September Days

There is just something about the grand month of September.  Some of our mornings are crisp and clear, while others still carry the heaviness of Summer.  The other morning I actually came back in for a lightweight jacket.  It is good to know that we will have some relief from the oppressive Summer of 2010. Even though we see the end of the long days of Summer and the beginning of the very short days of Winter, we get to enjoy the longer nights with usually more sleep.  It is, I suppose, like the beginning of the turning of the leaves, another reminder of the turning of time.  I say this because Lee and I are anxiously anticipating the time when we will be able to return to our home and the change of seasons is a reminder that our time here is drawing to a close.

As difficult as it has been during these past four months, Lee and I will find some sadness in the departure from all the new friends we have made.  Our friends include the doctors, the nurses, the therapists at the Center for The Living, our colleagues of other transplant recipients, caregivers, and our neighbors here at the Duke Tower Condominiums.  I suppose departures always hold some ambivilent feelings.

I love sharing with you all these good days that Lee is having!  He continues to do good at the CFL!  In fact, the therapist told me today that they would like to keep him because they have recruited him to orient all the new people coming in for lung transplants.  He has become the encourager and the one to answer all their questions and to help resolve some of their anxieties.

We both realize though, that even on the good days, his day may make a change within a matter of hours.  For example:  This morning when he did his pulmonary breathing measurement, It was 10% lower than yesterday.  (We are to always notify the post lung transplant coordinator when this happens).  I called and now he is scheduled for a clinic appointment for Wednesday (a week earlier than was scheduled) because this can be the first sight of rejection.  Anyway, we were advised to increase his anti-rejection medication as a precaution and to leave the PICC line in for another two weeks just in case he would need the I.V. steroids.  So.............even though he seems to be doing very well, these things must be monitored and investigated.

As you can see, one does not have a lung transplant, get well, go home and return to normal activity as before the transplant.  The monitoring, medications, anti-rejection drugs, bronchoscopies and return visits to Duke are now a part of our lives and will be for the rest of Lee's life.  That is a small price to pay for the gift of life that he has received from a very generous donor's loved ones. 

Mre Later...................................................Brenda





More Later..................................................Brenda