Birthday!

It's my birthday! Yay!

I had an great day eating too much food and playing board games. I'm grateful to my donor every year that I get another birthday and looking forward to my 33rd year around the sun!

Amy update

I've spent a lot of time in the past two weeks driving back and forth to Halifax. I did have a clinic and haematology appointment but also Amy has been hospitalized for the last two weeks. Her clinic appointment was much worse than mine, her lung function crashed out after getting a cold, even with being on oral antibiotics, and the doctor said it was time for IV antibiotics.

Once admitted, the x-ray showed some pneumonia and a terrible lung infection. I got sick immediately after handing out with her for a day and was paranoid I was getting pneumonia but thankfully my cold has stayed all in the sinuses.

I went up to Halifax for my respiratory clinic last week and stayed a few extra days to do Amy's laundry, bring her coffee, and go out for a few meals. I had to return home to work for a day before zooming up again on Friday for my hematology appointment (everything is fine) where Mom, Dad,  and Isaiah joined me later that day.

Amy was able to leave the hospital with us for a few meals and a bit of shopping. On Saturday afternoon, while she told us to go away so she could nap, we went for a skate on the Halifax Oval. Something we all talk about whenever we visit Halifax but it so rarely happens. It was quite warm out but the ice held as we zoomed down one side of the oval and then struggled back against the wind.

Amy has been fine without that many visitors because the IV medication has knocked her out and she uses her precious down time to catch up on sleep. We're all hoping for a pre-Christmas discharge but as of yesterday, she's developed hives as a reaction to the medication so the doctor's may want that to calm down before discharge. Also, another week of IV medication (once it can be started again) would help make sure the infection is actually gone.

The big discussion now is "what about Toronto/being listed for transplant?" Amy had been stable for so long and the doctors were happy to keep things as they were as long as possible but now with this crash, it's all going to depend on how her lung function rebounds after the medication.

If it goes back up to where it was (around 30% predicted volumes), it didn't sound like the doctors would start the work up but if there isn't as much improvement as hoped, the doctor will start ordering the tests. That may mean the teams keeps her in hospital a few more days as it's easier to get the scans and the blood work done while in hospital. But maybe not because there are people camped out in the emergency department waiting for her bed.

Transplanted: My Cystic Fibrosis Double-Lung Transplant Story

My transplant story turned book is ready for pre-order!! The publishing date from Nimbus Publishing is April 30 if you want to wait and buy the book from a store. 

It's so official and it's hard to believe that me sending a manuscript to Nimbus with a "let's see what happens" plan is at this point where I'm going to have a book in stores. It started out as a compilation of blog posts from my transplant but through the magic of editing and being told by my early readers "this is much too long," it's now a concise narrative that explains the transplant process and about growing up with CF. I hope everyone enjoys it.

"When Allison Watson awoke that day, she knew she was in a hospital bed. That's all. She had no idea how much time had passed since she had seen her family. When she tried to focus, her vision was blurry, and when she tried to wave someone down, she became so exhausted she thought she was dying. Hours later, when Watson was able to communicate, she asked a nurse if the news was good or bad. "It's good news," the nurse replied. "You had your lung transplant four days ago."
About 4,100 people in Canada have cystic fibrosis, and many are living longer today, thanks, in part, to transplants. CF mainly affects the digestive system and lungs, and there is no cure. In this candid memoir, Watson describes living with the disease and her life-altering surgery in 2014. Watson and her sister, Amy, both grew up with CF, and Allison had always believed that Amy would be the one to get a transplant first. The decision to undergo surgery was not easy. Nor was the road to full recovery. In this book, Watson, who cycled across Canada with her brother in 2008 to raise awareness of CF, describes her journey."

Christmas Cards!

It's December, that means it's time for Christmas cards! This year I made a bunch of trees and since I was low on paper, I turned them into postcard style. I've been trying to use up what I have instead of getting more crafting supplies that I don't use as often as I would like.  I started taking pictures of them before I sent them out but then forgot after about four.

Mom has a lot of Christmas fabric that we've been slowly using up over the years and I thought the poinsettia one was perfect for a Star Wars themed festive card. Even though there ended up not being actual flowers in the end product. It's still fairly festive.