Upon discharge following a heart or lung transplant, it is essential to manage your health and medication effectively. At home health monitoring means you will need to measure, record and monitor daily health assessments, such as blood pressure, pulse, temperature, and weight.
A Guide To Monitoring Your Health After Heart Lung Transplant
After being discharged from the hospital, it’s crucial to stay on top of your health. When discharged after a heart transplant your transplant nurse or coordinator will give you a patient treatment record book. At St Vincent’s this book is a Blue Book: Heart Transplant Patient Treatment Record.
The Patient Treatment Book: Your Home Health Monitoring Companion
The blue patient treatment record is your personal health journal where you can record medications and monitor vital signs. Always take your treatment book to every clinic appointment and hospital admission. I have never had anyone check mine, however, they do ask if I am continuing to measure and record my daily vital signs.These daily health checks include blood pressure, pulse, temperature, and weight.
Daily Health Monitoring
Measuring Blood Pressure (BP)
In the early weeks after a transplant, your medications may change frequently, making it essential to monitor your blood pressure daily. If you feel dizzy or have a headache, check your blood pressure immediately. High blood pressure can be a side effect of some anti-rejection drugs. Aim to keep your blood pressure below 130/90. If it exceeds 140/90 and you feel unwell, contact your medical team right away.
- For Adolescent Patients: Maintain a blood pressure below 120/90. If it goes above this and you feel unwell, with symptoms like headaches or dizziness, contact your team immediately.
- For Younger Patients: Normal blood pressure should be around 110/80. If it exceeds 120/90 and you feel unwell, it’s crucial to get in touch with your team promptly.
Monitoring Your Pulse
As mentioned in the post: What You Need To Know About A Heart Transplant your pulse rate after a heart transplant will be faster than your native heart’s pulse or compared to other people. Therefore, before you leave the hospital, make sure you know your NEW transplanted heart rate.
This knowledge is essential for identifying any abnormalities. If you experience palpitations or feel your heart racing, check your pulse. Contact your medical team if your pulse is significantly faster or slower than usual. A pulse rate over 120 beats per minute is too fast, and under 50 beats per minute is too slow.
Checking Your Temperature
It is important that you have a baseline for your temperature while feeling well. Take your temperature each day to determine your normal temperature. If it exceeds 37.5°C (99.5°F), you should contact the transplant team , a GP or hospital immediately.
A high temperature can signal an infection. As a transplant patient you will have a lower immunity due to anti rejection medications. This means you are more likely to pick up an illness. Immunosuppression also means your immune system will struggle to fight off infection and it may take you longer to recover. For this reason it is vital that you monitor your temperature daily as it is a great indicator for infection. Early diagnosis and treatment for an infection is vital.
Tracking Your Weight
In the early months post-transplant, monitoring your weight daily is vital. A sudden increase of 1-2 kg (2.2-4.4 lbs) over a day or two may indicate rejection. If you notice such changes, reach out to your medical team without delay.
You may find that your weight starts to drop as you reduce your Prednisone dose. This is another reason why it is vital that you are self aware about your normal weight moving forward.
Three Easy Options For Home Health Monitoring
The transplant team prefers you to use the option they supply. Especially for the first 12 months of intense routine hospital tests.
Once through this period, I swapped to using Samsung Notes which is more convenient for me.
If you prefer to use the paper version, you can download a copy of the Blue Treatment book here:
Otherwise you might like to use an online option like Google Forms or a Note Taking feature available on your SMARTphone.
Do You Need To Continue Home Monitoring?
Diligently monitoring these aspects of your health and recording them in your treatment book, can ensure a smoother recovery process. Importantly you will be able to identify and address potential issues promptly.
Realistically as you get better and life moves on you will get busy living it. You may be tempted to drop the daily monitoring. I’m a realist. I get it. Honestly, I find that 12 months on I do not take these vital signs daily. I monitor them weekly and record the data in a Samsung Note. As long as you know what your baseline is for your weight, pulse, blood pressure and weight.
If you discover a change from your baseline data, act promptly. Call the transplant team, see your GP or if you are feeling unwell go to your local hospital ED. Always stay in touch with your medical team if you have any concerns or notice any significant changes in your health.
If you use a different system or app we would love to hear about it. Please share your ideas in the form below.
X
Wednesday
