Clinic and Striding

May 30th, 2011

Most of you know the drill by now--lack of updates is good news (usually). I've still been keeping busy with exercise three times a week, and then clinic appointments at St. Mikes in between--it's absolutely riveting stuff.

Clinic on Tuesday was nothing overly remarkable, my PFTs stayed put at 25% (.72 L), weight dropped a tad (which isn't surprising since my appetite is nowhere to be found, yet again), and I decided to have my PICC line removed (doesn't really go with the summer attire). Since there hasn't been much change, I graduated to monthly clinic appointments and hurried on home after spending 11 hours in hospitals for the day (TGH exercise in the morning and St. Mikes in the afternoon). Speaking of TGH, I did my 6-minute walk on Tuesday morning (which I had successfully dodged for about two weeks) and my distance improved since my last test. I was able to cover 502 m in 6-minutes on 3 L of oxygen (though my oxygen did drop to 84% during the test, but no one seemed overly alarmed). Great news, except that I felt like puking the rest of the day (graphic) and required multiple pitstops as I walked from TGH to St. Mikes... but hey, if you don't feel like collapsing and grasping for the straws of life after a 6-minute walk, you probably didn't try hard enough. That's my motto anyway.

Going Steady

May 14, 2011

Next week will bring me to two milestones: I will have been out of the hospital for a month and officially listed for a month!

I haven't really had much energy to blog since I've started my pre-transplant exercise program at Toronto General. I'm required to go to the hospital three times a week to condition my body for such a huge, dramatic, surgery and it's no walk in the park: 40 minutes of cardio (20 minutes on the bicycle and 20 minutes on the treadmill), weightlifting, and stretching. I actually enjoy the challenge most days--it's nice to firm up after sitting in a hospital bed for 8 weeks--but this week has been a little tougher for whatever reason, my lungs are just not having it... did I mention I require 1-2 hr naps after?