Rejection Yet Again

This past Tuesday I received a phone call from my lung transplant coordinator, Tracie. She was calling to inform me of my previous week’s bronchoscopy results. They weren’t the words I was expecting to hear, “REJECTION again.” As the pathologists’ reports indicate, it is A1 acute rejection. This summer it was A2, a more serious stage of rejection. Tracie and Dr. Zaas have decided to order me three days of solumederol (by IV) and then a taper down dose of prednisone. I should be ending by late next week. My sister, her fiancée Rod, and my boyfriend Travis are driving up to New England on the 18th where we will stay through the holidays and my 30th birthday! I have a gynological surgery scheduled for January 4th at Mass General Hospital. I hope to be back to North Carolina by the middle of January. I have another bronch scheduled for the 21st. This will indicate if further measures need to be taken to treat the rejection. Dr. Zaas told me yesterday at clinic that Campath, (drug I received during my second transplant) will need to be used again. The down side to this “big gun” medication that it will completely wipe out my immune system again, so I would be on IV Gancyclovir for at least six months. I would remain on the Procrit and Neupogen shots weekly for another year and be highly susceptible to colds, bacteria, and viruses. So let’s cross our fingers that this first round of steroids works!

~Inhale.~Exhale.~Breathe.~

Please continue your prayers for my friend Jana. Also I am remembering my friend Deb Hamlin who passed away this week from transplant complications, my sympathies to her family. To the family of Joey Velucci, keep strong and I am thinking of you all.