Moving On

A photo of Anna 1 1/2 years ago at Stanford Hospital
notice, no O2 cannula

Day 112 awaiting the call for Anna's double lung transplant.....

It is the end of the day on Monday, another week. Next week is Thanksgiving..... can not believe it. The dry run had a bigger impact on all of us than we realized at first. Doug and I were absolutely spent over the weekend. We rested. I stayed in bed Sunday morning until after noon. I have not done that since being a teenager. I almost ordered popcorn to watch TV in bed for the afternoon but the sun was shining and I needed to get out in the beautiful air. After a walk, I slept some more.

Feeling better today. We are picking it up and moving forward. Anna stays strong with her eye on the prize. Who knows when the next call will come or whether it will be another dry run? I think we will all reserve some of our high energy until we get the final go ahead.

Tomorrow is another pulmonary function test and 6 minute walk test to check on Anna's O2 sats. Then, Thursday is another pre-transplant appointment. Again, we never thought she would get to this appointment. We thought lungs would have appeared by now. We were told by the transplant fellow in the hospital on Friday that an offer comes in for Anna about every 4 days but the main issue has been size. They are looking for the perfect match. Again Anna reminded me today that is why she got on the list when she did. She wanted to be strong enough to be able to wait for the perfect lungs for her. If she had been very ill when these last lungs were offered they may have had to take them to save her life. She does not want to be in that situation, ever.

I never liked roller coasters. It is the great heights that scare me the most, or it is the fast speed on a rickety track............ they always scared me and I was never very attracted to them. Friday was like a roller coaster but the amount of emotional energy spent on the ride up and quickly down was far more than I ever anticipated. Now I guess a roller coaster at a park doesn't seem such a big deal after all........ I guess I could survive it just fine. I wonder though, how many transplant dry runs it would take to totally wear me out..........We all have to be very careful to conserve our energy to make it on this journey... It is indeed a wild ride.

These are our trusty liquid O2 friends that are now a part of the furniture in Anna's living room. A lot has changed in the past 1 1/2 years.........
Can not wait until we can rearrange the furniture and get rid of these.........