I’m back!

I have had quite the interesting month. I turned 43 the last day of June and got sick a few days later. It turned out that CMV reared it’s ugly head again. On top of that, I was gearing up to go to camp. I had 10 days to become CMV negative if I wanted to go to camp. I can’t be around 115 kids with transplants with CMV. Their immune systems might be worse than mine. I will not even consider being in the same room as a transplant kid if I am CMV positive. I was feeling pretty down those 10 days. If I missed camp, that would be 3 out of the past 4 years I’d miss camp. That’s after 26 consecutive years, first as a camper, then as a volunteer.

My Valcyte worked! I found out two days before camp that I would be going. It was one of the best weeks at camp I can remember. I was a unit head, which means I was in charge of the volunteers and kids in all of the boys cabins. I got to hangout with a bunch of different cabins and even did the zip line with one group. FYI, I HATE heights.

After an amazing week at camp, I went home to rest and my eyes started to bother me. I went to the doctor and was told there was a possibility I could have CMV retinitis. If I was CMV positive in my eyes, I’d be on a month long IV infusion. That would mean PICC line and no trip for the rest of this year so I can figure out what to do. The worry crept in again. I had five days until my eye doctor appointment.

I saw my eye doctor yesterday. No CMV! I have dry eye that comes with old age. AWESOME! I’ll take it. Just need eye drops for a week and then use tears. No CMV also means, I can confirm I’m back on for Scooting4Donors.

I will be leaving Nashville on September 1 and scoot through Memphis, Little Rock, Dallas, Lubbock, Denver and many towns in between. I should be in Denver on October 23. I am going to see what happens from there, both money wise and health wise. Hopefully I’ll continue west, but after the first part of this trip, I’ll go section to section.

I can’t wait to be back on the road again. I just wanted to show you the ups and downs of a transplant recipient. Scooting across the country is tough in itself, but throw in my illness, and you never know what will happen.

I’ll be back blogging sooner than later…