Back to Basics

I meant to update earlier in the week, but even when functioning at the most basic levels of life, the days just seem to slip away.
 
I am still at home and things are still on the upswing. I am slowly gaining back some weight, slowly gaining back some muscle and endurance, and this week some of my oxygen dependency has been coming down. So much so that I can slowly walk around the house and yard without the need of supplemental oxygen.
 
But life is obviously very limited. We are just focusing on the basics of getting stronger and trying to stay healthy. Eating lots of protein-rich food, trying to move around and ever so slightly increase my exercise tolerance, and then spending a lot of time resting.
 
Carrie and I do get out most days, either to see our parents, buy me some new clothes (I am swimming in all my regular jeans), or of course getting bloodwork or going to other appointments.
 
Just to reiterate from my last blog post, I am NOT on the transplant waitlist yet. My pre-transplant tests are all done, I COULD be waitlisted whenever needed (meaning whenever I start going downhill again), but as long as I am still getting stronger and maintaining, my doctors are just going to see how things go and how strong I can get.
 
If you’ve had to deal with serious health challenges before, you will know that treating them is sometimes more of an art than a science. We know the destination we want to get to, we know the direction we will need to go, but the timing of each step, where each foot is going to be placed and the different valleys and mountains we will encounter to get there, are all mostly still shrouded in fog, until they are right upon us.  
 
The next couple weeks will be interesting as a lot of the meds that I am on, which have been used to treat the infections I’ve been battling, plus the rejection, will slowly be peeled off and stopped (one can’t live on this stuff forever). This will be a very telling time to see how my immune system responds, and how that might affect the timing of things going forward.
 
Once again, we appreciate your patience with the gaps in time between some updates and the gaps in some complicated medical detail. We value all of your support, well-wishes and prayers. We would not be doing as well as we are without the support of you, our community.
 
In Peace.
George and Carrie.