An Unplanned Minor Obstacle On The Road To "Normal"

Trish very quietly took a trip home to Pflugerville this past Saturday, August 16, with her doctor's blessing and encouragement... sort of a dry run before she is allowed to leave Houston and go home for good.

YAY! I can eat with my mouth again!

Unfortunately, it didn't go as planned. She's had a lot of nausea with her transplant medications, which is normal, but the nausea got much worse on Monday. By Tuesday night, she was vomiting and in excruciating pain. Kevin took her to an excellent acute care facility in Pflugerville, where the docs ran some tests and did a CT scan and gave her IV meds to stop the vomiting. As soon as she was a bit more stable, we loaded her into the car with lots of pillows, and got on the road heading south.

After a three-hour journey that felt like it took months, with my poor dear little cousin gritting her teeth and occasionally squeaking in pain in the passenger seat, as I drove as fast as I dared and tried to avoid all the bumps in the road... here's what I posted on her Facebook page yesterday (Wednesday, August 20):

I brought Trish to the ER at her Houston transplant hospital today with a slightly more serious minor obstacle. As y'all know, she happily began eating real food a couple weeks ago. Last night, not so happily, she started having severe pain--doubled-over pain--and nausea. She's been admitted for IV meds, tests and labs, observation, and what will hopefully be a non-surgical solution to this problem... in the delicately immortal words of Charles Dickens, 'just a bit of undigested pudding.' Please keep sending bright thoughts and prayers her way!!! She loves all of you and is so grateful for your kindness and concern, as am I. xoxoxo and aloha from Caroline

Even as I write this, she's getting better. This was a mechanical problem, not a bacterial one, and not a rejection issue. No surgical intervention will be necessary! Her lungs still look good. We're hoping very much that she'll be back on track very soon, and released to go home very soon, too!

Thanks so much for all your love and prayers and support!

xoxoxo and much aloha,
Caroline (Trish's cousin)