TWO years ..

It's been two years since my life was saved by a complete stranger. A family lost their daughter and decided that they wanted to donate her organs, two lungs which happened to be a perfect match for me patiently waiting on the list for a transplant. My life will never be the same. I am so incredibly thankful that I have had this amazing second chance at life. A LOT has happened in the past two years. Some good, some bad, some amazing and some really scary - but you know what? I wouldn't change it for the world. "Angela's" lungs have given me the chance to go on a road trip with Lyndsey and not worry who was going to do or when I was going to do chest physical therapy, I went back to my job, saving tiny premature babies, I've gone rock climbing, I ran a 10k and did a 5k in MUD! I got engaged and married to my best friend and the best man in the entire world!! I was on an episode of Say Yes to the Dress. I've been able to play and run after my nieces and nephews. None of this would have been possible without Angela and without organ donation. Last year at this time I became pretty sick from the para-influenza virus. I ended up on ECMO (life support) and on dialysis because my kidneys were failing. No one knew if I was going to make it - but I did! Miracles really do happen when you believe. Three months after that I went back to work - when doctors found out I was on ECMO they were shocked to see how well I was going. A few months ago my lung function randomly started to decrease. I had bronchoscopies and they were negative for acute rejection. My first bronch showed that I grew out Pseudomonas - so I did a month of nebulized colistin and then two weeks of IV Ceftaz. My second bronch showed that the pseudo was gone but now MAC grows. Treatment for MAC is intense. Triple antibitoics for 9-12 months and possibly longer. At my last appointment my doctor said she believed I am in the beginning of chronic rejection because they just can't understand why my lung function keeps dropping. They did a pH probe just to see if my GERD got any worse and since transplant it has. I now have severe acid reflux requiring surgery. I am hopeful that between the treatment for MAC and the surgery that my lung function will go back up and that its NOT actually chronic rejection. My doctor said this is a possibility. So please pray with me, do whatever you have to. I am not ready to say goodbye to Angela. I have so many more things I want to conquer and do and I need healthy lungs for all of them!!!