Another Friend Called & Dinner With New Friends

22Nov - Thursday while Carman is at physio I drop by to see our friend Heather. She has returned with more infection/rejection issues to confound the team with and is in hospital while they determine the best course of action for her treatments. Whenever I can, I deliver a “real” coffee (Starbucks, Tall Blonde) and have a chat. She is gone for a treatment today, so I pick up a bit of laundry that I’ve told her I’ll look after for her and head to do a couple of other visits. We have a volunteer in the Treadmill Room so our PT has given me the afternoon off! I was so excited, I gave her a hug!  Not that I don’t thoroughly enjoy catering to Carman’s every physio whim, but...well, you know  

Diane & Mark
07Sep12

Before I head out, I receive a text message from Mark’s daughter, Jessica.  “Dad got the call!”  I read this twice, then text back “seriously? a call?” Mark has been admitted to the hospital for a couple of weeks now, so a call seems a strange thing...wouldn’t someone just come to his room? I call Jessica, she is beside herself with excitement, is still at work as are Mom and Alysha. I know how I will spend part of my afternoon off...Mark shouldn’t be alone, so I’ll visit with him until they kick me out or his family arrives.

I tell Carman what has happened, join him in a couple of fist pumps and head downstairs. Needless to say Mark is excited, but also isolated, so I must glove, gown and mask up before entering his room. This is to protect us both, I don’t want his infection, nor do I want to risk bringing anything to him from the outside. We exchange many “I can’t believe it!” exclamations and he explains that the call centre staff did place a call to his cell phone to let him know they just might have lungs for him today; but then quickly connected the dots with the staff on his floor. We visit for awhile, both of us excited and what is happening in our group of friends lately, this will be the 5th transplant in 4 weeks among our group (there have been many others but the recipients are not known to any of us). When the porter comes to take him for X-ray, I take my leave and head back to meet Carman.

We’ll be anxiously awaiting news from Jessica, hoping that these lungs will be good for Mark.

Our friend Shilpa got new kicks for Physio too!

23Nov - Friday morning I get the greatest news from Jessica S, Mark has had his surgery, is the recipient of the most precious gift of new lungs and is doing well so far! Wahoo!

We headed north tonight to join the Robinsons for dinner. Their son and my sister are colleagues at StU in NB and we met Ted a few weeks ago when he came to our place for coffee and a visit. We were anxious to meet his wife Isabel, and and added bonus was meeting her father, Albert, who lives with them. He is a wonderful gentleman in his nineties and shared a few wonderful stories of his youth, meeting Isabel’s Mom (and their wonderful marriage of over 65 years) and his careers as a jeweler and now author. While I’m sure Ted and Isabel have enjoyed these stories a number of times, they were new to us and we were happy Albert shared them!

Dinner was fabulous - Isabel knew we liked fish and chose to prepare grilled Mediterranean bass, sardines (not the tiny ones we have at home, these were 8-10 inches long and scrumptious, they are apparently a staple in Portugal) and what she called a simple salad. The tangy dressing had peppery undertones that perfectly complemented the mild fish. A flan for dessert and we were happy campers!

My regret of the evening was that I didn’t take my camera, so I have no photo of our dinner party. Our hosts were wonderful and we plan to visit again, so I’ll have to wait for pictures!

Thank you Albert, Isabel & Ted for a lovely evening!