I’m excited to announce that this has been a week of many milestones!

First big moment – I was given the clearance to start driving again!  Wooohoo!!!  Freeeeeeedom!  I can finally hop in my car and go wherever I want without having to burden someone in my family to take me.  I can finally get out and meet my friends for lunch/dinner instead of making them come all the way to my house!  So, my sister and I went out for a test drive to see how I’d feel…given the meds are still having their effects and all.  My vision has gotten much better, but half-way through my “test run”, I started feeling the vertigo of crashing blood pressure.  So, I handed the keys to my sister and let her get us home.  Same thing happened during my 2nd attempt.  I was doing fine driving and running errands, and then about an hour later, got very dizzy and had to give my mom the keys to get me home so she could finish our list of to-do’s.  I know to any of you who have very healthy lives, low blood pressure doesn’t sound like a big deal.  Again, it’s one of those things we take for granted when all is well.  However, it makes me nervous since it hits so suddenly, and when it happens to me, I get so weak and disoriented that I turn into a dishrag.  What if it happens when I’m out by myself? Or driving?  Or at work?  My doctor told me that my blood pressure will eventually stabilize, and I’m finding ways to keep it up, but we aren’t there yet.  I’ll continue to carpool for a while and try, try again.

Second big moment is mostly a big moment for our family more than anything else… the dialysis company finally came and picked up all my dialysis fluid boxes and the cycler!!!  No more cycler… literally!!!  I was about to throw our delivery guy a party when he came to pick it all up.  My parents ran in circles taking pictures when they walked into our dining room to find it half-empty!  I personally love that my bedroom now looks a lot less hospital-ish (I still have about 20 pill bottles and various monitors all over my dresser, so again…we’re getting there)!  😀  LOL! 

Lastly, my doctor has already lowered my visits to just once a week instead of twice a week!  Weeee!  It’s going to be nice not having to make that trip so often.  However it will also be kind of sad…it’s actually been nice catching up with my mom the whole way there and back, sitting down to a nice, slow breakfast (even if it is in the hospital cafeteria), and chatting with some of the other patients in the waiting room, hearing their stories.  I’ll miss those moments we drove around Fort Worth in between my appts finding fun shopping areas, neighborhoods and restaurants we never knew about.  I’m glad we had those moments, though, because it helped shed a very positive “vibe” to this experience instead of it being just a dreaded daily trip to the hospital! 

So, to sum it up right now, things are looking good!  There are only a couple of issues we are trying to iron out, and then they are clearing me to go back to work.  They told me that the way things are going, I should be back in the office by March 17th…the 10th if we can get my issues under control!  I’m excited to be with everyone again, and am ready to start charting my way back onto the path I was on before all this started!  No more sitting stagnant for this girl!  🙂

************

Things I’m thankful for today:

1.  Nice neighbors.  Our neighbor stopped by today to deliver some cakes she bought.  She had found out that I had the transplant and wanted to congratulate us!  I had never even met her before!  Thank you neighbor!  🙂

2.  Online shopping.  Since I’ve been trying to keep a low profile in public places (dr’s recommendation…due to my decreased immune system), I’ve been avoiding very crowded stores, malls and restaurants.  So, when all the President’s Day sales hit, I was still able to partake in a bit of the retail debauchery online!  (Can’t resist a good pair of shoes on sale for 60% off!)

3.  My changing palate (for food).  Although my exciting and fun diet restrictions have made eating more of a chore than an “experience”, I’m glad I’ve learned to be more open-minded with a lot of new foods I hadn’t tried before.  I admit, most of it is not by choice, but I’m actually starting to have fun trying new recipes and making food “fun” again.  My inner-chef is returning!  🙂

4.  The Olympics.  I LOVE the Olympics!  Anytime it’s on, no matter what sport is showing, I’ll stop and watch.  I love the camaraderie between all the athletes, the pride everyone shows for their country, and personal bios of the athletes telling of their struggle to get to where they are.  I have to say, it’s been a bit more interesting this year watching for all the Sochi-fails…haha.  It’s definitely helped the many long afternoons when I couldn’t be up doing anything!