As some of you may know I have a terminal lung disease called Idiopathic (means we don't know) Pulmonary Fibrosis. I was diagnosed with it in Dec 2010 an have slowly been betting worse. The only "cure" is a lung transplant. I went to Dallas in October this year to go through a week long pre-transplant eval. Everything ,except my lungs of course, looked great and they said I would make the perfect candidate, except for one thing, I was "temporary too well" !?!?!? Well not to worry, I caught the flu bug that was going around up here during Thanksgiving, which typically declines my breathing capacity. Everybody looses lung capacity after an illness which causes congestion, but "normal" people will recover that lost capacity withing a week or so and usually don't notice the loss because they have plenty of reserve, people with IPF will not. I took a breathing test on Dec 4th and yep, more lost ground. I have 1.9 liters capacity winch is less than a child. Normal adult males have around 6 liters. The good news is that the transplant center has decided to place me on the list as soon as I can move down there.
So today is my last day at work, and my wife and I will be packing me up for a 6 month to a 1 year, or more, move to Dallas. I will be staying at my brothers house and who lives 20 min from the hospital and we will be heading out this next week. As soon as I get there the hospital will place me on the list and the wait starts. The waiting list can be anywhere for 2 weeks to 6 months depending on several factors. Once transplanted, It will be about 1 to 1 1/2 weeks recovery in the hospital and they kick you out. I have to go through rehab and start using my new lungs as soon a possible and return for appointments 3 to 4 times a week at first. That will eventually reduce to once every 3 months at witch point I will be allowed to return to Boise with my wife who will need to stay in Boise and continue at her job. I have given a lot of thought to the fact that someone has to pass so I can live and that can bring some guilt. I spoke to the surgeon about that and he said one can not look at it that way, it was their time and they wished for someone else to live on with their donation. I know there are a few on here which have gone through transplants of their own so you probably understand my feelings. One needs to accept their gift with gratitude and live on like the donor wished. It will be great to be able to walk up a flight of stairs again and even walk down the block without using copious amounts of oxygen.
I am packing up my modeling supplies and several 1/72 and 1/144 kits to build down there. I gave Lyle my new address so I can still get on the review list with Hobyco. Stopping the hobby is not an option however I will need to be even more careful while spraying paint etc. I do not wan't to damage the gift someone had gifted me.
Anyway, this is reason I have not been very active on this or other sites. This will change, especially when I'm sitting around waiting for them to call.
This is good news and I am very excited. It's been a long 7+ year decline and lately, struggle.
Thank you for reading and yepee!!
I will be able to dance again as well!
