Monday, July 22, 2013

Hanging By a Moment

This whole transplantation has been surreal to me.  Part of me can't believe that this has happened.  I know it has, I feel it has, the breathing is amazing but the like I said, it doesn't feel real.  This is something that we have been talking about for more than a year now, but I was so use to not being able to breathe that part of me didn't know if it would ever chance.

I am going to go back and try and explain everything from my perspective.  Jason did a great job keeping everyone updated on Facebook.  He apologized for not using the blog at all, he just found that my Facebook page was easier to use on his phone and keep everyone in the loop that way.  I am so grateful to him that he did that for me.  Yay for social media. haha  It helped him out a lot being able to tell everyone what was going on at the same time.

The two days before the transplant turned out to be good days.  Jay and I went down to Dunkirk to visit my family on the fourth.  We stayed at my dad's and had dinner and visited with most of the family.  It was so nice to see everyone.  This included my dad, brother, grandpa, aunts, uncles, cousins, cousins' children, and a family friend from Florida.  We stayed there until around 7:30 that night.  The little ones started getting tired and cranky and that was me and Jay's cue to head to the fireworks. haha.  We took the wheelchair and some oxygen of course and headed all the way to the pier.  There we got lemonade from Sissy and Henry's stand.  The best lemonade you can get.  Papa wanted fried dough, mom had a gift card for ice cream, and me and Jay took some cotton candy home.  We watched the fireworks with Papa, grandma, mom, Darren and his mother.  It was nice to see all these people and the pier was a nice place to see them.  It was mine and Jay's first time watching them there.  We didn't miss a thing because that is where the fireworks were let off and all the high ones were right over our heads.  I didn't think I would like that, but did.

On Friday July 5th Courtney came over and we went to 21 Brix for a fruit festival.  There was wine tasting, cherry picking, and homemade crafts.  We ended up buying a few different wine racks and Jay got me some red beach glass that was cut into a heart.  It is very pretty.  It is made to be a pendent, but I a am going to make it to be a key chain.  We also did some cherry picking with Courtney's sister and niece and had a lot of fun.  The cherries were starting to get bad due to all the rain, but we did find a few good trees.  We went more for the fun of picking so hunting down good trees was just part of the fun.

When we were done picking we went back to the winery.  There we ate some cheese and crackers and just relaxed for a little while at the winery.  While waiting there I got a call from Pittsburgh saying they needed me to fax three more things to them in order to be officially listed.  They wanted proof of an ABG, my vaccine list and the letter saying I had gone to the dentist earlier that week.  I told Jay and I told her it would be faxed when he went to work on Monday.

After the winery we all went to Jason dad's to visit with Jason's family.  We were going to visit his brother, new wife and daughter, but missed them because the chlorine in the pool turned Robynn's hair green.  She panicked a little considering her wedding was two weeks away...can't blame her.  We stayed there for a little while and then went to Dunkirk.  We stopped at Courtney's mom's house to drop off a New York Yankee Rock and then went to my gram's to hang out.  My grandma had a bad day and we all agreed she needed to relax so Courtney and Jay made her a Bloody Mary.  She ended up having two and then we left to go home.  We would have stayed longer, but I was so tired and I had to do my vest and treatments before bed.  While I was doing my stuff I was talking to Nikki on Facebook.  It was so nice to be able to catch up with her.  We talk here and there, but really don't have time to talk much.  We ended up talking for about two hours between my treatments and the insomnia we were both having.  Finally Jason and I went to bed about 2:30 am.

On July 6, 2013 at 4:22 am I got a phone call.  A woman was telling me that I was chosen for a double lung transplant.  I was confused at first because Jason and I had not faxed that information over yet.  Then I woke up a little more and was thinking, "It is 4:30 in the morning, they would not call me now."  I then asked if this was NYC calling and the woman said yes.  My heart then started beating very fast and I shook Jason awake.  I talked to the woman back and forth for a couple seconds and then I hung up to call Wings of Flight Hope.  We had to set up the flight to get on our way to NYC.  I called and Jason was running around the house getting ready.  We were packed for the most part.  I had a bag and so did Jason.  He added more things to each bag and then we packed my computer bag.  I was in shock while Jason was running around.  I was sitting on the bed staring at the wall while he was putting things into the bags.  I knew I had to move but I couldn't.  I just sat there not sure what I should do first.  Wings Flight of Hope said forty-five minutes to get the plane going so I was taking advantage of some of that time.  After everything was packed Jason was calling Erika and Courtney.  He could not get a hold of either of them.  He kept calling and got a hold of Erika's roommate Puneet.  She gave the phone to Erika and they agreed to meet us.  He could not get a hold of Courtney though because her phone was on silent.

We went to the private airport where the pilot kept his airplane.  The pilot told us it was meant to be because all the thunderstorms had just cleared up.  He was right too, it was so clear that morning.  It was the least amount of clouds I had ever seen going to the city.  We were at Tederbroro by 7:30.  We were told that when we got to the airport there would be an ambulance to take us to the hospital.  However, there was no ambulance and we waited.  Finally Jason and I were told to take a taxi or limo service from Tederboro because the ambulance would take too long.  Tederboro called a service for us and they were there almost immediately.  When the man picked us up I told him where we were going and why.  He turned around and told us that he was a two time kidney transplant! What are the odds?  First the thunderstorms were gone and then a transplant patient takes us to the hospital?!  He said his first one did go pretty fast, but his second one had been lasting him a long time.  When we got to the hospital he helped us carry our stuff in and get situated.  He wished me all the luck in the world and hoped I had as little trouble as he did.  Jason paid him and he left.  It cost us $150 just to get to the hospital. This is the reason we did the fundraiser.  We knew it was going to be expensive.

I sat and filled out paperwork while Jason went to go get Erika and Puneet.  I was so happy to see them.  It was nice to have more familiar faces.  This was the first time meeting Puneet face to face, but I knew her so well I did not consider her a stranger at all.  I gave her a hug and we were friends instantly.  The four of us hung out, talked, and took pictures to pass the time.  I really wanted something to eat.  Had I known it was going to take so long I would have had breakfast right when I got the call!  The three of them did leave me real quick for some lunch because I told them to go.  I guess they didn't get to eat all of it, because shortly after they left, I was moved to the OR to wait and see if the lungs were mine.  When I called them to tell them this, they just left the food they had ordered to meet me.  I felt horrible that they left it though.  I wish they would have brought it with them.  They said no problem and just wanted to be with me when I was moved.

We were told the lungs were coming from somewhere far away and the person was donating a lot of organs and that is why it was taking so long.  When we first got there the percentage of staying was 50%, 50%.  It would go down to 30% if something was not perfect on the tests.  Jason was ready to go home and really didn't think this was a go, however things kept going up.  It pasted another test and was to 80%.  When we got the OK that the lungs looked healthy, I was going in. There was still a chance that the biopsy would come back that there was cancer, but at this point they have to get things started in the OR.  If they waited for the lungs to arrive there would not be time for the lungs to be transplanted before they went bad.  Especially because they were coming from such a distance.

When I was being taken away, that is when Jason told Courtney, my mom, dad and brother to come.  I gave my hugs and kisses to Jason, Erika and Puneet and told them I would more than likely not see them again until Monday.  I wasn't nervous anymore by this point.  I had waited all day for these lungs and I wanted them.  It was close to 5:00pm on Saturday.  That was close to thirteen hours of waiting...I was ready to breathe!!  They took me back to the OR, I laid on the table and was ready for my long slumber and new lungs!!


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