Duke Transplant Evaluation Day 3

Note to readers: these transplant evaluation recaps are delayed at least a week because I was just to darn exhausted to blog during that week. Enjoy


Day 3 - Wednesday August 4th


Sleeping last night was not the easiest. I had the tube down my nose and was cuddled up to my pH meter. The meter was a poor substitute for my usual snuggler Rocky (one of my Boston Terriers). Unfortunately I still had to lug that darn thing to my pulmonary rehab appointment too.


Duke's Center for Living is where they have the pulmonary rehab. It is a huge indoor facility with a pool, tons of equipment and an indoor track. When I got there they had aerobics and spinning class both going at the same time. Yes it's that big :) I met with the PT Danielle. She showed me the facilities and briefly discussed their program. She also did a physical assessment including my feet. She found I had low arches and gave me a list of workout shoes that would work for my foot type. Very cool. I've had that done at a runner's shoe store but did not expect that level of depth from my rehab assessment. The last thing to do was my six minute walk test. During this test you are to walk as far as you can in six minutes. You can use as much oxygen as you need but I'm still lucky enough to do it just on room air. It was a great day for me. My results were just over 1500 feet. Duke requires that you walk at least 1000 feet to be considered for listing. Yea another test passed!!! Not only that it was higher than my 1200 feet I walked after graduating from pulmonary rehab at home here in Indy.


Then we left to go back to the clinic and had my nose tube pulled. What a relief :) Our financial coordinator appointment was next. Julia spelled out the in and outs of what would and would not be covered by my insurance. Thankfully I have terrific insurance through work and my coverage amounts are good. There will be out of pocket costs for my med co-pay and travel & lodging once I exceed my cap. But I'm much luckier than most. It was not a total slam dunk though. Julia brought up many provocative questions about my LTD coverage and also about how my private insurance will interact with Medicare once I'm eligible (in about a year). She is such a great resource and I'm glad to have her on my side.


The next stop was the transplant psychologist. Jenny Wang is really great. She has a warm personality and is very easy to talk to. Our visit started with Jenny, Randy, my mom Robin and me all in the room. Then Jenny met with just me and then with Randy & my mom. Overall things went very smoothly. She suggested I start seeing my local therapist again so I have another emotional outlet as things get rougher. When you deal with a chronic disease sometimes it's hard to discuss all of your emotions with those you are close too. Randy & I share everything but I hate burdening him with everything when he is under a lot of strain too. So my therapist Lin is a great extra help in this area. Jenny seemed to thing everything else looked AOK so another test passed!!!


Last but not least was the vampire aka the lab. For a transplant workup they run a huge number of blood tests. The lab tech drew a total of 23 vials. She started on one arm and when that clotted off had to use the other. It really wasn't that bad but did make me a little lightheaded.


After leaving the clinic we went to see a few more apartment complexes. It's a little weird doing it since we don't know exactly when we will move down etc. But at least we get to see the possibilities. Right now we're debating furnished turnkey vs unfinished and bringing some of our furniture or renting some ourselves. It seems like the charge for it to be turnkey is a little high. Randy has done a lot of research which is great. But I'm thinking easy will be the way to go when it's time to move down. I'm guessing I'll be sick enough that low stress will be the best.


The day ended with another wonderful dinner. Almost my entire NC family drove down to have dinner with us. We ate at Four Square in Durham. The food was very fancy and a really nice atmosphere. But Nana's still has them beat ;) Had a great time hanging out with all my aunts, uncles and my cousin Meagan. It's weird but lately it feels like they look at me in a slightly different way. It's not bad but there's something that makes me feel how much they care that I am able to get this transplant and that I must be getting closer to needing it. I'm SO fortunate to have such an amazing family for sure. Having them close will make this whole thing much easier.


Good night,
Steph