Year Number 5
Well, hello there. Lookey! Another post in less than six months. Am improving dramatically.
So, I nearly forgot my transplant anniversary yesterday. I didn’t remember until almost midnight – how very Cinderella’ish of me, non? I was busy all day with work, groceries, getting dog food for Denny and eating my way through Eric’s amazing truffle mac n’ cheese (You want the recipe? Ask him nicely and he might give it…soooooo worth it!!!). I read a little, then fell asleep over my book, only to wake up and remember it was May 15, 2007 that Franco Faraguna gave me his kidney and saved my life.
He’s doing great. Still climbing mountains, still riding his motorcycle, still very much a part of me (literally and figuratively). I’m doing great, too (knock wood). I need to go get some routine bloodwork done, but I don’t anticipate any major problems (God-willing!).
So, here we are at the start of year number five. I look back at all that I’ve survived in the past five-six years, and I feel a combination of pride and wow-am-I-really-such-a-Polly-in-Peril? The litany of difficulties, complications and tragedies is pretty intense: multiple infections/hospitalizations, life-threatening drug reactions, financial woes, years-long insurance battles, depression, insomnia, losing my dad, cervical cancer, long and painful recovery from several surgeries, more insurance battles (it ain’t over yet), struggling to maintain some normalcy and routine…
On the plus side, I have Eric. I found him, he found me, and we found an “us” in the process. The “us” has faced this all down together. I tease him that I may be the Rock of Gibraltar, but he’s my Malta because every Gibraltar needs a Malta. I have Denny, the small, fuzzy master of cuteness who has suddenly learned to climb up on the dining room table like a cat. I have my mom…and I still have my dad in spirit. I have my wonderful family and friends, my lifers and my stalkers (you know who you are!), and all the kind, generous, fun, loving people who have come into my life.
I have simple pleasures, like my balcony garden, reading, cooking, hanging out with friends and going to the beach.
I look at some people I’ve known in high school and college, and they have such amazing, adventurous lives. Part of me wonders why I didn’t take that path. Of course, I know the answers to that question, and I don’t regret my choices one iota. Perhaps survival has been my great adventure and great achievement to-date.
But now, survival isn’t enough.
It’s time to do something more. I’m not exactly sure what else that is, but I’m pretty sure the universe is going to hit me over the head with a 2×4 to point it out to me (the universe’s usual technique with me, apparently). So, here’s to hoping for a big, positive, amazing year number five…
YAY