Dry Run #2

Hours of waiting. Anxiety.  Making lists of unfinished holiday preparations.  Promises to leave the Christmas decorations up until Shirley came home.  A goal of being home by her mid-February birthday.

Finally, around 11:30 pm Shirley is rolled into the Operating Room.  My sister, Cathi and I head to the surgical waiting room. We were going to wait until we were sure the surgery was under way. Having been through this once before, I knew that the possibility still existed that the final check of the donor lungs could reveal a problem and call the whole thing off.

Sure enough, about 45 minutes later, the surgeon found us and explained that there was an "abnormality" on one of the lungs.  Someone else explained to Shirley that it was an infection.  Whatever the cause it brought an abrupt end to the saga.

Sometimes things just don't feel right and while you know you have to surge ahead, in the back of your mind you know that things will end differently than they are projected to.  Yesterday was one of those days.  Whether it was the destroyed car blocking the bridge to the hospital, or the fact the the head of the transplant surgeon was out of town on vacation, the signs just pointed against this being "the" time.  And frankly, I know Shirley is relieved.

Tuesday, when we were up for the quarterly visit, we met a couple in the lab waiting room. He too was on oxygen and was very interested in Shirley's portable oxygen unit.  We struck up a conversation.  This guy had his lungs damaged in a chemical accident.  In three years, he has gone from 65% lung capacity to 13%.  In comparison, since I've known Shirley she has gone from about 22% to 17%.  Relatively speaking, she's in great health and has the ability to wait much longer.  When the time comes, the time will come, but yesterday was not that day.

I hope all of you reading this have made the decision to offer the gift of life and have registered as an organ and tissue donor.

I want to thank everyone for their prayers, kind words and positive thoughts.  It is amazing how quickly word can spread in this digital age.  How Shirley's daughter in Korea and brother in Panama can both get word and be able to call her to express their love. I also want to pass along a special thanks to our family members who jumped in to help out:  Mom, Dad, Chloe, Souang--for helping with Chenyang and Joy; Pete & Carolyn for offering a place to stay in Seattle; Cathi for bringing food and company--and eventually taking us in for the night.  I am so grateful to all of you and all the rest of the family and friends who simply offered "just let us know what you need."  I feel truly blessed.