The Heart Factor

Since Lauren has a transplanted heart, she takes immunosuppression medicines every 12 hours. The human body is so amazing - if she didn't take these, it would recognize the heart as foreign and try to attack it. These meds keep that attacking system at bay. However, that means her body also doesn't recognize other "bad or foreign" things that are going on. If you or I get a cold or a flu bug, our immune system kicks in and tries to fight it off. Hers doesn't know to respond that way. Now that they know there is some disease process going on, we have to wake up her immune system (by decreasing these meds) so that it tries to fight it off. This puts her heart at risk. It is a delicate balancing act. She has a heart biopsy every few months to test for rejection - if there is any evidence of that, we increase her meds. You might remember that, with no outward symptoms or signs, several routine biopies last year indicated rejection. That was our discussion with transplant team today and how we can manage that. Lauren also had the bone marrow biopsy. She can finally drink clear liquids today and will be advanced to soft foods tomorrow if she can tolerate it. We have been fighting blood pressure issues all day and trying to get the correct fluid balance to keep her hydrated. No official results of biopsies came back yet. That is actually a good thing. Although I hate waiting, it gives her a little more time to process what is happening.