Misc

No big news to report, just sharing…

We are somewhat settled in Durham. We are living in a hotel now, but we plan to move to an apartment if/when I get accepted into the Duke transplant program. Durham is a nice city, with a lot of trees! We were a week or two late to experience the full splendor of Autumn here, but we caught a glimpse of it with a few trees that haven’t shed all of their leaves yet. Often times the streets are lined with trees, which I’m not used, but I think it’s kind of neat. The traffic here surprised me, for sure! It’s Kellogg and I-135 at rush hour, combined! I thought Durham would be a sleepy little college town…ha! I think the fact that Raleigh is so close contributes to the traffic. In all fairness, I have to admit that Garry and Shelly have done all of the driving thus far, but I still experience the traffic as a back-seat driver (which is accurate, just ask them)! lol

I'm glad a lot of people in the medical profession have weekends off! Finally, a couple of days to rest some! This last week has been a whirlwind between packing, arriving in North Carolina, continuing IV therapy, and starting pulmonary rehab. I must say that pulmonary rehab is a little more than I was used to in Wichita, but I had already heard that through the grapevine. I started rehab by walking 15 minutes on a track (not a treadmill) and they encouraged me to not take breaks during this time, if I could stand it. I whizzed right through it, which surprised me! I do have to say that I have had more energy than normal lately, and for that I am thankful! That can all change tomorrow, but I will enjoy it as long as I can. After the walk, I did arm weights on various machines, did some exercises with a big ball, and then moved to the "bike". To me a bike is where your feet go in a downward/upward rotation on pedals; to them a bike is where you sit, place your feet on square pedals?, and push your feet forward, in front of you, against some resistance. I think I'll take the rotation for $200, please. lol I then went to a floor/mat group and did stretches and weights there. I did well on the walk, but learned that I sure need to build strength in the other areas. I'm so glad I had already been working some of these muscles with the group in Wichita (miss you guys!), or I would be in worse shape.

This next week is going to be packed with a lot of testing; finishing off the week with a right heart cath on Friday. Of course, your thoughts and continued prayers are appreciated.  Have a great week!

Hugs,
Lynda