This week on Slate's diary is a journal by a double-lung transplant recipient.
On Feb. 2, I awoke two minutes before the alarm went off. I have cystic fibrosis, and in those days, most mornings were characterized by some respiratory distress until I got in a few good coughs, cleared a bit of mucus to make way for air, and adjusted my supplemental oxygen. But for some reason, that morning I didn't have any panicked breathing and could take a moment to watch the light coming up and my fiance Jeffrey resting beside me. When the alarm sounded at 5:30, Jeffrey and I sat momentarily in each other's company. Then came the call. "Miss Quigley? Good morning. We have a new set of lungs for you this morning. We would like to start the process." "Excuse me?" was all I could say in reply.
I feel almost contrite admitting it, but I had been listed for a double-lung transplant for only two weeks. If you know anything about the plight of patients waiting for organs in America, you'll know that my experience is an aberration. Most transplant recipients wait months, years. I was given a projected wait of at least six months. I always knew I would need a transplant someday, but at that point I had undergone the evaluation as more of a precaution, in case my recent, critically declining health didn't make its characteristic upward swing. I wouldn't admit to being an "end-stage" cystic fibrosis patient, and I certainly never thought I would have a transplant so quickly. [Slate.com]
This has been great to read, even if freaked out by it.. There aren't any surprises as far as what is ahead with this, but seeing it in print seems to drive it home. I still remember the first time I read about lung transplant over on Roger Steven's New Lungs site. It scared the crap out of me and really drove home just how serious all this lung stuff is. He also has a journal of his time post transplant, which is a pretty amazing read.
Will I blog my transplant and recovery when all this finally happens? I still haven't decided. I do think I'm going to equip my mom with my camera and have her videotape what she can, or maybe even see if I can be set up to do some kind of video diary. Not necessarily for ever posting, but for myself. One thing I do know is that if I can I will still keep blogging through the whole thing. It really all depends on things like internet access. Tthough I could always just write up the posts and have my parents actually post them later.
