberdeen mall is large and spacious so we could avoid other people and their germs. I wheeled Melanie around and we window-shopped while the kids bought weird stuff. The mall is oriented toward the ethnically Chinese. We had some food in the mall and then went home. In spite of me doing all the work pushing the wheelchair, the trip tired her out. Here's a picture of the five of us, featuring Melanie's new short hair.

Reids at Aberdeen 02

A message from Melanie

Melanie says:

I'm awake up to 10 hours a day. I'm glad to have had a birthday and love being home. Thank you for your kind wishes; I feel blessed in my friends and look forward to seeing you when I am able.

I'm getting a little better every day, but I'm still having trouble eating. I'm feeling a bit queasy, but that too will improve.