17Nov - 8:30 am and our friend Retta calls me. The hospital just called her to come in...they may have lungs for her! At first I'm stunned and ask "are you serious?" and then I'm even more shocked when she says, "Yes, I'm on hold with the hospital right now!" I am so excited for her but ask if she maybe wants to call me back if she's on hold, she assures me that's on the other phone so we can talk and she may have to "put me down" at any moment. Well that gets us to laughing and after we've chatted for a few minutes, she sets me down and the hospital finishes up the call with her. When she comes back on she reports that they want her to be there by 10:30 which gives her plenty of time to do something that we all take for granted, but which, if this is the day for her surgery, she won't be able to do for a few weeks...grab a nice hot shower! I wish her well and we hang up so she can get ready for her big adventure!
I head to the hospital an hour later to meet Sapna for coffee. Today, her friend of many years, Elizabeth is coming to spend some time with her, so the 3 of us enjoy coffee/tea and a chat in the Atrium. I excuse myself to head home to get lunch for Carman. On my way out of the hospital I decide to go by the transplant day unit and see if Retta and Rob are still there. Sure enough, they have been assigned to a room and the staff have already done some of the pre-transplant tests. Shortly after I arrive, a porter comes to take Retta to x-ray, so I stay and chat with Rob.
Once Retta returns, I head home, after a thumbs up, best wishes and instructions to get a Sharpie and write "lungs go here" on her chest for the doctors. We sure hope that this is the real deal and Retta will get her lungs today...
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| Janet |
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| Ted & Carman |
Our former neighbours from London, Ted & Janet, have been in TO for part of the week while Ted attends a conference. We’ve arranged that they will come for a visit this afternoon. They arrive around 1:30 and it’s just like old times as we easily roll thru news of the neighbourhood, kids and how we are spending our respective retirement days.
I had been in touch with Derek, Kristy’s fiance, earlier in the week and found out they would be staying in the city this weekend. Derek has been able to arrange a 4-day week of extended hours with his workplace, which allows him to spend each weekend here in TO with Kristy. They often head out of the city on weekends to tour around the outlying areas of the GTA (Niagara has become a favourite). Since they are in the city for the weekend we’ve planned to get together for the evening. When Kristy shows up in her Habs jersey, there is only one thing for Carman to do...
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| Fierce Rivals! |
We’ve asked Jessica & her Mom, Carla, to come as well and as soon as I mentioned games - they were in! We decide to teach Derek & Kristy how to play Mexican Train Dominoes and guess who ended up being the big winner for the evening? Well you probably thought it would be Jess...again...but not this time! Kristy was in the lead until the very last hand was played and then got taken out by her sweetie, who beat her by only 3 points! Congrats Derek, and by the way, Jess says she’ll not be so kind and let you win next time!
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| The numbers tell the tale! |
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| Me, Jess, Kristy, Derek, Carman & Carla |
Before everyone leaves, we have the best news ever to share around the table...Rob has texted to let us know that they’ve taken Retta into surgery - today is the day she gets her new lungs! None of us will sleep soundly until tomorrow when we hear how things have gone...
PS - A BIG shout of thanks to Rob for sending me his first text - ever! - to let us know how things were shaping up for him and Retta! Wahoo!
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