Transplant Seminar

Well, we did have lima beans for dinner Friday, along with a couple of small steaks I’d bought on sale and then left to languish in the back of my freezer. It’s a tiny freezer compartment, and I have no idea how I could have managed to forget anything in there, but apparently I managed to forget these just fine. Anyhow, I seasoned them heavily with Kansas City style hot seasonings, cooked up a batch of those pre-thawed limas, and we watched an episode of Babylon 5 (first season) while we ate. And that was the high point of my Friday.

Saturday I attended another symposium for transplant patients. This one was much closer to home, and my younger sister was able to attend with me.

It was far better attended than the one last month, and there must have been several hundred people there. We were all given ribbons to wear along with our name tags, that identified who we were. Green ribbons were for liver recipients, yellow for kidneys, red for heart recipients, blue for lungs, maroon for pancreas. Family members of recipients had purple ribbons. There were donor family members there too, as well as a few living donors, and they had gold ribbons.

Some of the workshops I attended were quite useful, while others far less so. I attended a session on dental health that opened my eyes to a few things. I appreciated that I was at greater risk for periodontal disease because of my illness, but I had no clue as to the different periodontal diseases I now had to worry about. Added incentive to keep up on my dental hygiene, I guess. It made me glad I’d gone a purchased an electric toothbrush for use at work.

On the other end of the spectrum was the fitness seminar. I’d gone hoping to get some tips on special considerations for recovering strength and endurance after transplant surgery, but it was a standard “exercise five times a week for an hour at a time” lecture. There was nothing in it of special interest or use for transplant patients, and there wasn’t even anything novel in how someone who is working five days a week and is gone from the house for twelve or more hours at a stretch is supposed to find that extra five hours a week to fit in an exercise program. I’m not saying that I fail to see the need to exercise, but I sure as heck fail to see how I’m supposed to accomplish this.

The lecturer kept stressing that you should do something you like to do, so you’ll stick with it. She then listed a bunch of things that I don’t like to do, or would be crazy to attempt. Riding a bike and walking really don’t do it for me. I live on a major highway, so either of those pursuits would be the equivalent of trying to commit suicide. Go to the gym for treadmill or stationary bike? Right, so I can sweat in front of some sports channel while the ditz in spandex on the treadmill next door serenades me as she sings along with her headphones? Been there, done that, don’t think so.

Perhaps the most surprising item of the day was in spending some quality time with the Younger Sister. She didn’t have her “company’s over” mania thing going, and I actually got to interact with her on a non-holiday, non-hostess/guest level. I’ll have to find ways to make that happen more often.

The Socialist is downstair fussing with his car again. I think I’ll wander down and give him some grief.