6 Months post islet cell transplant

Today is the 6 month anniversary of my transplant.  It continues to be a very exciting and rewarding experience both realistically and theoretically.  I still have a hard time believing that I can feel so good and that I have such an opportunity to be part of such a monumental experiment.

I had my 180 day visit last week in Minneapolis.  Despite the cold, it was a fun trip.  What made it fun was that I had  the opportunity to meet two other islet cell recipients.  A man who had his transplant in November and a woman who had hers in December.  They both happened to be there for checkups on the same day as me.  We spent almost an hour together comparing our experiences.  Both of them are on the same protocol as me (same drugs), and are having the same positive results.  Neither is off of insulin completely yet, but are at about the same level as I was at their stage.  We had very similar experiences.  We were all diagnosed in our early 20s, and were all  frustrated by our limitations.  We all seem to be tolerating the immunosuppressants well, although both my and the woman's white counts were under the lower limits of the protocol.  We both had an injection of neupogen to raise our white cells.  I didn't feel any different either before or after and I haven't been sick, so it wasn't a big concern for me.  

It was so nice to be able to share our experiences.  I now know three transplant patients from U. of Minn. and a few others that I have met on line.  I also get some good questions from people who read my blog or participate in discussions on the Tu Diabetes website.