In 2010, I was diagnosed was COPD.
I have managed to work with this disease for a long while but this past year has been more difficult. I am fortunate to have been referred by my doctor to the University of California San Francisco Medical Center and their unbelievable Lung Transplant Team for help. It has been a long seven months of multiple testing, poking and prodding to find out that most of me is in good shape, but my lungs don’t measure up. They have listed me for a lung transplant in February of this year, and I have decided to go ahead with their program they have offered me, a single lung transplant.
While waiting for this to come together and as a member of Mercy San Juan’s Pulmo Pals. I am attending their exercise program two to three times a week. This program is crucial for staying strong and as fit as I can be for the surgery. I am not unfamiliar with surgery because at the age of twenty I was injured in an accident at work. The accident was devastating, and it resulted in six surgical procedures of my leg and back that left me with a relatively serious disability. I was lucky because of good doctors and support teams, physical therapist especially. I am ready for this surgery, post-surgery and the rigors of what it is going to take to get back on my feet.
Updates (1)
April 16, 2019
APRIL 9, 2019
Last Tuesday Marlene, Teresa and I went to a support group meeting in downtown Sacramento. The group was for members and their caregivers. It happened that they had scheduled a guest speaker who was going to give a talk on writing as a stress reliever. Part of the presentation was to have us write a little something. She handed out a “writing prompts for healing” sheet and told us to pick one and write. In the list was one perfect for me and I thought of the evening my son, and I took a picture to use for my profile photo…
In this photo…is Nix and me. Jason took it for the profile picture that I needed for my fundraising page. He kept saying, “No that’s not a real smile. Mom smile naturally!” and we would laugh. I would insist it was the best I could do. He’d make a face and show me what I looked like and we would laugh even harder. He kept coaxing, and we’d laugh some more. Finally, after about 10 tries he declared a winner! He said, “Mom, this is you.” He turned his iPhone around and there we were Nix and me, with a smile I hadn’t smiled in quite a while.
This profile photo will be a favorite for quite a while. And, yes the support group meeting was so helpful. The speaker was giving a presentation on relieving stress through writing. I did feel good after I wrote this little piece about my profile picture. Met several members who had transplants and I will be talking with them more at next months meeting...we are going back.
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Guestbook
April 21, 2019
Looking forward to seeing you Thursday! ❤️
Marlene Huttner
