Another bump in this crazy road, but we keep on pushing through. On Saturday morning Tammy had awful chest pain every time she breathed in, with pain going to her back and shoulders, also worse pain when leaning back. This felt similar to 2 weeks ago when she had the collapsed lung so naturally she was panicking that was happening again and couldn’t breathe well. She had been coughing more and was wondering is it my heart or my lungs this time? After calling the transplant team, they advised her to get to Hopkins ER. Her mom came to drive her but since it was getting worse, she went by ambulance, with Mom following behind. After a ton of tests, now it seemed likely to be her heart again. 

They were thinking Pericarditis or a Pericardial effusion again. EKG and her symptoms show it to likely be Pericarditis. Her echo shows a small pericardial effusion, similar to the previous echos she has had, however it does not need to be drained at this time. She has also had a fast heart rate with just laying still. 

Thankfully her lung scan did not show any blood clots, and her chest CT showed her lungs are ok and both inflated. Her lung transplant team and cardiologist all decided she should go up to a higher dose of steroids and begin Colchicine to help the Pericarditis, and her chest pain has subsided. 

She will be wearing a heart monitor for 2 weeks and having a follow up echo soon. And the IVIg infusions continue every other week until June for now. She is hoping to get out of the hospital today and back home for good!! So blessed to be alive and breathing. Thank you for your continued prayers!❤️🙏🏻❤️