Misery Loves Company

Now that mom is finally on the mend, the rest of us are sick. Me, Malibu, Lee & now my brother Scott. Such a bummer. We need one giant bed full of comfy blankies and gobs of chicken soup. Then maybe we’ll stop giving it back and forth together. We’ll just get it over with all at once. But we can’t hibernate like we want to. Duty calls. Good thing is that mom is feeling better. Hopefully she’ll be back at rehab next week. She’s missed quite a bit, so she’ll probably feel as though she’s starting over. But that’s ok. At least she’s doing a good job of taking care of herself and getting better.

A really great thing I noticed when I last took her to the doctors was when the doc said take a deep breath so I can hear your lungs. And Wow! She took the biggest, deepest breath I’ve ever seen her take. Ever! After her transplant she would try, but it would come out sort of like “sip, sip” really fast and shallow. We’d say, no like this…..and she would repeat, “sip, sip!” I thought she’d never get it. But she’s been practicing and what a difference. It’s so cool. Those lungs are really working! It’s all these great little accomplishments that add up to a whole new life. So exciting!

Now, for a little bit of sad news. Our friend from rehab, Rene’, passed away last week. We want to extend our deepest sympathies to her family and friends. She really supported mom (and me) when we were in Tucson going through “our” transplant. You’ll see all her comments throughout the website. It meant a great deal to us. She was on the transplant list for Tucson as well, then she got cancer and they took her off the list. It was tragic. She had such a big heart. She was really private and didn’t like to speak of herself and bring others down. She was the type that rather be uplifting to others and be there for you. Her good friend, (and ours), Karen, wrote a really great tribute to her and gave me permission to share it with all of you.  

“She was such a neat lady. She was down to earth and her needs were simple. She loved animals more than people. [She did cat rescue]. Her main concern to the very end was the care of her pets. I’ll miss her very much. I’m just very sad that Rene’ couldn’t beat the cancer. She did such great things for everyone and all the animals. “

She will be missed.