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← Return to Holidays: Celebration or Challenge for Transplant Families
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Holidays: Celebration or Challenge for Transplant Families
Transplants | Last Active: Dec 24, 2023 | Replies (47)Comment receiving replies
Can you believe that we are already a month into the New Year?
@ajdo129,
-Barbara, I hope that you are enjoying an "unremarkable" beginning of the year! I remember the first time that my transplant team used that term during my recovery because I felt that my recovery was "remarkable" (wonderful, amazing).
April is already on my radar, as I will be celebrating my transplant anniversary two days after yours! Have you thought of how you want to celebrate/honor that special day?
-How do you "honor" your transplant?
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/how-do-you-honor-your-transplant/
Replies to "Can you believe that we are already a month into the New Year? @ajdo129, -Barbara, I..."
Hi Rosemary,
Apologies for letting a few days pass before responding. Generally I like responding with positive comments and creative solutions so I hesitated to answer your "how do you plan to celebrate your 1 year anniversay?"
6 weeks ago I was looking forward to my 1 year marker and I have been planning to see my NC friends gathered over 49 years of living in Durham Chapel Hill area. In 2021 I had tckets to see them (2 years after moving to AZ) when I had to cancel my trip 3 days before my departure because my blood test said something was seriously wrong with my liver.
In the past 6 weeks my blood draws have spiked in liver enzymes after every 4th week draw. Mayo being vigilant called me in for an immediate biopsy to be sure I wasn't going through acute liver rejection. Each time I had to cancel any plans I had made for that week.
Now instead of looking forward to my 1st annivetsay of my transplant, I sit on meedles waiting to see results of my blood tests and any plans I make I add a proviso that I might need to cancel. So far the biopsies are "unremarkable " but we have no idea what is causing the spiking liver enzymes.
I fear that I won't be able to see my NC friends, especially my friend of 51 years who recently was diagnosed with blood and bone marrow cancer.
It's odd how the immediate calls for a biopsy remind me of my and my liver's fragility. So I am just celebrating each day, making loose plans if any and hoping that I can still see my friends in NC.
Barbara
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I am really late coming to this discussion but I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and has started the New Year with hope and joy.
As I mentioned, I had Covid at the beginning of the year. I tested positive on December 29th and was finally negative on January 18th. So my year didn't start out great but my symptoms are all gone so I am fine now and totally back to normal.
I always wear a mask whenever I am inside stores, even if they don't seem crowded, or if I am at a crowded outdoor gathering. I try to be reasonable though. A year after my transplant I had Legionairre's disease in December (2017). When the doctor came into my room on the day I was being discharged I asked him if I should avoid holiday gatherings. He crouched down next to me and said that they didn't get me a new liver so I could stay home and look at four walls, to go out and enjoy myself, being careful when I do and obviously staying away from anyone who was coughing or might possibly have any type of germs. Of course things are a bit riskier now with Covid and both RSV and the flu around but I think the same advice applies. The "tripleldemic" has really waned now though.
It had especially high numbers in the Northeast which is where I live but now we can breathe easier. We do have to live our lives being conscious of limitations. I really don't care if I am the only person in a store with a mask on. It's what's best for me.
JK