A Very Memorable Day
One day has been rolling into the next. Here’s what my typical day looks like waiting for a double lung transplant in the time of the Covid-19 quarantine.
Wake up early, and enjoy my Stumptown coffee. Read Heather Cox Richardson’s “Letters From An American” (heathercoxrichardson.substack.com). Check the five or six sites I read every morning. I then tackle the NYT crossword, keeping my seven year streak alive (yes, I’ve completed every NYT crossword puzzle in the last 7 years! Super nerdy I know, but now I can’t stop!) I then watch too much news until the Dan Patrick radio show comes on. I’ll listen to it as I catch up on emails and letters, and hopefully do some writing. By noon, there is typically a Zoom video class about the logistics of having a lung transplant. Lunch. Then I go workout hard as I can. Late afternoons, I take Mo outside for an hour to give Susie a break, Mo and I look for an abandoned parking lot with no one around where he can skate board while I make phone calls. I get home and make dinner, while watching Lester Holt re-cap the news day. After dinner and clean up, maybe I’ll watch Jeopardy. With all my puzzling I have a lot of useless info in my brain and its fun to see how I stack up to the contestants. I’ll read for an hour or so. and hit the rack early. Best book this month has been “American Dirt.” an excellent novel about a very timely issue. Thank you Doug and Tiffany for the excellent recommendation.
So everyday can easily run into the next, but what make each different and memorable for me, is the “incoming.” Be it a letter, an email, a text, call or a package. The last 24 hours has been a very, very special day I will remember for a long time.
It started with a text from my “spirit team.” Daughter Molly and granddaughter Juliana have taken on the role of helping to keep a smile on my face. Juliana knocked it out of the park last night. She wrote her first song, recorded it and sent me a clip of her sing it. Check it out:
She could break the internet! A viral star in the making. I watched this so many times already and it just makes me smile every time!
After that great start the mail came. In it there was a hand-written envelope obviously containing a card. I didn’t recognize the name or the return address, Patricia Hansen, Austin TX. Hmm???I I didn’t think I knew a Patricia Hansen. I even checked my address book to confirm. Nope.
I opened the envelop and certainly recognized the card immediately, but what was inside was surprisingly wonderful.
The card the one of the most beautiful, heartfelt notes I’ve ever received. It literally brought me to tears. Patricia Hansen is the mother of Bill Hansen. Patricia and I never have met.
Bill worked for me in California in the early 1990’s in the kitchen at the Palo Alto Whole Foods. He was a quiet, hard working guy that was totally dependable and trustworthy. He fell in love JoAnne Klebe, who was my admin assistant at the time and she with him. I got to know Bill better through listening to Joanne talk about their life together. Then tragically, Bill developed cancer. He fought a valiant battle, and kept on working through much of his ordeal, but the cancer was just too aggressive and he finally passed away in 1993.
Patricia had heard I was facing a major health challenge through Joanne and was writing me over 25 years later to thank me for the kindness and empathy I showed to Bill and Joanne at the time. Her letter touched me in a very deep place and is a note I will keep and reread again.. Such kindness and compassion are healing for my soul.
The to cap it off the day I received a text with this poem from Molly:
So Wednesday, April 7th was a day like many others in this time of Covid-19 quarantine, but the tiny blessings made it oh so sweet and stand out from the rest.
Tomorrow is a big day for me at Duke. Hopefully my final test, a renal CT Scan, goes off without a hitch. If that’s the case, I was told they expect to “list me” on Friday. Once listed, they are actively seeking donor lungs for me. It means my transplant surgery could happen any time in the next month.
I’m ready. Of course there is a strange cocktail in my stomach of excitement, fear and wonder. Its what I came here for though and its time to get it on. Just means I’m one day closer to getting home. I so miss my own bed and my view.
Thanks for continuing to read my blog and to post comments or to send them to me privately. My email is peter@ricebluff.com.
Once I have been called to the hospital, I may or may not get the chance to do a post to tell you its happening. That’s my plan anyway. Once the surgery happens it may be awhile before I can get back to writing. During that time, my daughter will be posting regular updates to this blog. I will be reading it along with my emails.
I appreciate all of your encouragement, kindness and support. Its truly been an unexpected pleasure in this adventure.
Thank you!