Day by day
It's raining as I write this post. I guess it's matching the mood Rima and I are both in. As of Tuesday this week it's official that we're not sure when Rima will be coming home. We spoke to her doctors and they said a few things need to happen before they will let her go home. She needs to not have any temperatures above 100.4 for at least three days in a row. If possible her FEV1 needs to go up from 16%, yeah right, okay... She also needs to feel good enough to go home. A good way to explain just how little 16% is would be that it's comparable to two cans of "pop", as our transplant coordinator Megan told us. The normal healthy pair of lungs can push out about 3 liters of air vs Rima's lungs pushing out a little less than 2 cans of "pop".
One "good" thing that did happen was that her score on the list went up a little bit. This is due to having the CO2 levels in her blood go a bit high after checking her VBG (venus blood gas). This is something that needs to be monitored because it is not good to retain high levels of CO2. It can cause issues with transplant. But right now they're not too worrisome. So we're playing it day by day. Trying to say she will be out by say next Tuesday is not the way to go about this. Take it day by day, go with it. They do want to keep her in the hospital till she gets the transplant but again if we Rima's body can do all the three things required of her from the team then she will go home.
So until then it's hospital life over here. I took today off. I needed to get the house in order since I've been in and out for almost two weeks. I also baked some cookies for the nursing staff taking care of Rima, as a small thank you. Thanksgiving is next week, as I'm sure everyone is aware. We don't have any plans because Rima will probably be in the hospital still. If we are lucky, which I hope we are we will get a call next week for new lungs. Here is the messed up part of my thinking. Holidays have high mortality rates due to more people on the road traveling, drunk drivers, and under age drinking. Yes, messed up but those are the facts my friends. The circle of life, hopefully the circle of life favors Rima next week and the universe brings her a healthy set of lungs!
The last few days it's been nice out and Rima and I have been going on long walks. These walks consist of me pushing her on a walking trail next to the Mississippi River. Some of this trail has inclines and hills. Rima has dubbed this workout, that I've been going through as "Bodies by Rima". You know, she may be on to a new workout trend. Don't want to pay those expensive gym membership fees?!? Go to you local senior center or assisted living center and volunteer to push some oldies but goodies outside for about an hour. I promise you your buns will feel it the next day. I pushed her 4 miles on Wednesday and about 3 miles on Tuesday. "Bodies by Rima" indeed!
