Wednesday, June 25, 2014

My Second Wind...

I haven't blogged for quite a while, but I have a very good reason as most of you know. On Mother's Day I received a very special gift. The one I had been waiting years for. I received a new lung. It is an incredible thing to receive an organ. Someone died and at the same time gave the gift of life. It reminds me that we are all connected. That we are truly all one way down deep at the core.

It is also a huge responsibility to care for a new lung. There are many medicines to take, side effects of those meds to handle, precautions to take because of the now compromised immune system, many miscellaneous bumps along the way, and the emotional toll it takes on you. In short your whole life changes. As a friend of mine aptly noted, it is like bringing home a new born baby for the first time. Everything you once knew has changed and you wonder how they could have sent you home and trusted you with this precious gift! Overwhelming, yes, but oh so worth it to breathe easily!

Every day I am slowly but surely healing and adjusting to this new way of life. This is in large part due to the wonderful support team I have had. Family and friends have rallied around me with their strength and their love and it has made a world of difference. I am blown away by people's generosity. Their thoughtfulness and generosity of spirit, time, resources, pep talks, meals and more amazes me and has taught me so much about compassion and what it means to give from the heart.

Everyone has been so amazing, but I would like to honor one special person here today with a poem I wrote in the middle of the night exactly 1 week after my transplant. The poem actually wrote itself. I had very little to do with it.

For my husband...
The true hero stands quietly just left of center
Do you see him there with his soft brown eyes?
He is the hero that no one will notice
When the lead takes her center stage light
He is the one who stands in support of
Quietly doing what needs to be done.
The hundred nights of tears and frustration
Leading to this miracle one
He asks for nothing
No credit, no payment
He asks only that the show will go on
This hero is the light of my own life
And with him I will always shine on.

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