It will be so great for Anna to get out of that darn place and back to more comfortable territory. Anna is going to be going back to the apartment that is just down the street from Anna's home. My mom and I have been staying there for the past few months as we were waiting for Anna's Tx and trying to keep her healthy. Anna is going there because there are no stairs so it will be easier for her to move around the house. The unfortunate thing about getting out is now she will have to have a blood draw EVERY DAY (OIY)! Which means she has to do the trek back to the hospital all the time. She also still is not done with dialysis and has to have that every other day. So Anna is going to be busy busy even though she is getting out of the hospital.
One of Anna's current challenges is wearing the mask. She feels like she is suffocating and it gives her a bit of a panic attack. I tried one on and even for me it was incredibly hard to breath in. Any of you transplanters have some tips for her?
2 comments:
Hi SaraBooYa!!! I love your name... I too have a wonderful sister who watched over me through and after my transplant!!!
That's so awesome that Anna is heading home -- it's sometimes a little scary, being away from immediate contact and availability of all your medical personnel -- but you're close by... And I'm thinking that daily blood draw, and having to get her fanny over to the hospital is possibly good exercise!!! I hope the dialysis thing goes away soon, and her kidney's kick in...
As for the mask -- that's an odd one and I had similar issues -- like you're just not getting enough air when your face is covered... The funny thing is that it just might be completely psychological -- but you have to figure that out... I figured that out when occupational therapy took me for a walk one time in their little gym... I was so bothered by the mask, or thought I was -- then, I went for a walk around their gym (with a PT at my side) without a mask and my O2 sat was somewhere between 97 and 99 -- then I went with a mask... And my sat was somewhere between 97 and 99... I had to do it a few times because I just didn't believe it -- then I realized that it was apparently in my mind and I've been A-OK with masks every since...
I don't know what type of masks she's using -- if she's using "N95" masks or something else... We had the simple surgical masks, not the N95 type -- some masks may be more restrictive... There are a lot of arguments for and against masks, what purpose they serve, and how great a deterant they actually are -- I still wear one whenever I go into a medical facility, or if I'm in a crowd of people hacking and sneezing -- I always have one in my pocket... The simple masks are MUCH better at protecting everyone else from an infection that the wearer has, moreso than protecting the wearer from the bugs from the people around them -- but they're protection none-the-less...
You take care!!! Thanks for helping take care of Anna!!! Love, Steve
Hooray Anna! We're all rooting for you and hoping for progress every day. Remember what Robert Frost said - The best way out is through!
love from us all, Penny
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