2 year assessment

We're back from Toronto! After getting home at 7pm on Wednesday and working all day yesterday, I'm having a lazy day of card writing and relaxing.

Our visit to Toronto was good, we stayed at our regular B&B close to the hospital. It's so convenient and next to really good restaurants. 

Monday was my appointments day. Starting with bloodwork at 7am, lung function tests at 8am, CT scan, x-ray, and 6 min walk test all before 10am.

My lung function was the same as it's been in Amherst and my 6 minute walk test was about the same as 6 months ago. I was a bit annoyed by that. I thought I would have improved with all the jogging and exercising I've been doing. Not that I'm a speedy jogger or anything but I feel like I'm stronger and in better shape than 6 months ago. Why didn't that translate to being able to walk quickly?

So many laps up and down this hallway. Almost running into slow walkers.

After my walk test, we had a nice break for lunch before the clinic appointment. We walked around Kesington market and Chinatown and window shopped at all the stores.

The clinic appointment was quicker than expected, under 2 hours! The doctor didn't really have much to say except that my CT scan was better than 6 months ago which is excellent. And my cholesterol is still high so she prescribed medication since I'm clearly unable to control it through diet and exercise. High cholesterol is a side-effect of the anti-rejection medication so she said it's usually quite hard for patients to bring it down on their own. This means a few extra bloodwork tests when I first start the medication to make sure that my liver is doing okay (as it's hard on the liver) but no real other side-effects.

I talked to the doctor about all my concerns with the bronch the next day but seeing as she wasn't the one scheduled to do it, there wasn't much she could do about making sure I had more medication. She said a lot of stupid things like "have you tried relaxing techniques?" and "most people don't panic" but did send a email to the doctor on the next day to convey my concerns. Then we were out of there and had the whole night to relax and drink hot chocolate.

Soma hot chocolate! So good!

The bronch on Tuesday was actually ok! It wasn't until 1pm so I was quite starving and anxious all morning. It took the nurses 4 tries to get the IV into my terrible veins. Then to the freezing room to gargle the freezing juice and do the aerosol freezing mask.

Freezing the lungs.

Before I went in to the actual procedure room, I mildly freaked out (meaning I started crying) to the doctor needed me to sign the consent and she was very good with my freaking out. She said I was basically at the highest dose possible without having an anesthesiologist or stopping my breathing. But since my concern was that I wake up toward the end of the procedure and don't get put back under and panic, she agreed that she would space out the medication more and re-dose me when I woke up. 

The sedation medication for a bronch are funny because they don't make me drowsy before I get knocked out. I feel wide awake one second and am out the next. There's no gradual relaxing feeling like there was when I had my wisdom teeth out or when they did my sternum surgery.

I woke up in a panic but they were thankfully all done. It still took me a few minutes to calm down before I went to the recovery room but overall, it was much better than before. After the 'make sure there is no air outside of your lungs' x-ray, and a chat from the doctor, I was good to go. The doctor said afterward that while it went okay, she would recommend that I be put completely under with a anesthesiologist next time I need a bronch. Fine by me.

So that was my last bronch for awhile! No more until I get rejection or something else goes terribly wrong. I don't have the results yet but hopefully will find out if they find any infections or rejection within the week.

I had a solid two hour nap after the bronch and by the time I woke up at 6pm, I was starving after not eating all day. We never made it to the Christmas market as I was feeling spacey while walking around the block on a quest for extra food (I ate all the Chinese leftovers from Monday night but was still hungry, I found a tacos). I didn't think it would be that much fun to go to the market only to space out and be tired.

Goodbye, Toronto!

Wednesday, we walked to the airport where I drank the free cappuccinos to mend my throat from the bronch while we waited for our delayed flight. Then arrived home to a foot of snow and a freezing house. Welcome back to Nova Scotia!