Happy Purim!

Until last week I had no plans for Purim. I was so exhausted and miserable that I just didn’t have it in me to come up with a theme and a costume. Once my doctor told me that I could rejoin the world, however, I was revitalized, and I started putting together my theme that very night! Flowers seemed like a fun and appropriate way to represent the feeling that I’m beginning to blossom and come back to life. With a little online searching I stumbled upon the fact that you can bake a cake in a terracotta flower pot, and thus my mishloach manot were born!
 
Additionally, I decided to join forces with the Becks and make an Our Doctors Said No Communal Seuda seuda. And then Baby Berdugo arrived so we got to invite the Berdugos to join us! I have a hunch that when my doctor said I could start carefully socializing again, he didn’t intend for me to host a literal party, but I feel pretty safe with both the Becks and the Berdugos and couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Aside from the fact that we haven’t had anyone over for a meal in over 2 years, Katherine and I have actually never hosted more than a couple guests at a time in either apartment! Everyone brought wonderful food and even better company, and we had a blast!
 
After 2 years of isolation, running around delivering mishloach manot and then having a lovely seuda with a bunch of good friends was absolutely AMAZING! May this holiday be only the beginning of bigger and better things and many more good times shared with family and friends!!

Goodbye medical accessories!

After 2 and a half months with a PICC line, and 3 weeks with stitches, they are both finally GONE! Getting the stitches removed wasn’t exactly fun seeing as they had 3 weeks to heal into my body, but at least it was quick. Even though I’m a little bloody I still feel much more comfortable without them. Once my body finishes healing that will hopefully be the END of this round of medical shenanigans. Finally being free of medical accessories was a great way to go into the holiday tonight! Happy Purim!

Freedom!

Our first time eating in a restaurant in over 2 years! We took an impromptu trip to Lakewood and of course we had to go to Esty's Besty's Vegetarian Eatery! We used to go all the time when they were in Cherry Hill, and Esther was so surprised and happy to see us. It was SO wonderful to get out into the world and see friends again. And the delicious food was an extra bonus!

The light at the end of the tunnel

I haven’t written because it kinda felt like every day was the same. The pain is improving, but I still have stitches and I’m still uncomfortable and I’ve still been on IV antibiotics. The one thing that changed is last week I got my drain out. It hurt but at least it was quick, and that’s one less annoying thing sticking out of my body.
 
But then! Today I saw my transplant doctor. He’s pleased with my recovery and said that the samples they took during surgery actually didn’t grow any pseudomonas, which is a good sign that hopefully the Amikacin will be able to fully eradicate the infection. And then he gave me the best news I’ve heard in a LONG time. He said that the Covid rate in my area is currently low enough that I can finally loosen up my lockdown and go back to regular post-transplant precautions! For the last 2 years my socializing has been very limited and almost exclusively outdoors. Sharing meals has been extremely rare as any unmasked socializing had to be outside at a social distance. But now! For the first time in 2 years, as long as everyone (excluding young children) is vaccinated, I can finally be unmasked indoors and share a meal together! With the caveats that I still can’t be around crowds, or anyone showing any symptoms of anything, or people who have recently been in a crowded place with a high risk of exposure to illness. And of course I’ll still wear a mask in public. But those are basically the restrictions I followed post-transplant anyway, since for me ANY infection has the potential to cause serious problems. Being able to finally step inside someone’s house unmasked is a HUGE improvement!
 
It’s kind of surreal, and I’m actually kind of anxious about it! I’ve worked so hard to stay safe and somehow managed not to catch Covid this whole time, so it’s very strange and a little scary to think about loosening up on Covid protections. At the same time, I’ve been pretty depressed lately, and I think a lot of it has to do with Covid. It feels like Covid sucked all the fun parts out of life and all I had left was endless medical complications. I wasn’t happy even before surgery, and having a painful procedure and lengthy recovery thrown on top was just too much. Finding out that I can start seeing friends again finally added a little light back into my life, and hopefully will help pull me out of the depressive funk I’ve been slogging through.
 
Today I finished my last dose of Amikacin. I’m keeping the PICC line until Monday to get my annual infusion of Reclast to treat osteopenia, and then hopefully after nearly 3 months I’ll finally get that out. Next Wednesday I’ll get my stiches out and will hopefully be more comfortable. And then the following day is Purim! Hopefully this will be the end of medical drama and the beginning of more fun holidays and celebrations with family and friends!!