- seeing friends (Pat, Shilpa, Retta, Phyllis, Mark & Jess) receiving the precious gift of life,
- visiting them in hospital as they recover and constantly surprise us with their resilience;
- attending a Raptors game and having Frank (the usher) take such good care of Carman, Jess, Alex & Chaitra while there
- celebrating Pat, Retta, Phyllis, Mark and Shilpa, reach the point of "going home"from hospital
- attending Stuart McLean's Vinyl Cafe at the Sony Centre (a Christmas gift from my niece Courtney - thank you, thank you!)
- attending the Sing Along Messiah at Massey Hall with my niece Carrie (Happy Birthday!) and sister-in-law, Joyce
- receiiving a lovely snowfall for Christmas
- celebrating Christmas with all of our kids
- receiving and enjoying many Christmas cards and letters
- organizing and thoroughly enjoying a Breathless Buddies (25 of us) Turkey Dinner & Games Night;
- saying goodbye (for now) to Carla & Roger (Jess' parents) as they head home to NS
- being there in spirit for our niece Rosemary's marriage to Rafa, held in Spain
- celebrating New Year's at the hospital with our friends Jess & Brad, Kristy & Derek and a lovely surprise drop in by James & Adina;
- saying goodbye (for now) to Kristy & Derek as they head home to Montreal
- hosting Griffin (Jess' pouch) so she and Brad could spend his short visit together
- enjoying a visit from my sister Paula this week
- getting back into our Physio and clinic appointment routine (thanks Paula)
- and lots of other wonderful activities
Needless to say, I am hopelessly behind with the blogging, Facebook connecting and email. In fact, I didn't even have the laptop open last week!
I promise to fill you in on all the details on these and more of our daily routine in the next week in my best effort at getting caught up.
God Bless each of you with a Happy and Healthy 2013
Big Hugs,
Pamela
She's baaaaaaaack! Sorry guys, she was away being her usual incredible self, taking care of everyone else. Love you PJ!
ReplyDeleteLuv you right back Chicklet!
DeleteHey you two beautiful peoples!!!
ReplyDeleteIt’s an odd mix of feelings when you see your cohorts surrounding you get what they need and start moving on – I remember that feeling… I waited almost three years for my beautiful, new lungs. I was told I would wait a year, give or take a few months. I’m a rather petite guy, which probably didn’t help matters – there were people who were listed a year after I was, who were transplanted 6+ months before me! Part of that is exciting – another part is “when is it MY turn???” But – you just keep your nose to the grindstone (or pumping iron in physio) and it happens…
I hope Carman gets his turn soon – and I hope your adventure is wildly successful. I hope your life with new blowers is as amazing as mine has been. You keep plugging away – you’re both in my thoughts. Love, Steve
Hey Steve, Thanks so much for your kind, encouraging words. It really has been thrilling to see our friends transplanted and to watch the amazing things they do post-transplant (like eat or have a 1/2 hour conversation with you...and not have to stop for a 10 minute bout of coughing in the middle!).
DeleteWe really didn't expect to have our turn before Christmas (at listing we were told the wait is an average of 8-9 months), we will be 7 months listed on the 11th and truly figured that would be the start of our waiting. We have made wonderful friends here in the program and couldn't imagine having gone thru the last several months without them!
Although Carman's health is deteriorating as his IPF progresses, he is still working so hard at physio (which will definitely help in his post-transplant recovery) - he makes me proud and frustrated at the same time (hides the oximeter when his sats drop). The support we receive from our friends at Physio and thru emails and notes to the blog are wonderful and keep us going day to day. I'm so glad to have learned your story and gotten to know you thru your notes to Jess and now to us. Thanks for being there!
Thanks for the update......it was nice hearing your voice today.....I will check my schedule tomorrow and I will e-mail you those dates that I have off...ciao bella, Elisa
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to our next visit!!
DeleteHey! I see that she got her hair coloured while wearing Oxygen! Did the salon give her trouble? The salon I went to refused to colour my hair because I was wearing oxygen. SO MAAD!! LC
ReplyDeleteI found your blog from a link and I've been following it for several weeks. I'm enjoying reading about you and your husbands wait for his new lungs. I'm also waiting but I don't think we have met in the treadmill room yet. We only come once a week usually Wed. morning. Anyway great job on your blog, I'll keep following it and leave a link to mine as well.
ReplyDeleteHi Gale, thanks for joining us! We don't have physio on Wed, that's our oxygen refill day so we must stay at home to have our tanks replenished. Carman doesn't "do mornings" so we attend in the afternoon. Looking forward to the link to your blog!
DeleteWe've made wonderful friends in the Treadmill Room - hoping you have done the same, it sure has made a wonderfully positive difference in our journey!
Here's hoping we get that call very soon...