We are at the beach and enjoying a lovely Fall day! The temperature on the beach is warm enough for shorts and t-shirts. (Lee said Bikinis, because he saw some girls on the beach....guess I missed that!) Lee and I took the golf cart to the beach and he enjoyed some good fellowship with two of his fishing buddies. I relaxed in the sun, took off my shoes and let the sand gather between my toes. The ocean was calm and a soft breeze would occasionally cross our paths. There were some sailboats on the horizon and the sky was a beautiful "Carolina Blue". As I sat, determined to read an exciting novel, I had to stop more frequently to take in the sites of the day than to read the book. There were some beach walkers, mostly people in our age group. The children are in school so there were no children on the beach where we sat.
We could have stayed all afternoon, but after about 30-45 minutes, I realized that Lee would be toast if we did not return to the shade of the house. All of his medications warn against being in the sun as he is more prone to skin cancer now. In fact, his exposure is now exponential to what is was before the transplant. We are always being warned against this when we return to the clinic. In fact, we have encountered at least two post lung transplantees who have developed skin cancer.
I have to say, this was not one of our better trips to Duke. Thursday was a very busy day for Lee. We arrived at the clinic @7:45 to begin with labs, chest x-ray, pulmonary function tests and then to the surgical area for his bronchoscopy. We were surprised to find that he would be done as close to the appointed hour of 9:00. ( usually, we have to wait and hour or so). Not so this time............he was whisked to surgery @ 9:20. I made my usual exit to the waiting area and prepared for the long wait.....again, not so......he was back in the recovery area long enough for me to be called back by 10:15! He was discharged from that area around 12:00. This is not unusual. However, Lee could not seem to recover from the anesthesia as fast as usual. Anyway, we had our lunch around 12:15 and decided to relax in the waiting room until his doctor's appointment @ 2:30.
It was a long wait! He was called back @ 3:30 and saw the doctor @ 4:30. We left the clinic at 5:00. Back at the condo, Lee began having hard chills, his face was flushed, and he had a fever of 100.8. The instructions were to call if fever was above 101. Tylenol reduced it to 99.8, he continued to sleep...could not even stay awake for the world series. This sleepiness lasted throughout Friday, but no fever. We visited friends Martha and Larry @ Duke Raleigh and had lunch with Dennis & Betsy. ( a feast! ) I drank lots of caffeinated coffee because I knew I would be driving to Oak Island.
Well! After a long ride on I-40......about 40 miles from Wilmington......we had a tire to go bad. Exited @ a little town called Rose Hill ( Duplin wine country) and was able to get a used tire after the second inquiry. After being advised to travel 7 more miles to a little town called Wallace, we were able to purchase a tire. We were told that we were an accident waiting to happen! ( and I had been moving along @ a cool 70-75 miles an hour!) Our only warning had been a quiet little thump, thump in rapid succession. We made new friends in Wallace.....the owner and his wife were very cordial and had us back on the road in record time....all for $25.00!
All is well now................we are safe in our house at the beach................Lee is finally (this a.m. ) awake and with energy................and we are happy!
More Later.....................................Brenda
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