Special Edition: My Lung Transplant Journey, August 12, 2015

My card to my donor's family with letter inside!

Good day LeMOMade readers! First and foremost, I'm sorry for not keeping this page updated in the past four months or so, but I've been busy enjoying my second chance at life! I recently celebrated 10 months post transplant, and I'm doing great! The test results and checkup from my recent visit to the Cleveland Clinic in July indicated that all is well - no rejection or infection, and my lung function has slightly improved since April. Woo Hoo! Cheers to me, my organ donor, and his family! Speaking of my donor family, I recently received a letter from my donor's mother via Lifebanc of Ohio, and I sent a reply just last week!

Per Cleveland Clinic protocol, contact between recipients and donor families remains anonymous and confidential, and must be sent through Lifebanc. I didn't learn much about my donor yet, but from his mother's writing I know she loves and misses her son very much. She has been comforted knowing his gift of organ donation saved the lives of several people, and helped many others as well.  I hope to learn more about my donor if our correspondence continues in the future.

As I mentioned earlier, I've been busy living life with my new lungs over the past several months. We travelled a little bit this summer. In June, we went to Wichita, KS to see our daughter compete in the YMCA National Gymnastics meet. My husband and I missed it last year, so it was fun to see her and her team compete. After a few days in Wichita, we stopped for a short visit to the City Museum of St. Louis and a drive by the Arch. After my CC appointments in July, we visited Indiana and Michigan on the way home, where we picked blueberries and enjoyed a picnic lunch in New Buffalo. Day to day, I've been busy driving kids here and there, and I also started a part-time, freelance project writing web content for a marketing company.  We also added a rescue dog to our family - Lucy, an Australian Cattle Dog mix!

Here are some photo highlights from the last four months . . .


April



May

June

 

July

And this just happened last week - broken wrist :(
Never a dull moment!

Good Times!

Special Edition: My Lung Transplant Journey, April 23, 2014 - Quote of the Week

Lucky me, a handsome guy I know has this to say about organ donation:

Simple and to the point! April is Donate Life month.

 Please register to be an organ donor!

Meanwhile, here's a brief update about me - we're still waiting! I did have a "dry run" on March 16, which was very exciting and emotional! To make a long story short, we received an early morning call that a match had been found. We had some time to get ready and get over to the Aurora airport to board the private medical jet to Cleveland. It's a short plane ride, just about and hour, so when we arrived, we were transported to the hospital via ambulance, then off to the transplant ICU to get prepped for surgery. At this point, we had no idea if it was a go or not as we still needed to hear from the team about the viability of the lungs. In a couple of hours, we received the disappointing news from the doctor that the lungs had pneumonia and were not suitable for transplant. We stayed overnight and headed for home the next day, feeling exhausted and defeated - sort of like having an ice cream cone in your hand and the scoop falls on the ground! Nonetheless, at least the run gave us some insight for what to expect when a call comes again! We are hopeful, and prayerful, that the call will come soon - perfect lungs at the perfect time.