Whats in a Miracle? Thyme!!

A major part of having a transplant is the immune suppression. This results in an increased chance of getting infections. Some of these infections are common viruses or bacterias that don't harm someone with a regular immune system and that most people already have. One of these is the Cytomegalovirus (CMV), in most people it does nothing, but in me it can kill.

When I was in the hospital the doctors were running a study to see if they could prevent transplant patients from getting CMV. They asked me to be part of this study and I agreed. The idea was to give one group the antibiotics for CMV, in hopes that this would cause the patient to create the antibodies needed to fight the virus and the other would get nothing. I was in the group that got the antibiotics.

After you go home they want you to take 3 months off of driving and 6 months off of work or heavy activity to heal. Around month three I got CMV. They put me on more antibiotics and I got ride of it a few months latter. This wasn't the miracle I'm speaking of, it's just ironic.

In June of 2000 about 10 months later, I attended the Bar mizvah party of my cousin. This was at Frontier City (a local amusement park). One of the keys of remaining healthy with a compromised immune system is to avoid crowds of people. No amusement parks. Shortly after the party I started getting head aches and feeling really tiered and my blood work was not looking good. By August they had figured out that I had the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). This is the one that gives you mono, so about 95% of people have it. I didn't until then.

The doctors decided to give me a pick line, which is an IV that starts in your arm and goes all the way to your superior vena cava (the big vein that goes into the right side of the heart). The pick line is meant to be temporary lasting only about three months. It is also supposed to be cleaned twice a week. Along with the pick line I was given IV antibiotics about three times a day. This made going to school a little hard.

After a few months of the IV, I was still feeling tired. On a visits to the clinic they asked me to stay in the hospital. I felt so bad I agreed. There main concern was that there were red streaks going up my arm from the pick line. I didn't know this at the time but that is a sign of sepsis (toxic pathogens in the blood) and if it got to my heart it would be curtains baby. They rushed me up to a room on the liver ward. Got the pick line out of me and but an IV in both hands. One was for the antibiotics and one for blood transfusions.

The average person has seven pints of blood and you can live off of about four pints. They gave me four pints. That night while a lay in the hospital, I prayed that if it was time to go I was ready. Thankfully that prayer wasn't answered. Although I would continue the battle with EBV, the miracle was that I if hadn't been in clinic that day this blog would not exist. I thank God that he didn't answer my prayer that night but instead saved me from death. And as I said part of a miracle is timing.