Onward!

I am out in "the wild" again.

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I came home from the hospital on June 6th - after a three week stay that included a two-day vascular surgery. I was transported home by ambulance and with some new accessories - a wound vac and continuous oxygen support. I also had home health services (that included nursing, OT and PT) and numerous follow up appointments and tests.

Fast forward to TODAY:

-wound vac was discontinued weeks ago

-discharged from home health services

-only 3 medical appointments all of August

-I am able to stay home on my own

-I tapered off my pain meds

-I started working again and coordinated a funeral at our church at the start of this month

-I have been on several outings, including meeting my new niece, a Chicago Fire match, our anniversary dinner, a candlelight concert, lunch with friends, and a pedicure

-My son made me a custom potting bench and I repotted some of my plants

-I drove myself to the doctor in our new car!!!

It's hard to believe that so much has happened over the past two months. And, hard to believe how far I have come - it is often hard to notice all the progress when you are living it in the day to day. My stamina is pretty limited - so my powered wheelchair, Maverick, comes in really handy.

I am doing well enough that hubby and son went to Canada to go fishing. I have my parents staying with me for a bit, and friends stopping by most days. And I am able to drive again if the need arises.

I had a follow up scan and received a great report from the vascular surgeon. The repair and rerouting he did looks great. My groin wound is completely healed, and my "franken"-scars are fading. My infectious disease doctor is also pleased with the ORAL antibiotics I am on - they seem to be doing their job suppressing the MRSA infection on my aortic graft. This is a big deal, because I used to have to go to an infusion center every ten days to get antibiotics through an IV. My rheumatologist keeps an eye on me since we are no longer treating my Takayaus' Arteritis with immunosuppressive drugs.

I recently saw a pulmonologist and had some testing. She showed us my scan, and my anatomy changes (from two open heart surgeries, endovascular coil embolization, my new stent and scar tissue) seem to have compressed the lower part of my airway. Since the bottom part of my left lung gets minimal airflow, I have little pockets of collapse know as Atelectasis. So, I continue to need supplemental oxygen at this point. I have an oxygen concentrator at home with 50 feet of tubing and a portable oxygen concentrator for when I go out. It has about 3.5 hours of battery life. We also have an emergency oxygen tank at home in case we don't have power. Which actually happened during a recent storm. We were without power for three days. Luckily, I can remove my oxygen while I am at rest and put it back on when I am exerting myself. We were able to make things work by utilizing the portable oxygen concentrator, then recharging it in the car, staying "at rest" building Legos or other quiet activities and then using the tank overnight while I slept. What an adventure.

Hubby and I are planning to go to a family wedding in Pittsburgh in early September. I am looking forward to the trip and seeing my extended family.

So, watch out world - you may see me out in the wild!

Cucmber mint pedicure

my new potting bench

Candlelight Concert - a string quartet playing Coldplay music