Day 1

Don't you just love the decorations? Cami hung 6 strips to signify the 6 years I was I'll. Gotta love my kids! :-)

So, Day 1 in Tucson, or as Kyle said, "Mom, this is the first day of our new life!" The kid is so insightful! They were both very interested in all of my diabetic supplies. I let them both take my blood glucose and also do my insulin injections. I have a practice set that is filled with water and has a sponge block to "inject". Then I let them inject me. So now they are experts. :-)

We were talking last night at the dinner table eating the wonderful meatloaf, scalloped potatoes and mixed veggies that Lew made. It has been forever since we all sat at the dinner table! Before my TP-IAT, not only could I not eat anything, but I couldn't be around the smell of food.Anyway, we were talking about my healing and things I can and cannot do. I said I could not drive them anywhere, even to school. (This makes me sad because they should at least get a ride to school when their mom is home all day!) So I mentioned that I was probably fine to drive them up to the bus stop 2 blocks away. Then Cami says, "Mom, would you be able to just walk us up to the bus stop?" I thought that was a great idea. It's not too far, but it gets me out of the house with a little exercise thrown in. As I was putting on my shoes this morning, Kyle asked if I really was going to walk them to the bus stop. I said yes and he says, "Oh my gosh mom. I'm so proud of you, you bring tears to my eyes." So cute. So I walked up with them and they were very happy.  It was already SO hot this morning (almost 90°!) so I told them that there was no way I could walk to pick them up, but I'd drive to the bus stop and pick them up if I am awake. I was not awake today. Lew takes the dogs for a walk every evening, so I'll go with him, too. At least it's a bit of exercise.

Another uncomfortable update, but if my goal is to prepare others considering the TP-IAT then I need to share everything. On Saturday, Dr. Dunn called me with the results of my CT scan. There was nothing glaring in the image - no leaks, blockages or abcesses. She said the islets were all lit up in my liver. The first step is that the islets engraft in the liver, then they next start to produce insulin. So she says I will probably start to see my insulin needs reduce. Yay! That makes me happy. The only other thing is that I had a lot of stool inside me.  Dr. Dunn put it into perspective: that's 8 feet of poop in my abdomen! Ick! She said this is VERY common with post-op patients. It's a difficult thing to manage because narcotics slow the intestines down, causing constipation or blockages in patients. That causes more pain, so you take more narcotics which slows down the intestines. So, I tried a major enema this morning. Nothing happened to write home about. It worked on less than a foot. Probably more like 6"! I'll try again tomorrow, and I also have some mag cittate I'll try - again. I sent a note to Louise with the results so hopefully she has some better ideas in store. We'll see how it goes!