Waiting Game: 10 Months.

10 months! Gahhh! I do these monthly summaries to keep it easy for the occasionally readers of the blog but I feel like nothing of note happened last month.

- Nothing has changed in physio. I show up, do my exercises, and leave. The only real changes are the people. I continue to be my introverted self and instead of talking to people, I have started imagining their life stories. I wonder what happened if they aren’t there one day or why they changed their times. It keeps me entertained. I’m not totally anti-social, I do say hello and small talk to the people who I see on a regular weekly, if not daily, basis. They are the people who have been there for as long as or longer than me. A few weeks ago, one woman told me that just before I arrived, she had told her mother that she hoped “that little girl wouldn’t be here today.” She quickly clarified that she meant she hoped I would be off getting my transplant and not that she didn’t want me there because I hog all the fans. I’m still here! Actually, they haven't been there for about two weeks, nor has the other person I mentioned August 1^st who was quite ill, so maybe they’ve both had their transplants. The year end number is now up to 67 which means that 5 transplants happened in the last week (or they now just got around to updating their website)!

  - The Fault in Our Stars movie has not normalized wearing oxygen as much as I hoped. I still get a lot of stares in public and a few days ago, a kid on the bus recently asked his guardian why I was wearing “that thing on my face.” I didn't hear the guardians response but he did look fairly embarrassed. Kids: embarrassing adults as soon as they learn to speak. But I think the kid has the right approach, I don't think I would mind if people asked me why I was wearing the oxygen. It would be better than the stare-not stare-stare technique that most adults seem to have embraced. I understand your curiosity people! Just ask me. Although to be honest, I never ask people about their lives either and also do the stare-not state-stare whenever anyone with an unusual characteristic gets on the bus/subway. We should all be more like the man on Tuesday, who, while I was waiting for the bus, walked by and told me that “he hoped I got better soon,” and walked away. It was a surprisingly nice gesture.

 - Amy bought me beautiful earrings last month that she called my 9 month wait-iversary present. I have now fully embraced this new tradition of monthly gift giving by gifting myself some sushi for supper tonight. Happy 10 Months Me!

 - The city weather has actually not been as bad as I thought it would be. Everyone is saying what an unusually cool summer it's been which is absolutely fantastic for me. By 'cool', they mean some days dip below 25. One day, I wore a sweater. Shocking, I know.

- And on a more depressing note, my lung function has returned to its pre-awesome-steroid-puffer state. Boo! I need stronger steroids! Although I can't deny that it did reduce my dry night cough so it is still somewhat useful I guess. I still haven't heard anything about whether or not I have a  heart murmur so I'm hoping the 'no news is good news' adage is true.

That’s about it for what happened last month. I also went to pottery class in between our visitors, Isaiah played some board games with his board game group, and we discovered that it is vital to regularly vacuum the air vent for the air conditioning to work (a less exciting, but very important, event in our lives). We have visitors arriving soon for this month as well and already have some booked for Sept. Toronto is now the hot travel destination for the Watson and Jacques families. A continual thank you to everyone who sends me cards and well wishes while I wait. I know there are a lot of people who are helping me carry the wait-stress and I am incredibly grateful for all of you.