Why Music?

Why music?  That is a very good question!  It is as hard to answer as why pink or why Peanuts?  From about 5th grade on I knew playing the piano was for me.  Hymn playing is something that some people find to be easy and others find very hard.  It came easily for me so I was playing for opening at Sunday School by 5th grade.

One thing my mom did that I think was very smart was buying us sheet music to any songs we wanted.  I remember learning "How Great  Thou Art."  On a Sunday morning that I consider a turning point in my life I was playing it in the Sunday School classroom before Sunday School.  I was a 5th grader.  A high school guy named Rocky Albers was the pianist in the 4th grade classroom. He was a fabulous pianist that I admired a lot.  He walked into my classroom and told me to keep playing and to play louder.  Then he went into the 4th grade room and started to play with me.  What he added was exquisite.  I will never forget that day and that duet!  My only regret is that I couldn't be out in the hall listening.  He has no idea what he did for me that day, and that he actually kickstarted my musical career.  I often think I need to find a way to thank him, but I'm sure he has no memory of it.  I still love to play duets to this day!

Life After Transplant

You might wonder how it feels to be a person who has received a transplant.  Besides the fact that you feel incredibly blessed because your life has been saved you actually feel pretty normal.  I feel like it is surreal.  I know it happened, and I have a magnificent scar to prove it, but it is hard to realize it fully, too.

I do have to take several medications.  They all have possible side effects, but I don't read about them or worry about them.  I decided right away that God wouldn't save my life and then let medications kill me so I will handle side effects if and when they appear.  One of them gave me severe migraines so a change was made.  That is the only problem I have noticed.

I feel well which can be deceptive.  Three times I have felt perfectly well and found out I wasn't.  Two of those times I even had to enter the hospital.  I am blood tested fairly often to keep an eye on things.  Sometimes medication changes are made, but after the first year that has not been as frequent.

I walk a fine line with my immune system so that I don't go into rejection.  My immune system can be a fighter and give me trouble!  I am a social person and have had to learn that sometimes I can't go where there's going to be a crowd, especially during flu season.

I was so weak and sick before my transplant that I never dreamed I could feel this well again.  In my opinion I am pretty much back to normal which is a MIRACLE!  There is absolutely no way I could have had company last weekend at my home.  Actually, I seriously doubt I would have lived to my 42nd anniversary.  God used a wonderful young man's unselfish choice to be an organ donor and saved my life!

42nd Anniversary

Happy 42nd Anniversary to us!  I can't believe it has been this long.  Where did the time go?  Also, can you believe I actually found a way to get back on my blog?  I have not been able to get on for ages.  I'm not sure I will be able to get back on again an hour from now, but at least I'm doing a new post for now.

Hayley snapped this picture of us the other day when we were celebrating with my cousins and sister and brother-in-law.  It's not too bad, but the people in this picture have aged I tell you!   Just the other day our granddaughter, Molly, looked at our wedding picture and told me that I didn't look the same at all, but grandpa did.  That is the story of my life!  Oh, well, truth hurts!  :D

In the group picture left to right you see Joyce & Stephen, Us, Ken & Connie.  Ken & Connie were married the same year we were in June.  They are the same age, too.

We had a great time with all the family.  Our kids were there, too.  Nicholas and Brooke hosted dinner at their beautiful new home.  Hayley, bless her heart, was the photographer.  Molly & Halston were our entertainment.

                                                                                     Uncle Nicholas managed to get the kitties to come out from under the bed for some loving from the girls.  This helped his popularity rating go up immensely!

All in all we had a wonderful day!  It makes getting old worth it when you have so many blessings!  Thank you, dear God for all 42 years!

Doctors I Have Known, Part 4

I haven’t added to this series in a long time.  I still haven’t managed a picture with Dr. Dexeus.  I did, however, pin down my transplant surgeon, Dr. John P. Duffy, today for a picture.

As I said before, I know a LOT of doctors, and feel that God has divinely intervened with all of them.  I couldn’t ask for a better team of caring, knowledgeable men and women.  Dr. Duffy is one of three surgeons that comprise my transplant team.  He is the one who did my surgery, and I can’t thank him enough for doing such a wonderful job.

When I first met him, I asked him if he were old enough to be a doctor.  When you look at his picture you’ll see why.  He told me he was old enough for a lot of things!  J  But seriously he is just a little older than my sweet Hayley.  Yes, he is also young enough to be my son!

He is my main specialist now, since he did my surgery.  It amazes me that he remembers me when he sees me outside of the office.  He has many patients so I didn’t expect that.  One afternoon he saw me in the hall at the hospital and called my name to come see Dr. Kautzman.  They had seen me in the hall, and she didn’t believe it was me so he had me come over and show her how well I’m doing.  That also made me feel that I am recovering well which is so comforting.

I saw him today and left his office feeling that all was well, and that he is on top of things.  He has a fun sense of humor which you know is important to me.  He can be very serious when he needs to be, but a smile is always near by.

If you ever need a transplant, Heaven forbid, you are in good hands if you have Dr. Duffy for your surgeon.  

  

Transplant

I am one of those people who have been blessed with vibrant good health.  Dennis and I seldom, if ever, met our insurance medical deductible.  That is why all of this came as such a shock.

I have unsuccessfully fought a weight problem most of my life.  If you can think of a weight loss plan, I have tried it.  I did not do fin/fin, however.  I’m sure I misspelled that.  In 2003 I decided to try an over-the-counter weight loss pill called Malibu Trim by the Taebo Corporation. I took a pill in early January and 3 hours later came down with chilling and aching.  I assumed I had the flu.  Two weeks later I felt better so I took another pill.  The same symptoms occurred, this time much worse.

This was on a Sunday.  By Friday I had turned yellow and was so ill I had Nicholas take me to the doctor here at Fairview.  That is when I started seeing Dr. James Garner as my PCP, a wonderful guy.  He immediately entered me in the hospital.  I was sure the pill had caused it because things were identical.  No one agreed with me.

After a week at the Fairview Hospital I was taken by ambulance to Integris Baptist Hospital at Oklahoma City.  I was now under the care of Dr. Gurakahr at Nazih Zuhdi Transplant Institute.  I’m sure I don’t have to tell you I was terrified and had turned dark yellow. 

After a biopsy I was proved right!  It showed a chemical damage of 25%.  They began to look at that pill with different eyes.  I was told that my liver should heal itself.  I improved rapidly, lost 60 lbs., and didn’t have to quit my job.  Things went along pretty well for 6 years.  I didn’t feel perfect, but after all, I was in my 50’s.  Age was affecting me, too, I figured.

Things took a dramatic turn in March of 2009.  I’ll begin with that next time.

My niece, Rhonda, delicately hinted that I needed to update my blog.  Since I hadn't written since the 4th of July, I think she was right.

A lot has happened in my life since then, and most of the time I was too ill and weak to even get on the computer, let alone blog.  I am getting ready to do a series on my transplant experience.  I'm having a little trouble with writing about it, but I do feel it will make me feel better to share.  If I can help the next person in any way, that will be my delight.  It is an experience like nothing I've ever known.  Facing your mortality is not that fun, but God never promised us a life full of fun.  What He has done is bless me beyond measure.

Through the years I have blogged a little about living with liver disease.  I advise you to go back and reread those (if you can stomach it!)  :D  I did, and I survived it!  :D

I'll go into more detail later.  I'm dwelling on my blessings today.  My two precious granddaughters, Molly and Halston, are on my mind.  Here are their Christmas pictures.  You can see why I feel so blessed!

P.S.  If you're wondering "What's up with the blue background?"  Well, I just couldn't find a pink that went along with the picture.  Hard to imagine, I agree!  :D

Favorite Moments In Time!

I know we all have moments that stick in our minds.  I have 5 that we call my laughing stories.  Every single time I think about them I laugh hysterically.  No one else thinks they are as funny as I do.  Never could understand why!  Every once in a while I think of them and can’t remember all of them.  Today I decided to write about them so I won’t have to call my children and ask them what they are anymore.  I know that’s pathetic, but I truly had to call them both today for help.

1.  These can’t be in chronological order because this story is number one and always will be!  So here goes!

When I was in college I had a friend who told me this story.  Let me make it clear I wasn’t any part of it but I have laughed my head off every time I think of it ever since.

My friend was taking an astronomy class.  It had to meet at night because they had to be able to see the stars.  They met at the football field and the teacher would point out different things for them to observe.  (I am laughing while I type this!)  He said everything was fine at first because the weather was warm and the evenings beautiful.  What makes me laugh is that when the weather got cold they were walking around in a circle trying to keep warm.  The teacher would be talking away and they were totally ignoring him.  If someone tried to stop and look up and see what the teacher was talking about they would shove him and tell him to keep moving!  All they were doing was walk in a circle and try to keep warm!  (I have tears in my eyes from laughing.  Just ask my kids, they will verify that I laugh myself silly over this story.  They don’t get it.)

2.  This next one happened when I was in college, too.  I WAS part of this one.  I was in an operetta, a musical, and an opera when I was at SWOSU.  I especially enjoyed being in “The King and I”.  It has nothing to do really with my part.  (I had the glory of being wife #9.)  During one scene of the play the people of Siam put on an evening of entertainment for visitors from England.  All of the “wives” came out and sat down on the floor on our feet to sing our parts in “Small House of Uncle Thomas”.  Night after night at rehearsal my feet went to sleep sitting that way. 

The stage was pretty dark for this scene because the spotlight was on the main character.  There were people who ran across the stage carrying rachets and other sound effect makers.  These people were totally dressed in black so that they wouldn’t be so noticeable.  They even had on black hoods that had eye holes cut in them.

What happened next was purely accidental.  The first night of the performance I decided that since I was on the end no one would notice if I didn’t sit on my feet.  I curved them to the right behind me and everything seemed fine.  My dear friend, Woody Leonard, was running across with a rachet.  He had to do such a quick change into this costume that they didn’t get the hood on right.  The eye holes were to the side but they couldn’t take time to fix it.  He just had to put up with it.  I know you can guess what happened.  As he ran past me he tripped over my foot and fell off stage right.  (Time out to laugh!)  Thankfully he wasn’t hurt.  I felt terrible about it even though I thought it was so funny. 

The next night when it came time to perform this number I decided I had to sit on my feet!  So I did!  Here came Woody again.  You can just imagine!  He tripped over me again and fell exactly the way he had done the night before.  This time all of the “wives” were laughing out loud on stage.  Even our director was laughing.  I was totally innocent this time. 

What makes this even funnier to me is that night after night when we rehearsed this number, he never once tripped over me, not even at the dress rehearsals.  Then it happened in both performances!  (No one else tripped over me, just Woody.)

3.  This story happened when I was in high school.  I, as you can imagine, dearly loved being in the choir.  I sang soprano in those days.  My friend, Gayle, sang alto.  We sat sopranos, basses, tenors, altos so she was clear across a large room from me.  I know it’s hard to imagine but I was turned around talking to someone behind me when I heard Mr. Marsh yell “Francy Smudrick”!  I turned around ready for him to scold me.

Instead, he said “Gayle wants you”!  She had been trying to get my attention.  Then he made her stand up and ask me her question.  All she wanted to know was if I planned to go the ballgame that night.  She was so mad and still gets mad when I bring it up.  I get to laugh about this when someone mentions it in front of her.  Yes, people in choir remember it.

4.  This one happened at Karl’s Ideal Grocery store.  The kids and I were in the checkout lane when one of the checkers yelled “Ow – that shocked me!”  He was messing with something plugged into a socket.  Then he turned to his friend who was also a checker and said “You touch it”.  His friend looked at him and said “I’m not touching it if it shocked you.”   They just stood there and we started laughing.  I haven’t stopped since.

5. Nearly everyone in my family, except me, is a dog lover.  When we had family get-togethers at mom & dad’s house someone always had their dog with them.  My sister, Joyce, and her daughters have always had “frou-frou” dogs, as I call them.  Several of us were sitting around the table when my younger sister, Betty, bent over and picked up one of the dogs.  She was holding it up close to her face cooing with it and then it happened.  The dog stuck his tongue down her throat.  If it had happened to me (which it NEVER will) I would have gagged out.  In this case I laughed myself silly and still do every time I think of it!

6. I think I will have to have a number 6.  Last year’s story of my birthday trip to Dallas makes us all laugh.

Nicholas says that now they don't even have to mention the actual story.  You can just yell "one" and I start laughing.  Sad, but true!