Hi Alyssa, my oldest daughter Anna had a double lung transplant just last year. I wanted to let you know that she had many of the same feelings at your age as you do now. We all know without a shadow of a doubt that Anna would not have agreed to have a transplant at 15 or 16 or even 17. She pretty much just came out and said she'd rather die, and she will admit that it was because of the scar.
Urinary catheters are a tough thing to deal with for a young lady. Not so much because it's another medical procedure you have to endure but what it is and where it is. But as time goes by it isn't as big a deal. I really believe alot of it has to do with maturity and realizing there is some unpleasantness involved with keeping you and all women healthy. But back to tranplant... Anna had a quick recovery. She was out of ICU in two days, her pain was managed very well until about day 3 or 4. Her problem though was that she had built up a tolerance. She'd been on morphine and morphine solutabs for about 7 months. She tried getting off of them and each time she'd end up back in the hospital and the doctor told her to not try and wean herself off of them. She needed them. Now don't get me wrong, she wasn't dependent on them and didn't need more and more to get past her lung pain, she was on a decent low dose and sometimes didn't even need the solutabs. Sure enough though, she'd developed a tolerance and by about day 3 or 4 they could not control her pain. Mostly because they didn't prescribe enough to make up for that tolerance. They prescribed the norm for her weight and size. Then of course it took a bit to get things straightened out and time to get the meds into her at the right dose. Not everyone has that problem though. One night during that time she really thought it would be her last and if she'd made the wrong decision to get a transplant. But she will be the first to tell you, she'd do it all over again.
To be honest I can't even remember her having a catheter but I'm sure she did. She was up and walking to the bathroom the day she got out of ICU.
I will have to be sure Anna see's your post. I am sure she would be happy to answer any questions you might have.
But Alyssa, I wanted to let you know, that your feelings right now might change. You are doing the right thing by looking into it and asking questions. A time may come that you change your mind. How is your health right now? Are you exploring transplant because it might be coming up soon or are you just looking to the possibility of maybe, one day, if you need it? Try and keep an open mind and learn all you can and hear other peoples experiences.
Urinary catheters are a tough thing to deal with for a young lady. Not so much because it's another medical procedure you have to endure but what it is and where it is. But as time goes by it isn't as big a deal. I really believe alot of it has to do with maturity and realizing there is some unpleasantness involved with keeping you and all women healthy. But back to tranplant... Anna had a quick recovery. She was out of ICU in two days, her pain was managed very well until about day 3 or 4. Her problem though was that she had built up a tolerance. She'd been on morphine and morphine solutabs for about 7 months. She tried getting off of them and each time she'd end up back in the hospital and the doctor told her to not try and wean herself off of them. She needed them. Now don't get me wrong, she wasn't dependent on them and didn't need more and more to get past her lung pain, she was on a decent low dose and sometimes didn't even need the solutabs. Sure enough though, she'd developed a tolerance and by about day 3 or 4 they could not control her pain. Mostly because they didn't prescribe enough to make up for that tolerance. They prescribed the norm for her weight and size. Then of course it took a bit to get things straightened out and time to get the meds into her at the right dose. Not everyone has that problem though. One night during that time she really thought it would be her last and if she'd made the wrong decision to get a transplant. But she will be the first to tell you, she'd do it all over again.
To be honest I can't even remember her having a catheter but I'm sure she did. She was up and walking to the bathroom the day she got out of ICU.
I will have to be sure Anna see's your post. I am sure she would be happy to answer any questions you might have.
But Alyssa, I wanted to let you know, that your feelings right now might change. You are doing the right thing by looking into it and asking questions. A time may come that you change your mind. How is your health right now? Are you exploring transplant because it might be coming up soon or are you just looking to the possibility of maybe, one day, if you need it? Try and keep an open mind and learn all you can and hear other peoples experiences.