Back In The Saddle Again...

Tricia began her Physical Therapy at the Center For Living yesterday! 1 day down, 22 to go!

Tricia must complete a minimum of 23 days of PT before she will be released to go home to the OBX.

She also has clinic appointments about once a week, including some other appointments, all of which may take days away from PT, so we'll probably be here for longer than the 4+ weeks that it would normally take to complete the PT.

She will go to the CFL Mon-Fri for about 4 hours every day. I'll find fun and constructive things to do around Durham while she's working out. Check out posts from last September and/or This Post for an idea of what our schedule is like right now. We're trying to visit Gwyneth a few times a day together as well.

The pain is still there, but it is getting less and less. She never experienced the back pain that most transplant patients complain of (due to the surgery itself), but her transplant incision and chest tube incisions are still hurting her. She is also still have pain and numbness in her right arm. She is finally able to sleep a little on her sides, and she has slept very well (comparatively) her first three nights home.

Tricia still has her trach. She'll probably have it removed sometime within the next few weeks. She is still relearning how to cough, and I am able to suction her at home if needed, although I have only needed to do that once so far. And, her voice is getting a little stronger.

She is still not allowed to eat or drink anything but thick liquids. She is "eating" mostly with her feeding tube. Tricia's goal weight has been 120 for the past several years. After the c-section, her weight had dropped to nearly 110, just before the transplant surgery, it had risen to around 124, and post-transplant surgery it had dropped again to 114. She is gaining slowly but surely now, and we've been told that it should be much easier for her to gain and maintain a healthy weight as long as her new lungs are functioning well.

It is amazing to watch the timing of everything continue to work so well for us. Gwyneth is doing so well that we are able to spend the time needed focusing on Tricia getting stronger and healthier so that we can both be ready for Gwyneth when she is discharged (hopefully within the next month). There is no way I would be able to handle, on my own, both Tricia and Gwyneth at home together right now.

Finally, somebody asked me if I was going to rename my blog because I am not "a CF husband anymore"...as I've explained before, Tricia still has CF. CF is much more than a lung disease, affecting literally every part of her body that produces any kind of secretions. Her new lungs are the only part of her that no longer has CF. Her pancreas is still deficient, meaning she still must take her enzymes. Her sweat is still salty, etc. etc.

Tricia will always have CF, and I will always be a CF Husband.

Thanks!

Nate