Talking, Talking, Talking

I never had a moment of silence yesterday. To see my ILD friend Marty for the first time post-transplant was the highlight of my day. The planned one hour coffee turned into two hours together. We talked about so much of what I have written about in this blog: transplant process, rehab, pressure on our caretakers, our planned funerals, the actual surgery and so much more. He looked fantastic, though very thin. He was so happy that he decided to go through the whole process, never had a moment of pain after the transplant and was currently working hard in rehab. He was also thrilled to no longer need supplemental oxygen. We clinked elbows - not wanting to get too close - and said our goodbyes. It was too late for me to go to the rehab class, so I went to the butcher then Trader Joe's.

While I was waiting for Marty, I phone my brother, Chip. His wife Betty was having an endoscopy. He answered the phone with, "Great timing! She just came out!" It turns out that the mass on her stomach was a shadow on the CT Scan and they discovered she only had damage from acid reflux. That's it. No cancer. No needed surgery. They will have her on a strict non-acidic food diet and three different drugs. They also will need to put the head of their bed on blocks. An easy fix.

Then I phoned my sister, Lee to ask when her husband's MRI was scheduled. No answer. Left a message. The next call was to mom to tell her the good news about Betty.

After getting home, I phoned Chip again to see how Betty was doing. They were home, she was in a bit of pain but so happy with the results of the tests.

Around 5:00 the phone started ringing. First, Lee let us know that Jeff was scheduled for his MRI on Dec 2, his arms are very cold and numb and the expected surgery on his neck will be before Christmas. Beep, beep. Incoming call. Goodbye, Lee. It was William phoning from home in Seattle while he was making a cassoulet. We had a great chat, he is leaving on Saturday for four days in LA so the group can appear on late night talk shows, he will fly home then leave for a short US tour on Dec. 4th. He is looking forward to coming home before Christmas, cooking together, going out to wander the city, seeing his grandma and just relaxing. He needs some down time before the major travel schedule beginning next year.

Suddenly, the door bell. My Apria guy. Good bye, William.

I love my Apria guy. He was in a chatty mood and was struggling with his oldest son suddenly growing from an 11-year old child into a 12-year old teenager. We had a long chat about how it was his job to teach his son how to transition to manhood. After almost an hour with him, I ran back into the house, returned Lee's phone call and finally sat down! Two minutes later, Michael arrived home from work, we jumped in the car to get some fish tacos, talked about my busy day then fell into bed.

Sounds easy? Bed? Sleep? Well, no sleep for us! There were 45 mph winds all night that shook the house. We were awake more than asleep. We threw the towel in at 4AM and watch the local news of all the trees down, power outages and traffic accidents.

Today? The other rehab will see me early then mom and I will hang out until her eye doctor appointment this afternoon. I think I will need lots coffee to get me through the day!