Concerns

I am growing concerned that I can't reach my aunt in Tennessee. Alma is 82-years old, living in a lush independent living center but I have noticed that her recall for words or names has depleted in recent years. We had not spoken since the death of my dad's sister, I am concerned that maybe she is ill or in the hospital. I have phoned at different hours the last three days and nothing. No answer.

Alma married my dad's brother when I was a child and I loved that she brought her daughter along in the bargain. We were about the same age. Pam is now retired and thankfully, I had asked Alma for her cell phone number about a year ago. If I don't reach Alma today, I will call Pam. Hopefully, Alma gave me the right number!

No yoga or orchestra rehearsal for me again today. I am going to trim the back little garden outside our bedroom just to move my body. I do have a full set of Pulmonary Function Tests scheduled for a week from Friday and it will be interesting to see what my numbers are after my recent illnesses.

Do you remember Marty? He was the first person I met who had Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis. We clung to each other. We compared notes and medications and I encouraged him to go to a rehab program. We had the disease for about the same amount of time. I just learned he is out of the hospital and doing really well after his transplants. The beautiful Susan from the ILD Support Group and I were talking on the phone this week and we were reviewing all of the members who have had transplants. She realized that only about 40% of them are doing well. The others are struggling with issues. We tried to figure out why. Was it how healthy they were before the final decent into transplants? Was it age related? Was it one lung vs two lungs? We had no answers.

Susan is really struggling. Suddenly, she is on oxygen 24/7. From no need for supplemental oxygen to full time almost overnight. What is even more frustrating for her is the struggle for a proper diagnosis and she is now on immunosuppressant drugs for the first time in her journey. All of this is suddenly a lot to deal with along with retiring from her amazing job, selling her beloved house and moving to a better area for her disease.

It has been a challenging year for the three of us.

Onto another issue I have been thinking about: My Eulogy. Having produced productions all of my adult life, I don't want to leave my final production in someone else's hands. I am beginning to write what I want read at my funeral: The review of my life. It will be full of information and funny and hopefully encouraging to Michael and William. It will take time to tweak it to make it perfect then I will give it to Natalie to read at my services. (Hopefully, she won't lose it! Another copy will be put into a file I have set up for both Michael and William.) After I am gone, I am going to leave a request that it is posted as my final blog along with a photo and my real name. My gift to your, dear reader!