Stone Crab Claws

Stone Crab Claws are one of Vernon's favorite foods to eat and a guy he works with sometimes brings some freshly caught ones to him at work.
So last Monday was one of those days and Vernon
brought some of the claws with us to Gainesville.














So I took pictures of him enjoying this treat in our hotel room. In the next entry you will see evidence that he wasn't the only one enjoying a favorite treat that night.






Yum,
Yum,
Yum!!!

Kahlua Ice Cream Pie

I think my favorite
dessert right now
is Kahlua Ice Cream pie
served at
On The Border,
a Mexican restaurant
in Gainesville, so
I don't get to have a
piece very often.














Vernon did have a few bites while
taking these pictures of me.
He doesn't
like it nearly as well as I do,
which is fine.
More for me!














So gooooood!










This ice cream pie is absolutely delicious!

Heart Biopsy & 2 year check-up RESULTS

This is how cheery we looked as the Tuesday morning wait began in the cath lab holding room. Vernon was prepped with a IV into his right arm and connected to a blood pressure monitor. Our heart transplant friend, Ozzy, took this for us. He lives in Orlando and had driven a friend of his to Shands for biopsy who was transplanted Dec. 25, 2007. Two other people we are acquainted with were there for biopsy, also. You already know from my the previous entry that Vernon waited much longer than usual for his turn.

We learned on Thursday the really good news that the biopsy showed ZERO rejection of his heart. The other tests that were done that day also showed his heart functioning very well and no problems with it. (EKG, echocardiogram, chest x-ray)


Vernon fell asleep when he was returned to the cath lab holding room after the heart biopsy. He had two hours to lay flat and sleeping was the best way to pass the time. I sat beside him and read a book written by one of our heart transplant friends, Howie Bolton.

At Shands for heart biopsy & 2 yr check-up

Thank God, we are safely back home tonight, after being in Gainesville for the biopsy at Shands today. We got to exercise patience because though we arrived at the appointment time, 6:45 AM, Vernon's procedure wasn't started until 11:30 AM. He was lying on a hospital bed, gowned and prepped with IV in his arm for four hours. Normally, he would have been taken to the cath lab for the biopsy by 8 or 8:30 but today there were in-hospital patients who took priority plus Dr. Hill had an hour conference call that put everything on hold. Then because the access to his heart was through the artery and vein in his groin, he had to lie flat for two afters after the procedure and then sit for another hour before being released from the cath lab holding area.

We had to go to two other parts of the hospital for more tests: echocardiogram and chest x-ray. Those are routine to check the functioning of his heart and lungs. So it was 4:30 PM before everything was accomplished. Though tired, Vernon wanted to make a quick walk through the 5th floor and CICU on 2 to see the nurses. He really loves to give away candy to anyone and had only two pieces left when we exited the hospital.

We broke up our two hour drive home by stopping for dinner and stopping again for him to walk a few minutes. He is warned against sitting upright for more than an hour while the groin area heals. He also isn't supposed to drive so I did that and enjoyed the light of the nearly full moon while he reclined his seat and napped.

I had lots of time to sit beside Vernon's bed today and used it to read the rough draft of a book written by one of our heart transplant friends, Howie Bolton. The current title is The Valley of the Shadow. I enjoyed it very much and sure hope you get a chance to read it once published. He and his wife, Jenni, live in St. Cloud which isn't far, really (30 miles?). We probably wouldn't have known them apart from this transplant journey. He was the first person we knew to get transplanted after we arrived at the hospital. One of their close friends works at Campus Crusade for Christ, like I do. I shed some tears while reading it and finished just as Vernon's time in the cath lab holding area came to an end.

Back to work tomorrow for both of us! And I'll sign off because I still need to do some things before going to bed.

I'm writing from our Gainesville hotel room. Vernon has a 2 year biopsy of his heart and a general check-up bright and early tomorrow morning. We are to be at the cath lab at 6:45 AM so we drove here after work today. We plan to return home Tuesday afternoon and should receive the results of all the tests Wednesday by phone from our coordinator. The biopsy checks for rejection of his heart and other tests will evaluate how his heart is functioning.

We really enjoyed seeing the night nurses at the hospital after eating dinner. We didn't get to do that when here for the reunion.

In other news, we are still waiting to receive the contact information of the donor family.

No more sightings of the otters, though every time I stand at the kitchen window I look for them. I also look in the neighbor's tall oak tree where ospreys like to perch and eat their catch. And there is another place to look where a kingfisher rests on a post in the water. Often, a great blue heron is standing still on the beach.

That's all for now. Really need to get to bed!

Hooray! Today we received the fax that we were waiting for that is the next step toward direct contact with Lisa, Vernon's donor's wife. It was from LifeQuest, the organ recovery service in Gainesville and was a recipient disclosure request form.

"With the understanding that it is TransLife policy not to disclose the identity of the donor family or the recipient involved in the donation/transplant, unless both parties grant written permission, I request the following information to be provided to my donor family." We wrote in name, address, phone and email address, signed and dated the form and then faxed it to TransLife, the organ recovery service in Orlando (Winter Park).

Now we wait to receive the donor family information and don't know how long that will take. We have no idea if Lisa already received the form for her to complete or not. I shed a few tears this afternoon just imagining meeting her. Stay tuned because I'll let you know when that is going to happen!

We are home again after a great time in Gainesville. Besides enjoying the reunion, we visited the hospital twice to see the nurses and they appreciated the See's Chocolates. We had breakfast with some of our transplant friends Saturday morning and then visited in the hotel lobby til noon. We also enjoyed pizza at Satchell's, a very unusual place.










This man, Jose, was transplanted the same day as Vernon. The other guys who were transplanted near the same time, David, Chuck and Rollin, weren't there.











When we checked out of the hotel, Vernon rode the cart to return it to the lobby - still a young boy in that body. Zoom, zoom, zoom!















We received sad news this afternoon. A young woman we expected to see at the reunion was found dead in her bed Friday morning. She'd been feeling bad and had come to Shands on Wednesday to see one of the doctors. She wasn't hospitalized and her mother says the doctor doesn't have an explanation. An autopsy is being done to try to determine what happened. I estimate her age at 28.

One more thing: among all the reunion participants Friday night was one member of a donor family with the recipient. The mother of another donor planned to attend this reunion but that family had a difficult situation come up that prevented her. We hope Lisa wants to attend with us next year. (Still waiting for the paperwork that will give us direct contact with her.)

We've been waiting a week to receive the paperwork for having direct contact with Lisa and are disappointed it hasn't arrived yet. But we are excited to be heading to Gainesville today for a heart transplant reunion tonight. Not all the heart transplant friends we made will be there but most of them will be and it will be wonderful to see them again.

We plan to spend the night there and return home Saturday afternoon. We will meet some of our friends for breakfast to have more time together. The reunion isn't held at the hospital, so to see the nurses we know, we'll visit this afternoon and tomorrow. We are bringing See's Chocolates to give the nurses to thank them again for their excellent loving care.