Melissa’s Story

Site created on March 20, 2022

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Newest Update

Journal entry by Melissa Beyer

Hi Everyone,
Happy Sunday morning on this beautiful weekend! It has been a while since I updated, so here goes.

The last couple weeks have been a bit of a roller coaster, but that's to be expected; not every day is going to be smooth sailing after a transplant. I know my body still has a lot of healing and adjusting to do. I mentioned on my last post I was going to get a bronchoscopy on October 13, but that had to be cancelled. That week I started to feel light headed and dizzy with bad tremors and GI issues. I became very dehydrated which just exacerbated the symptoms. My docs ran labs and figured out the blood level of one of my anti rejection drugs had doubled which was likely the cause. Finding the right combination of medications that's right for you requires a very subtle alchemy. They adjusted things and after about 4 or 5 days I thankfully started to feel better.

The other struggle has been acid reflux. I was so excited to eat real food, but my stomach didn't feel the same way and I haven't been the smartest with food choices. I make a dumb decision and pay for it the next 24 hours. I'm working on coming up with a diet that works and becoming more disciplined. In the meantime, I've resumed tube feedings for dinner so I can sleep better at night.

That being said, everything else is going well. I had a bronchoscopy last Thursday and the results looked good. There is no pleural effusion (water on the lung) anymore, no pneumothorax and no acute airspace disease! They did find minimal acute cellular vascular rejection but not serious enough to treat. It will hopefully get better on its own. 
My pulmonary function tests are showing I'm in the normal range! These beautiful new lungs are doing their job!!

Celebrations: 
        My lungs are working beautifully! My oxygen stats are 100%
        Even though there were some bumps, none of it required hospitalization.
        My medical team has been amazing and so attentive.
        I'm continuing to improve every day!

Prayer requests:
        The acid reflux gets better.
        The small area of rejection resolves with no intervention.

Thanks so much for all your thoughts and prayers. They have truly sustained me and my family through all of this!
Melissa
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