Lifesavers for Latasha

One of the most illuminating aspects of the Heart Lung Transplant journey has been all of the medications—a literal buffet of different medications to stop this, block this, enhance that, suppress this, and so on and so on.

I lost count somewhere around 20 different medications in pill, liquid, and shot forms. We learned today that, thank goodness, we have good health insurance because our co-pay will only be a few hundred dollars a month. Versus thousands as some transplatees face.

The one thing this entire journey has shown me is that some people’s lives hang in the balance based on whether they have insurance or the financial means to pay for any aspects of the transplant process. I will have a detailed post on how much the HLT costs once all the bills arrive. I have a rough ballpark based on estimates, and let’s say it will shock most, or maybe not, and I am just a bit naive. I have been blessed to have had military insurance with Tricare my entire life, so I am pretty ignorant about most medical costs.

Tasha and I had the pleasure of meeting a gentleman who is 14 years post-transplant and volunteers here at Cleveland Clinic today. His number one word of wisdom was to follow the medication protocols to prevent organ rejection. I have read this in almost every pamphlet and website I have consumed in the past year, but hearing it from someone living it daily was pretty powerful. The conversation was enlightening on many fronts, but that’s for another day.

That means that planning is critical to a successful medication regimen, whether daily or traveling; planning the right doses and amounts to cover trips and delays is paramount.

The pictures I am posting are just the morning, lunch, and evening pills; the liquids and shots are not shown. You may notice multiples of the same medication that must be allotted dosages.

And if you have taken medications, you know that each one has a side effect that may require another medication, and the rabbit hole begins—for example, one of Tahsa’s medications is prone to causing diabetes, and she has already shown signs that that may be the case; only time and mothering will show whether that is the case.

So, as usual, stay tuned for the next piece of the journey.