Tappy needs a new set of lungs

No we’re not packing up and moving to the States to work. We’re just moving into another phase of the transplant process.

During the thirteen-and-a-half months we were on the waiting list for a new lung, exercise was a major part of our preparation for the big day. Three days a week at the hospital treadmill room for a workout that would last about an hour and a half. Everyone on the list is issued a yellow, letter-size card on which you keep track of your oxygen saturation and heart levels during exercise; the speed of the treadmill and bike and how often you did each of the prescribed exercises.

Once you have the operation and are well enough to return to the treadmill room, you are issued a green card, a sort of right of passage… a badge that says I’ve been there. And the conversation usually shifts from “how long have you been waiting?” to “When were you done?.”

So Now we are working on a green card and charting our progress rather than decline. I’m pleased to say that so far things are going really well. I continue to get stronger and I have’nt had to use oxygen since last Thursday. I had been using three litres per minute while walking or exercising but on Wednesday the physiotherapists suggested I drop it to two LPM. Since I did ok at that level Georgie and I thought, what the hell, lets try 1.5 lpm while walking the hallways in our apartment building. So I opened the crank on the oxygen bottle, set the guage to 1.5 and away we went with Georgie keeping a close eye on the heart rate and 02 levels. A few times the saturation level dipped below 90 (they don’t like it below that for very long) but a few deep breaths and it was back up. We completed four trips of the hallways ( that takes about ten minutes) and we came back and parked the walker and closed the crank on the oxygen bottle. It was then I realized the whole time I didn’t have the oxygen tubes in my nose.

On Monday at the treadmill room I did the whole card of exercises without oxygen. And although I like the security of the walker I’ve pretty well stopped using that.

In the meantime the doctors are pleased with the way I am progressing as they continue to juggle medications to see what’s right for me. Taking all those drugs is difficult for a guy who, until age 60, never took more than a few tums, a couple of tylenol and the occassional rum for medicinal purposes.

Had a brief visit with our son Ed. He arrived Sunday afternoon and left Tuesday afternoon. Not much time but we went out for a great buffet and enjoyed having him around for a while. Makes us think that with some luck, seeing Ed and Mike and their kids will soon be as easy as a run to Halifax from home.

Thanks to all of you for your calls, emails and blog comments.

Ed and Geor

A big hello and Happy New Year to you all.  As most of you know I was released from the hospital on Thursday night.   Since that time things seem to be going well.  The new lung is chugging right along and I’m trying to do as much exercise as I can.

Can’t thank you all enough for the well wishes during my adventure and a special thanks to Georgie and the kids for keeping the blog up to date.   Also Georgie was by my side from morning to night every day I was in hospital and in fact has been a rock throughout  my entire illness.  This operation would not have been possible without her love and devotion.  And she did it all with a smile on her face…………what a woman.

I can’t thank you all individually for what you’ve done but you all know who you are and we love you for it.  If you have’nt already, read some of the previous blogs it tells the story better than I can.

I’ll keep you all posted and hopefully we can soon begin the countdown to the Cape.

Love you all

Ed and Geor
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Coming to Toronto, we had full intentions of ringing in the new year with Nan and Tap in their apartment at 11:00PM (Midnight in Atlantic Canada).  We didn’t start to think about a back up plan until New Year’s Eve.  So we decided we would tune in to ASN and watch the celebration from the Maritimes.  At 10:30 we celebrated with our friends from Newfoundland.  At 11:00, we raised our glasses to everyone at home and then started wishing that everyone could be together and how it will be better next year.  We wished that we had thought ahead enough to make our way to the hospital to be with Tap.  That’s when it occured to us that it was only 11:10PM.  We frantically started calling Limo services to see if they could get us there in time.  No Luck.  “The Subway”, Ma said as she raised her hands in excitement.  We quickly grabbed our coats, our cameras and headed to the subway.  At this hour of the night only the Emergency entrance is open.  This would be our first challenge.  Ma explained to the security guard that she and Dad had been together every New Year for 41 years.  He called the 7th floor and we were given permission to move our way through the quiet corridors of the hospital to the seventh floor.  We walked into Tappy’s room at about 8 minutes to midnight.  He was lying there trying to sleep but still awake.  The look on his face was priceless.  We flipped on his TV, watched the countdown and got out of there by 10 minutes past, as promised. 

It was a fun adventure making our way down and back on the very crowded subway.  A power outage on the way back had us questioning how long it would take to get home.  Fortunately, it was only about 5 minutes.

We would like to wish everyone a very safe, happy and healthy 2008!!!