My friend is technically no longer in a coma, but faces a long hard road of recovery. They hope that with time she may actually be able to make a full recovery. Good news all around! She still cannot speak, and only makes limited movements, but it is a start.
Nothing like the internet to give a review on.
1. Technical Support has us replace all ethernet wires, our phone lines, our phone wiring of the house, the dsl modem, and more... we also replaced all filters on the phone lines, a $45 dollar Alarm system dsl filter, removed all extra devices from the network (rendering our home network useless). We did all of this because we weren't getting the advertised speed. Step one: are we close enough to the central office? NO! Time for technical support to figure that out? 2 months!
2. Billing - we signed up a for a contract for the new increased speed (1.5-3), which they never provided. Ultimately they decided that we would never achieve that speed, a service we never should have been offered. Their own contract states they are required to provide within 20% of the minimum speed of the contract. Guess what, is our contract null and void since they never provided the service the contract stated? Of course not! We must pay through the end of the contract for a 384k line. Ridiculous.
Net/net: Not recommended. Should be reported to the BBB. Avoid at all cost.
I have a friend in a coma. Such a weird thing to say. I've never met Kaley in person, but she has been a wonderful internet friend, and we have a lot in common.
We both have gastroparesis and pancreas transplants. In fact, she largely contributed to my decision to have one, and for that I am eternally grateful. She has had a much harder road than I.
After her PTA (pancreas transplant alone), she later required a kidney. She's been slammed with several post transplant infections requiring daily IV antibiotics. Her GP is severe enough to land her in the hospital every few weeks for hydration. The infections make her GP worse.
But through it all, she has always been a ray of light. A true angel of the Lord - a strong Christian - with a strong faith in the good things life still had to offer. Whenever I had a bad gastro day, I looked to her as a source of inspiration and strength.
After several years, she had the misfortune of also being diagnosed with cervical cancer. They decided to have a hystorectomy (sp?). Two days out of surgery, all was well. Things were looking up. Then for no apparent reason, she coded.
She is now in a coma. I pray often for her and her husband. She is only about 30 years old, a beautiful cheery smiling blonde girl. A ray of sunshine in a gloomy medical drama.
Please pray for her. I don't want to lose my compass.
It's been a while since I have had a positive post - my recent ones have been kind of snarky!
I recently passed the six month mark since my transplant. Right at the six month mark, my creatinine (a measure of kidney function) returned to a good number. I've added an extra liter of water a day to help flush those toxic drugs out of my system and I hope that has helped.
Overall, my life has improved considerably by transplant. I haven't had a protein shake (a common former meal of mine) in months. I have been eating real foods - including hard to digest things like asparagus and salads! I am no longer malnourished or underweight. I look a lot healthier and am no longer terrified of eating out. I avoid soup, a previous staple of my pureed diet. My gastroparesis is not gone (I happen to be nauseous right now for example), but it is so so so so much better, and that has made this whole process worth it.
My WBC (white blood cell count) continues to be low. They took me off some of my drugs in hopes of boosting it, but I still have never gotten above 2.0-2.9. I bottomed out around month five at 0.9 for several weeks. What this means is that it will be harder for my body to fight infection if I catch something. I have been blessed so far to stay healthy.
For months now, I have been reassured by my new good life that I made the right decision to have a transplant. My gastroparesis has reverted to about the state it was at five years before transplant - before the days of intractable nausea and protein shakes (yum!) and being underweight. It is amazing.
In addition, while I do take a lot of pills, the dose rarely changes. Diabetes was an at least hourly evaluation of whether I was rising or falling, eating or exercising, etc. and adjusting accordingly. While the meds are a lot to swallow, pun intended, it is actually much easier than treating brittle diabetes.
On a side note, just when things were going great, I fainted this morning. A first for my entire life! Hopefully it was a one time thing. I hit my head or neck on something but it just aches, no worries. Julian is watching me closely. It was probably from standing up to quickly.
I pray daily that this transplant lasts. It is such a gift, and certainly something that would devastate me to lose. I like this new life too much to even think about it!