Today is my 3 year anniversary for my transplant! Wow, how time flys! The days after my transplant would drag day by day and now that I am doing so much better time just flys by. I really wish that each of you could say this. My prayers daily include all my panc buddies to have better health and less pain. I still do not have the stamina that I used to, it is coming back but it has taken so long. I have days were I have to take a nap and there are days I have to take more meds then maybe the day before but all in all I am soooo much better. I am proud to say that work wise I am busier then ever and was just listed in RE/MAX Reporter Magazine. I was in the top 20 agents for production in all of Tarrant County, for the first quarter of 2010. I do still have trouble with absorbing fats and only weigh 105 lbs but seem to maintain this weight. Last year I was struggling to keep above the 100 mark. I do work a lot of hours it is a diversion for me and Real Estate keeps me focused on other people's lives not just my own. I do struggle some days I won't lie. I have not had a visit to Baylor since January That was 8 months ago, my longest run in over probably 6 years :):) That my friends is something I have dreamed of. I can finally say that I do not know every nurse on the floor and there rotating schedule, surely there are some new ones by now. LOL It becomes such a central part of our lives when we are so sick. We know all the Doctor's, The Nurses the Techs everyone that participates in our care. We become so self absorbed in the disease it is truly our day in and day out part of our life. I can remember looking out the window of the hospital all the time watching all the people come and go and the traffic flowing down the streets thinking everything around you keeps on moving and the world keeps on living there daily life but yet I felt stuck in the same time zone forever. I know each of you know exactly how that feels. So Today is a day of celebration for me. I am proud to say that I have reached the otherside. I have tried to do it with dignity and with respect of others. Some days I am sure the Doctors and nurses really wished they had not had me as a patient that day but I know all in all they did understand. Now there are a few Doctors and Nurses that I will never forget and you have had to endure these types as well, they are the ones that need to move on to another proffession because they caused me a great deal of trauma. I have scars from them and will hopefully be able to release those vivid memories of horrible care both mentally and physically some day. I do not dwell on it but it does come back to haunt me. The one's I choose to remember will always be very special to me. I will never forget several that went above and beyond the call of duty. I was blessed with a whole lot more good then bad at Baylor Dallas. They will hold a very special place in my heart forever. My home health care nurse Nancy I ran into her at Target a couple months ago, it was great to see her. Nancy took care of me for close to a year at home and she had never seen me outside the house or bed so it was great to give her a big hug in the middle of the isle at Target. Nancy weathered a lot of really bad times with me. My Family, My Husband & Friends have also been through so very much with me and they have been so very patient waiting, praying and wishing me well again. I think they still to this day wait for the other shoe to drop, afraid the phone will ring with me saying I am back in the hospital. My Goal is to keep that from happening, it is to stay out of there and home with all of them. I have to get back to work but could not let this day roll by without posting my celebration of this day. I am sending thoughts and prayers out to all of you. Hold tight to your dreams and always remember that it is possible to get to the otherside of this disease. We will never be perfect since it changes us from how God intended our bodies to be and work but it can help immensley. Love to All Lorie I will post again soon! I will also post some new pictures of my Granddaughter soon. She is coming up on 18 months old.
Hi: I am sorry that things have been so crazy, the site was down for awhile due to a loser hacker. I now have my son in-law Robert handling all my maintenance and updates. I am so excited about this, he is going to set it up so when I journal it will go out to everyone letting you know I have journaled. I was so scared I had lost everything but Robert was able to recapture it for me. Be patient and I will be back to journaling and putting some new stuff on here that I have wanted to do for so long, but the person that was handling my site did not give a rip about it. I found out it was so unprotected to hackers. My Sister started the site for me and had a guy that built it but he moved on to bigger and better things and just left me in the weeds. I just got back from vacation to Oregon and had a great tiem visiting family. I will update everyone more very soon. I am getting ready to walk out to an appointment but to much time had passed since I have posted. I am still alive and kicking, 8 months and NO Hospital, they put me on a new enzyme that has helped. I have no gained much weight but that is the least of my worries if I can stay healthy I will just have to be skinny or petite sounds better I think of everyone one of you all the time and hope you are keeping up the fight to better health and miracles. I will post again VERY SOON! I have a lot to tell.Love to all Lorie
Hi everyone: I have been so bad about posting. I miss visiting with all of you and I am working on setting this up so whoever is a member will get a notification that I have posted so you will know when there is activity on here. I am going to work on posting more. Most everything is the same no real change weigh 102 lbs today. I had gained 7 or 8 in the hospital with the feeding tube back in January and managed to keep it on for awhile but well you know how the story goes. Work keeps me entirely to busy and I am working hard on trying to take more time for myself. The weeks just get to long and all start to run together. I posted more pictures last time I was on and I also have been posting a lot on face book so you can always check me out on there it stays up to date. I am still here for those of you that need me so please know that just because I have not posted in awhile doesn't mean I don't worry about you. I really think the E-mail notification will help. I also wanted to tell you I am on a new enzyme called Zen-Pep and it is better then any of the ones I have been on. The make up of it is similiar to creon but it does differ from it and whatever the change, it is better because it does help me more with my digestion. I had a horrible scare last week with Eric they admitted him to the Hospital for 2 days, we thought he was having a heart attack because of an abnormal EKG and severe chest pains with more then one episode. They ran the blood gas enzymes to see if it was indeed a heart attack and that showed up ok, so they went one step further and did a stress test. This turned up ok as well. They think possibly it could be his gallbladder with referred pain to the chest. We all know how high the gallbladder sits so this is possible. I don't understand how the pain going down his arms could be associated with the gallbladder though. I am keeping a close eye on him and praying that everything stays ok. On top of that during his hospital stay my step daughter Sarah ran away. I had to go through so much all at one time. She is still gone and a very selfish 17 yr. old. We have had a lot of issue's with her. I felt so bad for Eric being in the hospital and feeling so helpless. Just the thought of it makes my blood boil she thought he was having a heart attack and there might be a blockage and she knew stress would be the worst thing for him but she did not care. I know how bad that hurts Eric. Anyway, I don't want to really go into much more detail then that. My life is such an open book to everyone already I don't really know why not but never the less I won't. Heck I could probably write a novel about my life it is most certainly a busy and drama filled life, definitely not by choice! I have talked to a couple transplant patients lately and they are doing pretty fair. I had a Dr appt. week before last but Dr. Lamont was in emergency surgery so did not get to see him. I was going to ask if he had any transplants on the surgery schedule. I am curious how many he has done to date. I am also curious if they are offering it as much and what they see the success rate as. I will let you know when I find out the answer to those questions. Well, I will close with telling you all I love you and I hope you are all hanging in there and life is treating you as good as it possibly can!
Post, post post.... lets get this site rocking again! Lorie
I am going home tomorrow! Yeah after 8 or 9 days that is music to my ears. The medicine Dr. Lamont put me on for Motility works great, maybe a bit to good. We are adjusting it the other way now. I am really trying hard to follow all instructions and be optimistic. I am very tired of being in here. I just happened to see Paige up here she is an Iselt Cell Transplant patient as well. She has been up here for a few days. I guess her Islet Cells are not working and she is now Diabetic. I really hate to hear that and wish she were feeling better. I hope all of you are good, I know that life can be rough sometimes so everyone hang in there!
I am still in the hospital. I had a scope procedure done today that turned out pretty good.. The results are slow mobility which we already knew about. The good news is they are trying a new drug on me to see if it does any good. Dr Lamont sat and talked to me for awhile and we have a new statedgy so I am crossing my fingers it will. I am getting a new med for the motility issue, it is brand new. My other Dr. went ahead and dialated my stomach. I will stay on TPN for awhile, I am trying to gain weight as usual. My Protiens are low and they are working at getting them up to a healthy level. I am sure there is more coming, I am tired and I will post later. I did get to see my little pumpkin this morning before I went in for my surgery/procedure. I tell you what I could be having the most dreadful day ever and little Sydney will put a smile on my face everytime.
Well I am in the hospital, the Doctor did not like the fact that I was running such a fever and had nausea, vomiting and diarreah as well. I am down to 101 lbs so he is concerned about nutrition. GEE what a thought I have had trouble with that forever. Sorry, I am a bit cynical today. I had a rotten night nurse. I am getting ready to go down for a CAT Scan of the abdomen and chest. Anyway I wanted to write you. I will let you know how everything goes. Thanks Lorie
I have not been feeling well at all. I have been running fever anywhere from 100 degrees to 102.7 - This has been going on since Saturday and I am having trouble with nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain which in turn just creates more diareah. I have not called the Doctor yet, I am afraid to go there. I am not sure what he will do besides admit me and get everything under control. It is frustrating because I have a ton of work, a new person coming on board in February, a trip for a few days in February and it is always messing things up. I stress about all of it. My daughter is going through some rough stuff right now so she does not need the extra worries either. Actually my whole family has a full plate right now. I can just sum it all up in two words it sucks! Hope all of you are doing well. I will post when I can and keep you updated. Talk to you soon...
I posted some new pictures it is named Christmas 2009. Once you open the file you might have to click on each one individually. I could not get them to flow right. Anyway, I thought I would post what I have.I am not to photogenic these days but my little Sydney is!!! Lorie
I have been doing some struggling with the same old stuff but seems like It comes in waves of severity. My tolerance is fed up with it right now. Seems like a average number of times in the bathroom is about 20! I woke up night before last at 1:30 AM and was up the rest of the night and day. I will be seeing Dr. Lamont soon, I have been waiting on this insurance but I should hear any day now. I will be giving them a call today to see if they can possibly give me a status. I have also been having some real issue's with Anxiety. I have a counselor I have shared some of this with and it really seems to be stemming from chronic pain issue's and some of the stuff that has happened over the years with that. I am in the midst of switching counselors and plan to dig deep on this subject. I hate anxiety attacks and really would like to be able to put them to rest. The weather here in Texas is ridiculously freezing! We were hit with an Artic Blast and it is about 5 degrees today with the wind chill, they are saying it could get as cold as Zero. In my mind I am like zero, 5 degrees, 10 degree's whatever it is flat cold. The wind is what makes it so horrible it just eats right through you! I am down to 102 lbs and I layer my clothing as much as possible. I have no fat to help protect me and keep me warm. I always wished I could lose weight years ago. It seemed if I even breathed food I would gain. Well, becareful what you wish for! I now can't put the weight on and wish I could! I would be excited if I could just gain 10 or 15 lbs. I sure know I would look healthier, I also know that my system can't absorb fats and we all need a certain amount of fat in our diet and for our bodies. The pain lately is more and I tolerate it as best as I can. I have to just keep telling myself it is better then were I was a couple years ago and even the years prior to my transplant. I lived in the hospital practically. I will continue to fight this and work towards better health. Each and everyday they make progress with stuff so I believe there will be even more answers out there. My hope is for a new enzyme because the one's they have now stink, my body seems to think so anyway. I really believe if I could get a good enzyme to stay in my system things would really turn a corner for me. Ok, I need to get back to work, it has been busy. I have been working on adding people to my team to help my business grow and to also take the pressure off of me. A lot of people ask me how in the world can I work and I have to say it is hard but it keeps me glued together. I have to have something to focus on and I do love working with people. Real Estate is a tough business but it is also very rewarding. If all goes well I think I will have a new team member in February. I have a really great guy getting his Real Estate license now. If any of you would like to receive my Monthly Real Estate newsletter just E-mail me (Loriebledsoe@aol.com)your address and I would be happy to send you out a copy! Need to run but I wanted to post and update everyone! Take care, Lorie
I hope this finds everyone doing well and enjoying there holiday season. I have had a great Holiday! This year is the first year in 3 years that all of my Kids were together again and our first with little Sydney! My parents were also here for 3 weeks which made it extra special. I always enjoy there company. Sydney is now 10 months old and growing so quickly, she is so smart and picking up so many new things. Ashley already got her switched off the bottle and on to a sippy cup. Sydney did not seem to mind at all, she still is on breast milk which is good but she is slowly switching her over on that as well. She has become quite the Na-Na's girl which I just LOVE! My Health is about the same a bit better at times but I am still unable to absorb fats. I will be going in to see Dr. Lamont after the first of the year to re-visit all of this. I have been dealing with insurance companies and I am currently waiting to see if I have been accepted into the Texas High Risk Pool. I have a limited medical policy right now that works fairly well but does not cover some of my perscriptions which is just killing me expense wise. It also only covers up to 30 days in the hospital per year. which I can knock out in one or two admission. The Texas High Risk pool is very expensive and have been giving me a hard time because I was able to get this other limited medical insurance. I just sent them a denial from Blue Cross and Blue Shield which would have been full medical & Prescription benefits but of course they want nothing to do with me! No big surprise there. This letter should get them everything I need to get accepted. I am just so frustrated with this whole situation. How are all of you? I hope you are doing well and not spending to much time down and not feeling well. I push myself to do as much as possible to try and have some sense of normalcy. I also try to not let on to much about the in's and out's of the daily hurdles with all of this. I must say it can be very hard at times and then I know I can't hide it. All in All if I look back to where I was 2 years ago today I was 98 lbs and being admitted to Baylor Hospital in Dallas for a bowel obstruction on New Years Eve. They had to wait 3 weeks to do surgery because I was not strong enough. When I look at everything in this perspective I am doing so much better. Work still keeps me very busy and makes it difficult to slow down. I have a lot fof foreclosure listings that just keep coming, they don't stay on the market long. I can normally get the majority of them sold in a weeks time. I am sorry I have not posted much, I have been through a lot over the last several months personally and I just have been a bit self absorbed in those issue's and trying to stay as busy with work as possible to help take my mind off of it. I will do my best to post more. I would love to hear from you all! Happy Holidays & Love to all! Lorie
Wow, how time flys! The days after my transplant would drag day by day and now that I am doing so much better time just flys by. I really wish that each of you could say this. My prayers daily include all my panc buddies to have better health and less pain. I still do not have the stamina that I used to, it is coming back but it has taken so long. I have days were I have to take a nap and there are days I have to take more meds then maybe the day before but all in all I am soooo much better. 
