Yesterday I had a quick doctors appointment. I needed to get a shot. When you’re on the transplant list, vaccines need to be up-to-date. One of the required vaccines is hepatitis B. It is a six-month series of shots. After the first shot, you have another one in a month, then the third and last shot of the series is six months from the initial vaccine. Then six months after the series is complete they take some blood to check to see if your body has accepted it. Unfortunately I have gone through this once and for some reason my body didn’t approve. So, we will try a second time. If my body doesn’t accept this time, they will not try again. It may mean that post transplant I could end up having to take a couple more pills. Before the nurse gave me the shot I talked to the syringe and gave it a little pep talk. Yesterday was my second of the series so now I wait for another five months. The only downfall from the vaccine is an awfully sore arm.

I did get some good news yesterday. March 1st I had my annual studies. They consist of chest x-ray, a lot of blood work, pulmonary function tests (PFT’s for short), a doctors visit, and every other year a bone scan. My results from all of the blood work was great. my body approved all of the other vaccines we have done. That is a good sign, now we just need this last vaccine to take. The picture below are of all the tubes of blood that are required for annual studies.

Filling all those tubes is not an easy task when it comes to my veins. It is near impossible to find veins in my arms anymore. We actually have to draw blood from my feet. It still took three pokes in my foot to fill all those tubes above. I have had so many IV’s because of  the need for antibiotics. While they are helpful with my lung infections, the medications are very harsh on the veins. We have tried more permanent methods like Picc lines or Port-a-caths but my body does not allow them to be used any longer. The Picc lines are in the arm but because I have had so many scar tissue has built up and they will not thread anymore. And Port-a-caths form what they call a fibrous sheath at the end of them and they plug. My body recognizes the foreign object and tries to heal it.