As 70 days on the active list rolls over to 71 days, time is beginning to play tricks on me. Could it really only been 71 days? This year? Yet it also seems like a blink because this year is going by so fast and all the while seems like it’s going on without me present in it.
We attended my wife’s second and my third transplant support group meeting this week. Now there are two people who were listed after me who are attending meetings as 4-week and 8-week post-transplant recovery. I mentioned the latter last month when he was 4 weeks post-op. Compared to this week, that version of him was tired. Now… I got the impression that he had just done his 5-mile run, showered, and dressed to go to the office. Reality wasn’t far from that – he’d be to respiratory physical therapy, showered, and came to the meeting in a typical successful 60-year old Floridian CEO’s attire.
I’ve got nothing but major best wishes and warm fuzzies from seeing people living large after transplant – except when I catch myself mentally sulking, “when is it going to be my turn?” Yeah, I’ve had my moments this week. Quite a few of them. Then I read this on Thursday and it re-reset me:
So I’m content until I have a Job moment and remember this and the reply to Job… and I’m content again. It’s a cycle, so who am I to question the wait? I don’t know how all of the details of waiting past our plans will work out, but we did our part and planned. Ball’s out of our court now – I’m waiting for the return so I can make a play on it again.
Had we known
When I got home after my evaluation on the last day of January, had we known that the wait would really be this long, we would have forced our way into the last 3 medical appointments and listed immediately. We thought we needed time to prepare the house and the business. Now the business work has dried up because my status has been known for so long and I’m trying to drum up work. We really thought we’d be to the “back at work part-time” stage already.
I’m back at my desk most every day and working on forward-looking projects for the shop and taking breaks when I want. It is frustrating to work so many hours without an active project and the “thank you letters” that come with a multitude of Benjamin Franklins. It’s time to create a project within my network that someone can’t refuse, even if there is a pause in the work if The Call comes.
Like I mentioned last week, if it wasn’t for the annoying 50′ hose attached to my face or the tanks I drag around to go out, life is pretty normal.
Things to do
We’ve lined up what needs to be done while I’m in the hospital and now school is out, so we don’t have that transportation and sleep situation in the picture. Everything is pretty much some level of cleaning up after my germs that I’ve been spewing around here for almost a decade. Everything I touch and use has to be sanitized. Everything else needs to be dusted and cleaned for air quality improvements.
We got quotes on our A/C situation and, while we agree we need a new system pretty quickly, the reality of the situation is likely to have a professional cleaning of the coils and any mold around the coils and blower. Then install 2 UV lights, one for the coils and one after the blower to sanitize the duct from the blower to the T-duct out to the vents. Throw in a thorough duct cleaning and we should have pretty clean air.
That we can afford and then save up to replace it all to the tune of $6k for a 3-ton unit with a 10-year parts and labor warranty. Of course, this plan is pending word back from the transplant team on what they recommend as a minimum knowing there is presently some mold.
The last remaining cleaning in the house is to steam clean the carpets… and we’re considering installing a reverse osmosis water filter I’ve had for the longest time.
Our primary car will need to be detailed and have the cabin air filters replaced before I get in it to come home and I’m officially done with my 2000 Altima when I come home. It’s surely a petrie dish of the last 12 years of my CF grossness.
The donor
Things are picking up speed on the list. There were THREE calls in ONE DAY this week for people on the global Facebook group. It’s looking like a pretty busy season. My mind has already wandered to the donor and living the rest of my life because someone else’s ended. It’s enough to get verklempt already, so I can only imagine the emotions later. Not those of guilt but of living with greater purpose and intentionality.
That’s all I’ve got this week. Over and out.
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