Lunch with Tina & Todd

Sunday, August 31, Vernon and I met Tina, his heart donor's wife, and Todd, her boyfriend, for lunch. Of course, Tina had told him about us and told us about him. This was only our third time to be with Tina since we met her April 5 but we've kept in touch by phone. It was great to see her again and meet the man that she is spending lots of time with.

Tomorrow night we are meeting some of our heart transplant friends for a mini-reunion and Tina is going with us so she can meet them. None of the heart recipients we'll be with have met their donor's family so I hope that meeting her will be an encouragement for them.

Vernon had four more radiation treatments this week so I think the total so far is 17 of 30. I'm glad he's more than halfway finished. Eating is not very enjoyable for him right now because nothing tastes right. Some mornings after radiation he feels sick and other mornings he doesn't. The main side effect is fatigue. The part of his face being radiated is red and he's noticed that the sideburns and whiskers don't grow as much on that side. I plan to take some pictures so you can see for yourself.

In my last post I said Vernon was a great help preparing for Emily's wedding but I was incorrect in the account about the hymnal and rubber bands. The woman came prepared with rubber bands to hold the hymnal open but when those broke, Vernon found replacements for her. Other problems that he solved: found floodlights lights for a dark hallway that led to the reception area; suggested we cover concrete blocks that were holding two doors open with wrapping paper to make them look like gifts; and while I was trying to cover one block, he noticed the spider web inside looked like a Black Widow's so he got an electric lighter and destroyed it. Other ways he helped would be difficult to describe, but trust me, he was a valuable member of the team. I'm so glad that he was able to be there with me.