I like bright colours and I cannot lie

This is a canvas I made a few months ago. I was adapting from a canvas I saw on Pinterest. Its kind of an abstract multi-coloured tree look.

Social Psychology

I decided to do two more Coursera courses despite all my misgivings with the last one. One is 'Social Psychology' where I am suppose to learn

"... an introduction to classic and contemporary social psychology, covering topics such as decision making, persuasion, group behavior, personal attraction, and factors that promote health and well-being". 

And the second being  "Learn to Program: The Fundamentals" which

"introduces the fundamental building blocks of programming and teaches you how to write fun and useful programs using the Python language."

I think the programming one is going to be the hardest seeing as I already have a degree in Psychology and I don't know anything about how to write programs or the 'Python language' (I'm not a Slytherin! *Hehehe*). However, social psychology was only really covered for a few chapters in first year of psych class so I think that class will be super interesting too.

Both courses started while I was in Yarmouth (I have bad timing) where I had no Internet so I am already 2 weeks behind the video and readings. That is about right on par with all of my other university courses.

I know I should be looking for apartments or packing but I still have more than a month and sometimes it is nice to learn something new.

Yay learning!

Mouse!

I got the call from the transplant coordinator last week in the evening as my family was finishing up supper. We were all pretty tired from spending the day cycling and swimming. My sister and I had done a short 13 km route while everyone else had a 40 km ride (yes I took my oxygen tank with me). So we were all drinking tea in the living room discussing my acceptance into the transplant program when a brown mouse scurried behind the couch.

Immediately all focus was off the transplant as Mom screamed, jumped off the couch, and and ran into the kitchen. Dad also moved pretty fast off the couch to arm himself with a broom. We had seen a mouse the night before in the kitchen while having an intense game of 45s but it ran under the stove before we could do anything. We had been hoping that it was one time occurrence. Apparently not. Mom had emailed the owner that first night to let them know about the mouse sighting and he said that traps would be dropped off but they hadn't arrived that day.

No one was thrilled about this second mouse sighting.  Mom was convinced that the mouse had ran into their room which was off the living area. We all tried to convince her that it had crawled under the couch/pull out bed instead. Isaiah was sleeping on the couch so he was not please with that speculation and thought maybe the couch should be moved to take a look. 

Mom armed herself with a broom while Dad and Isaiah, holding a broom and garbage can respectively, slowly pulled out the bed. Amy and I were content to watch the show from our chairs on the other side of the room. No one actually mentioned a plan but I think the unspoken idea was to have Dad and Isaiah force it out of the bed and if it didn't somehow jump into the garbage can itself, Mom would sweep it toward the screen door at which point Amy or I would somehow leap up over the fleeing mouse to open the door and let it out of the cottage. It was a fool-proof plan.

Unfortunately, we never got to see our plan in action as the mouse was no where to be found. We then unanimously decided to move into the kitchen to play some board games while another not-so-friendly-email was sent to the owner inquiring again about traps.

That night after everyone had calmed down, Amy and I were drifting off to sleep in our bunk beds when we heard a scream from the bedroom followed by the sound of a door opening and someone fleeing the room. Apparently while reading in bed, Mom saw the mouse run underneath the bed and crawl into the register.  So we all spent the next 20 minutes laying in bed listening to the sound of tape ripping as Dad duct-taped the register closed. Every time we thought that must be the end, another piece of tape was put on the register. They were not taking any chances of the mouse crawling back into the room. Amy and I started to feel bad for the little mouse stuck in the register starving away from its mouse family and friends. Dad, on the other hand, felt no such sympathy as the next morning when the traps arrived he was quick to set them up with cheese and peanut butter and was determined to catch the mice.

All in all, it was quite the distraction from me focusing and over-thinking about the transplant that night. Of course I over-thought about it the next night and pretty much every night since but that one mouse night I was able to catch a break.

We did end up catching two mice by the end of the week so this week's cottage dwellers have us to thank for their relaxing mouse-free nights.

Where do the lungs come from?

I feel like there are a lot of misconceptions and questions about where the lungs come from for a lung transplant so I thought I would do another Q & A to help clear things up.

Q: Where do the lungs come from?

A: Dead people (medically known as cadavers) who signed their donor cards. When someone dies, their lungs are 'harvested' and used for the transplant.

Q: I thought they could do lobe transplants from living donors?

A: They can but that is no longer a recommended practice for people with CF as the donor lobe quickly gets infected by the crap in the original lungs rendering it ineffective.

Q: So you just have to wait for someone to die?
 

A: Yes, but they have to die in a certain way so their lungs are not ruined. Getting hit by a bus or drowning does not create good donor lungs. Death by an aneurism, stroke, or heart attack are all good options.

Q: Old people die all the time, couldn't you take one of their lungs?

A: No, their lungs are as aged as they are and are not a very good option for someone like me.

Q: So who needs to die?

A: A non-smoker who is my blood type and body size with no other diseases and who has signed their donor card.

Q: Where are you on the lung transplant list?

A: They don't give you a number like '129 of 145' but they did tell me that right now I would be considered 'low priority'. To my understanding, low priority means that they will wait for a perfect set of lungs before doing a transplant to give me the best chance of avoiding rejection (Rejection being when the body does not accept the new organ and attacks it like it would a cold or the flu. Hence the butt-load of anti-rejection meds everyone is on post-transplant.) If I were considered high priority, that would mean that they would give me a set that would be less than ideal because I would die for sure without them.

Q: How long do you think that will take?

A: It varies, the average is 8 months to a year but some people wait for years. Being low-priority probably means I will have to wait a bit longer as the doctors won't want to rush the surgery.

Q: Will you know the donor or their family?

A: Not intentionally, the hospital works very hard to make sure the two families never meet.

Q: Why do you have to wait in Toronto? People die in the Maritimes too, can you get their lungs if you are in Toronto?

A: Unfortunately, the Maritimes don't have a lung transplant clinic so there is no option of having it done here. There are only 5 clinics in Canada and Toronto is the closest English option. I was told the 'harvest team' (the people who remove the organs from the dead person) have 8 hours from when the lung is 'harvested' to the actual transplant surgery to keep the lungs viable so getting one from the Maritimes to Toronto could be feasible if the timing works.

Q: So you will be in Toronto waiting for someone to die?

A: Yup thats about it.

Q: Doesn’t that freak you out?

A: Not really, A) I don’t know the person and B) I am not responsible for their death

Any questions I missed? Ask away!

Writing a power of attorney

One thing that the social worker wanted me to get arranged was my Power of Attorney (POA) in case the transplant is not successful. However, I have been putting it off as it is not pleasant to have to imagine and talk about my eventual demise. 

For those not in the medical field, a POA is a form that states that someone else can make decisions on your behalf on the off chance that something happens to you. So medically, that means they to make the horrible decision to end or not start life support or what kind of life support. If nothing is put in writing than the person has to blindly make decisions on what the person would have wanted. It helps to write out specifics to try to minimize their guilt and decision making.

Now that I am going to be on the transplant list (or 'listed' as they call it) in October, I guess I better stop procrastinating from writing one. The social worker told me that legally because my partner and I have lived together for more than a year, he would be considered my POA. I feel that my family knows what I would want but after working at a nursing home and hospital, I have heard a lot of stories about families brawling over the decisions I guess it is good to put it in writing on the off chance that my family tries to sue my partner for the right or something equally crazy. I always thought that a lawyer had to write up the document but the social worker told me just to write something confirming that my partner will be my POA. I don't think she meant a blog post so I will actually write something down on real paper. 

I didn't know what to write so I did what I always do when I am unsure, I googled 'How to write a POA'. The Internet is so helpful sometimes. The consensus I read was that for a medical POA, it is important to specify which type of end of life care you do or do not want to be on. It is not enough to say 'if I am not coming back to have a decent quality of life than do not prolong my death'. There are many different types of “DNR (Do not Ressistitate)”. It is not enough to say that you do not want treatment in case you have lung failure but it is important to specify which type of treatment.

So my partner and I had the uncomfortable conversation about how he gets decide to take out my ventilator and feeding tube if I am unresponsive but that if I get something like a UTI that is more acute and treatable to go ahead with treatment. I'm pretty sure I covered everything but it is all very confusing. My partner seems to be comfortable with making the decisions but it is much easier to hypothesize about death when I am feeling ok. It is not surprising that people have a tough time when trying to make medical end of life decisions for another person and even worse when other family members make them feel guilty or second guess their decision. 

So I have my form and hopefully it does not have to come out for a long time. I am comfortable with my decision of not wanting to live on a ventilator or respirator for a significant period of time. Of course I will have to be on one post-transplant due to my body getting use to my new lungs but if it isn't going to work, I don't want it to turn chronic. I want to have a good quality of life and be able to do things for myself. However, if I get something acute like the chicken pox or a UTI, I would like that to be treated because dying from the chicken pox* would be incredibly lame.

*I chose chicken pox because I thought no one died from chicken pox anymore. However, I looked into it and it kills about 100 Americans annually. Who knew!