At the end of July, I am now 1-A-E on the list. There are three of us that are 1-A, one other here at the hospital and one at home in the Seattle area. Between the three of us we are not competing for the same heart because of differences in size and blood type. The Docs will not be flipping a coin to see who get any one heart; it will be self evident when that time comes.
So what does a 1-A do with his time while he is waiting? There are not a lot of options here at the hospital for things to do. The hospital has volunteers that offer some art classes. It is funny because while in any other circumstance that sounds fun, right here it does not. So here is my typical day as I wait.
The nurses come in and wake me up before 6:00 AM. Blood pressure, blood draw, weight, how much did I pee last night, how am I feeling, etc. Then I either go back to sleep or I get up and order breakfast and get cleaned up.
After breakfast I check emails and maybe work on this blog. I have a 40 year High School Reunion that has this great web page with daily postings by classmates. I will not be at the reunion, but it is fun to see how old friends are doing via the web page.
I am also working on my family history, tracing ancestors as to when they came to this country, where they lived and what they did. My goal is to trace ancestors to the point they came to this country. Right now, I have records of a grandfather and great grandfather when they arrival at Ellis Island. Sometimes I can view the old records and see their signature on official document. Well this is a slow process, finding these records is like panning for gold; you come across a nugget every once in a while.
I also look at emails at work. I try to track events at the office. On occasion I put my two cents into my colleagues. They are carrying all my duties while I get a heart. When I am well enough to go back to work, they will get a big thanks from me.
I also watch TV, read books and visit with the doctors and nurses who are tracking my condition. I am not exercising as I am pretty weak. I try to go out of my room for a 10 - 15 minute walk each day. I require a walker and a nurse to be with me. When I am walking I get light headed. I am not at the point of blacking out, which the Cardiology Team is very concerned about (already did this back in mid-May).
I try to keep myself engaged in a variety of activities.
I was wondering what you were doing with your days. :) I'm sorry you don't get to go to your 40th reunion.
ReplyDeleteWho are the people in the picture? I'd love to hear more about all your family research...what you've discovered.
p.s. We might have to make more baguettes...we already ate all the other ones.
Rick,
ReplyDeleteMy daughter, Brooke, and I along with her Grandma have just recently joined Ancestry.com. I'm not advertising them because obviously we are very new at this. But the exciting thing is that you have access to tons of records. They keep all information about a living person private (unless you share your tree with others) but you have full disclosure of any deceased family members information, such as date of birth, residence, family members, etc. We have found it very easy by just filling in a few pieces of information to go back many many years. In one branch of our tree, she has been able to go back to the 1400's. She is currently up to 12 "greats" in her tree. It is exciting work and fun to do too (also very easy). While it is true that a lot of this information has been compiled by others on this site before us, as new indexes get published the information becomes more updated. It has been a really fun thing to do. You might want to check it out!
We here are home keep as up-to-date as possible with your news and love the updates. We are definitely sending out our prayers to you and your family and can't wait for your new heart to arrive. Please don't hesitate to call on any of us if you or Rose need anything at all.
Julene =)