An Update........

11 weeks post transplant.........



Monday morning I wrote a blog post that some how was erased. So annoying. I did not have time to redo so now, I am. I can not remember what I wrote, if it was clever or whatever. It is funny how things change all of the time. What you feel like writing about one minute will change after a period of minutes, hours or days. When you sit to compose it depends on what is on your mind at the time your fingers hit the key board. The words I wrote on Monday are now long gone but because of the photos left in this space I know I did talk a bit about nests.

Last Friday my brother, Greg, my niece Erin and her handsome Ben came to visit us for lunch. Following lunch we went to see the new sculpture at the Palo Alto Art Center created by Patrick Dougherty. Patrick is actually a cousin of ours. His father and our father grew up together on farms in the Hinton area of Oklahoma during the "dust bowl". They were part of a large Irish family with many close cousins. I never met Dr. Ray Dougherty, Patrick's father but when we learned that Patrick was creating these wonderful sculptures in the bay area a few years ago we introduced ourselves to him. Patrick has become quite well known for these marvelous "nests". He uses sticks, twigs and tree cuttings to build fantastic whimsical structures. We are so lucky to have one near by. It is at the corner of Newell and Embarcadero for anyone to visit and walk into. It would be an absolute dream for a child to have one of these in their backyard to play in.

Today we are doing something completely different. Anna and I are spending the day at Stanford hospital waiting for hours while Anna is having a gastric emptying study. They are looking at how long it takes for food to leave her stomach. Slow emptying is a common side effect of this type of surgery as so many of the nerves necessary for normal function are cut and it takes a while for them to repair. Sitting in the second floor B and C waiting area has been the perfect place to see "the team". This is the passage way for the lung transplant doctors, nurses, and others. You do not have to make a clinic appointment. Just sitting where we are you can visit with your health care providers as they make way down the hall......

All is continuing to go well. Anna is improving everyday.......... Life is so good. She wrote such a sweet blog entry about how it feels like the greatest Christmas gift, Click Here.

Visit Patrick Dougherty's web site to see more of his incredible work by clicking here: Stickwork