Lifesavers for Latasha

As I sit here and do math in my head to figure out what day it is, I can’t help but notice how tired I really am. But when I look back on it, Latasha and I have been in the mud day in and day out. It has been a beautiful, messy, hard, long, and winding journey.

And I wouldn’t change a minute of it. Every time we go back to an appointment, I see Tasha’s improvement and growing strength, which will carry her toward her dreams and goals. I see the fire burning in her belly and the grit in action. I am proud of her!

Here is more of a medical update from the past few weeks.

Walking: Tasha cruises along at any interval and distance with a strong and steady gate. She can climb stairs and add another flight to her goals every few days. She is strong and determined. We have two energetic dogs who will love that newfound energy and strength.

Breathing: Tasha’s lung function has improved more each week. Through healing, time, therapy, and exercise, her lung function has improved by over 14% since she was discharged.

Anemia: Tasha’s blood platelets and white cell counts have skyrocketed back to normal levels, which means her body is healing and settling into its new power plant with no issues. This also means she has more energy to do the rehabbing and push herself to achieve her dreams soon.

Fluid overload and swelling: Tasha has lost almost 45 pounds of excessive fluid weight. Fluid overload is painful, debilitating, and medically dangerous because it overloads all the systems. That is probably one of the most significant achievements because Tasha has struggled with this condition for decades. Seeing her body functioning properly is nothing short of a miracle.

Wounds: Tasha’s incisions and scars are about 80% healed. She has just a few left from the fourth surgery, but they’re fastly healing up. The main incision on her chest looks fantastic and has healed up nicely. The emotional scars, well, that’s an entirely different story. It will take us both a very long time to get over those. Tasha was left with triple the amount of scars than we had anticipated, so that’s still hard to reconcile.

Nausea: Tasha is struggling very badly with this due to the nature of the medications. We’re trying hard to figure out a strategy that works through timing, food, fluids, and anti-nausea meds. Luckily, a few likely culprits will drop off after the 90-day mark in November, so hopefully, that’s the key to getting past this issue. Medically speaking, this is an issue because it causes her therapeutic medication levels to always be in flux, and that can cause rejection and a cascade of problems, mainly dehydration.

Mental health: Tasha is still processing everything and coming to grips with it all. This is mainly why she hasn’t spoken out on it all, as it’s a lot to take in. If I am honest, we are both struggling very badly in this arena because it has been harder than I care to share. We are working toward healing and talk often about it all, but we are in different headspaces sometimes about it all. And before you suggest, yes, this is being addressed medically.

Sleeping: Tasha is finally getting more restorative rest now that she can shower, move around more freely, and change positions in the bed. This has been a considerable leap in the right direction because sleep is one of the most important things we can do to heal and stay healthy.

Appetite: Tasha’s desire to eat comes and goes, but more goes due to the medications. She eats protein bars/shakes and drinks a lot of water, but there are days when she doesn’t want anything. This has become a challenge because her body depends on good nutrition to heal. The doctors assure us this is normal due to the medication, and it will subside in time.

Tasha is crushing each goal and gate put in front of her to get home. We have several appointments and tests scheduled for the next two weeks, and all of those will, in theory, present a final discharge date to return to home base and be reunited with our dogs, Jack and Gunner, and the coolest damn cat ever, Binx.

So, cheers to Latasha’s continued improvements and the future ahead.