We have just returned from the Transplant Games in Pittsburgh. We had a wonderful time despite Nick not winning any medals. But medals is not what the Games are really all about. The Games are about showing the world that transplants work, that transplants save lives. The Opening ceremonie is the emotional event. As the living donors walk in the crowd stands to applaud but the time the donor families enter is the most amazing. For over 30 minutes the thousands of people in the venue stand and applaud and applaud and applaud because everyone there knows that people like Nick would not be alive if it was not for the gift these families had given.

I wish more people outside of the transplant community would attend so they would truely understand what the Transplant Games are really all about.

The trucking company called to tell me the day and the time. My mom came to watch.  The driver had to parked the truck at the bottom  of our drive that winds up a steep hill. Mon, the boys and I met the driver. I took the first box off the pallet and immediately opened it. There below some sheets of styrofoam and a brown piece of packing paper was my BOOK! My book —what a great sound. It was a wonderful moment in my life. I had achieved something that I had worked hard for. I’m so proud of ”Nick’s New Heart.” 

Check out my website and see how you can own one of my books.  

I gave birth to four children (at different times) faster than my book has arrived. It has almost been the same as waiting on a baby to wait on a book. My mother calls almost daily to ask, “Are the books there yet?” Like I wouldn’t be excited enough to call and tell her they had arrived. I’m doing PR stuff getting ready, working hours on try to let the right people know about the book. At least that part is better than cleaning a bathroom, which is what I was doing while in labor with my first child.  I do plan to hug and love my books when I see them for the first time just like I did each of my children.   

Blood pressure is a funny thing sometimes. When you have a heart transplant your blood pressure is watched closely. Nick, thankfully doesn’t use any blood pressure medicine but he does take his blood pressure regularly. 

He has never driven to the hospital before. Mostly, because he would rather sleep than drive. We usually have to leave home at 5:30 am. but I felt like he was plenty old enough to drive and he need the practice of driving in Atlanta on the last trip.. When we arrived at the hospital  the first thing the nurses check was his blood pressure was sky high. The nurse said it was because he had not taken his medicine in preparation for his bio. I explained he took none anyway, but that he had driven to the hospital that morning. That explained it. Even the cardiologist agree that the drive could have been the problem. The next day Nick checked his pressure and it was fine.  

Nick went for his semi-annual heart transplant biopsy yesterday. Thankfully he got a great report–no rejection. Those are sweet words to a parents ears. He did have a couple of small med changes. I fine it interesting that after seventeen years with a transplant that things are still being tweeked.  But those are small in the big picture.