The Pittsburgh Checkup - It's a Small World

Yesterday was an overall good day. My blood work was okay, Dr. Kareem looked at my stoma and found it to be healing satisfactorily, and they decided I didn't need to come back for a check up until early December. All of that as uplifting.

More uplifting though was meeting a transplant recipient - Lucy - who was diagnosed with Crohn's disease as a child, had multiple surgeries (over 30), and lived a life similar to Amy and me with multiple children and a desire to experience different things. And about seven months ago she received her transplant, and looked absolutely incredible.

During our conversation, we learned a great deal about the transplant process, her experience with rejection issues and how they were treated, and the impacts the transplant process had on her as well as her family. We also learned that she had been a patient of Dr. Hanauer's at UChicago before moving to the east coast as an adult.

She also talked about working with 'Angel Flights' regarding arranging flights from her home to UPMC so she did not have to wait in Pittsburgh for the transplant. On Friday night, Amy and I attended the Wings of Hope 20th Anniversary Celebration where we learned more about their mission. On the way home last night, we decided we need to check into our eligibility so that if I need to have a transplant at some point, I don't need to move to Pittsburgh to wait it out.

Two other funny small things happened while we were waiting yesterday. The first was a tranplant recipient who volunteers at the clinic talking to patients struck up a conversation with Amy and me. When he found out we live in the Grand Rapids area, he got really excited because he is a participant in the Transplant Games which are coming to GR in 2012. When I shared that I helped create the West Michigan Sports Commission which is hosting the games, he got even more excited.

The second funny thing that happened was we met a couple from West Michigan sitting in the waiting room. She had received a transplant over five years ago and is doing pretty good.

All in all, the entire visit confirmed that we are in the right place for now; and no matter what happens there is hope for the future.

On to Chicago tonight for an appointment tomorrow, then back to work part-time. That's a story for another day......but sufficed to say, I need to relearn how to work. More later.....