Food for thought

It has been 6 months since I was first put onto the medical aid, we have hit the halfway mark. Only 6 more months until the 1 year exclusion period is up and we can start the transplant process.

The more and more the possibility of lung transplantation comes into light, the more I am learning.

Lung transplant is not all sunshine and roses. There are so many aspects of the whole process that has no lights shed upon it.

For example: once I have had a transplant, I should not come into contact with any bird. And if I have cats, I need to be aware that they don't scratch me, and I cannot go near their litter box.

I still need to do more research and ask doctors about other animals. I cannot imagine my life without animals. My whole life I have grown up having pets, and for me to suddenly not have any, will break my heart. Pets can define a person, pets become our children. They always listen to us and comfort us when we are sad.

I am still in the dark about all the other things that go hand in hand with transplant, but I am sure I will start learning closer to transplant time. I know that you have to be on anti rejections all the time, and  steroids.

I recently learnt about something called "photopheresis". So in a nutshell, they treat your blood with UV light to put the T-cells (are a type of lymphocyte (itself a type of white blood cell) that play a central role in cell-mediated immunity) back in their place before the blood returns to your body. It seems like quite a scary thing, and I do hope that I will not need to go through that. But I guess we will see what happens in the future.

Here is a link to some information about this procedure if you would like to take a look.

http://my.clevelandclinic.org/services/photopheresis/hic_photopheresis.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photopheresis



I said to my mom, looking at all of this information, I am unsure of what my future looks like. It is clear that I won't be able to live on the farm anymore, as we breed birds. Birds are a HUGE NO. I will have to put the plan of saving for a car to one side, and start saving for my own place. But how will I ever be able to afford my own place? My grant surely wont cover rent costs, let alone food costs.

The unknown is a really scary place. But I have faith and I do believe that all will fall into place.

So I thought I would get a little bit more serious for a change, I do hope it has not made for boring reading. Haha

Just stay Fabulous xoxo <3