Decisions, Big and Small, begin to weigh down as soon as the statement “You have cancer.” is uttered. There is a critical set of choices to be made. To treat or not, how do we help our children? How do we pay for the treatment? What about work? Where will we stay? Will this even… Continue reading Decisions, Big and Small
Category: Liver Transplant
Inside My Story
When the doctor calls and invites you into the office, you can be sure that it isn’t good news. Knowing that bad news is coming, I try to figure out what could be coming and what I will do about it. It is like taking a deep breath and holding it. The diagnosis arrives. In… Continue reading Inside My Story
Connected & Protected
Life does go on after a major organ transplant with a delicate balance. The organ needs to be connected to function, but the body views the organ as a foreign object. Immunosuppression medication protects the body from rejecting the new organ. This daily balance of connecting and protecting is monitored with occasional blood work to… Continue reading Connected & Protected
Life in Lyman | Stripie’s Stash
“We are going to have baby chicks! Stripie is sitting on 14 eggs!” The two youngest girls are so excited to find that Stripie has been brooding a clutch of small speckled eggs. Who knows if they will hatch, but I sure hope that they do. She is missing from the yard most of the… Continue reading Life in Lyman | Stripie’s Stash
Six Weeks and all is Well
Yesterday was my 6 week “re-birthday”. I feel great and will forever be in debt to an unknown donor who gave me a new life. In addition to the liver transplant that I received, the donor gave 2 kidneys, a pancreas, and a heart. All I know is the donor was a male about my… Continue reading Six Weeks and all is Well
I Feel Good. Oh I Feel So Good!
I am having a hard time expressing how good I feel. I hope the attached image will help. The left side of the image was taken just before surgery on May 25 and the right side of the image was taken on the morning of May 27. Thank you to all who have blessed our… Continue reading I Feel Good. Oh I Feel So Good!
Donate Life
It has been nearly a year ago since I first began recognising symptoms that would result in the diagnosis of cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct cancer). I have been treated for the cancer and now wait for a liver transplant. I never dreamed that it would take this long. At the time it looked like I would… Continue reading Donate Life