One Year And Counting

One year ago today I was listed for a double lung transplant. So much has happened in these last 365 days. I started this journey not needing additional oxygen and now I'm using it 24/7. I had two phone calls for high-risk lungs, and I turned them both down because I knew deep down those lungs were not for me. Tom and I moved to a new home, which turned out to be a good thing in the end. This year has been filled with so many ups and downs and huge emotional growth on my part. It has taught me patience, perseverance, and how to hold onto hope. I have a lot to be thankful for, including the fact I am still here fighting for every breath.

September was our toughest month yet. It felt like it was never going to end. It had some good parts, but even the good parts came with stress. The bad parts were definitely rough. I lost my friend Kriss to this horrible disease. I was fortunate to spend a week with her at a CF retreat and conference at the beginning of August. Not long after that, her health took an unexpected downward spiral that ended tragically in her passing. She is no longer suffering, but a lot of us here on earth mourn her loss and her beautiful spirit. Her passing was and is more challenging for me to grasp because she wasn't much healthier than I am currently. Each horrible health event that she endured led to another, until she could take no more. Losing a friend, on top of life's normal stresses, I started to lose traction on my own health.

Moving Right Along

Moving is not for the faint of heart. The days leading up to our move were agonizing, stressful and anxiety-ridden. We found ourselves resisting the change we had committed to make. We were trying to sabotage our own decision, one we knew would be beneficial in the end. What were we so afraid of? Fear stops us from doing so many things in life, but the lease was already signed. We couldn't stop, all we could do was complain, yell and even cry a little bit.

Moving day came, the truck got loaded and unloaded, and smiles came back to our faces. Our furniture was set down in our new place and it felt like home almost immediately. Our shoulders relaxed, our shouting went back to talking, and our eyes were certainly dry. It took us, ok, it took Tom approximately three days to unpack every single box. He's a pretty awesome husband, that's for sure!

Life transitioned quite smoothly after that. I went for a doctor's appointment two days after we moved. The drive to the hospital was so short, we could not stop talking about it to anyone who would listen to us at clinic. My lungs even improved slightly from all that packing and unpacking that I was doing.

Throwing Curveballs Our Way

Life has a funny way of pushing us down one path or another. Sometimes things have to be so blatantly obvious for us to accept a new direction in our lives. This coming Monday, June 9th, Tom and I will be moving! We are moving from Walnut Creek to an area called Redwood Shores, about half-way between San Francisco and San Jose. In this post I will focus on the questions you must be asking : What?, Why?, Where? and How?.

What? I know ... "what the heck?" is what we have been saying throughout this process. We never expected to pick up our lives and move while I am waiting for a transplant, especially this late in the waiting process. My health is really deteriorating, but continue reading and you'll see that it makes a lot of sense.