Biking with Hélène

22Jun

Well today we broke a record...twice! Our cab ride to TGH for physio, and the return trip were both done in record time. I told our cabbie he was magic - we had yet to travel the distance so quickly...even Wellesley was void of honking, squealing, bumper-to-bumper wheeled menaces! Our driver told us “I never take this street because it’s always so busy in the afternoon, I don’t know where all the cars are!” We are not complaining...

Physio was very busy today, more patients than usual in the last time slot of the day and our therapist said everyone was very chatty today too! Carman has done all but one of the items in his program now. We did have to cut short his treadmill time (I don’t think he minded too much) because the wait between activities took longer than usual and our PT had to close shop at 4pm. Carman was stressed (and somewhat testy), trying to get thru the whole card of activities, and his sats kept dropping on him (sats >90 = testy!). We now have 5 items on the card for which he will be using the Venturi Mask and a higher flow level. The idea here is to outsmart the disease and give his body all the oxygen it needs in order for him to complete the activities and maintain an O2 saturation level above 90. 

The high point of physio was meeting Hélène Campbell, a young woman from Ottawa who had her double lung transplant on Good Friday. Hélène was diagnosed with IPF last July and Carman and I have been following her story since she came to Toronto. Thru her Twitter account she has reached thousands of people and brought so much more awareness to Organ Donation, and last week in the record breaking high temps here in TO, walked the Relay for Life Torch on its last leg to Queen’s Park. Carman congratulated her and told her “you’re my hero for what you’ve done at 21". She replied, “I’m not a hero, I’m just a girl who had a lung transplant...”

They had a great time cycling together on the stationary bikes...well, great for Hélène, tough for Carman. She and I got to chat while he had to just listen and nod a lot (no talking during the workout, it wastes too much energy...oh baby that’s tough for him!).

Friday night was quiet, we were both tired...me - beaten and blue from Mr. Testy giving me attitude during physio, and him just plain worn out from his workout. Thankfully, it was a gorgeous evening and we enjoyed many hours sitting on the balcony, watching all the dog activity in the yard...there is one little dog who leaps about 5 feet in the air to catch the fabric frisbee his Mom throws for him, lots of fun to watch!