Dear Friends and Family,
I didn’t plan to write much until this coming October when Nancy would celebrate her one-year transplant anniversary—her new transplant birthday. However, yesterday (July 8) was another significant day that I almost unwittingly forgot—Nancy’s other birthday (her fifty-eighth).
Nancy was able to fully enjoy her “birthdate” compared to last year when she’d arrived home just after the first round of chemotherapy treatments.
On this birthdate, Nancy was able to eat a small salad and take several bites of one of her favorite foods, a rib eye steak.
On this birthdate, Nancy took three bites of carrot cake saturated with scoops of vanilla ice cream sitting beside it.
On this birthdate, instead of nasal oxygen and a central IV line for drugs, Nancy had a pillbox next to her plate, whose contents are steadily decreasing (down to twenty-two pills per day).
On this birthdate, instead of celebrating like it may be her last, Nancy drank wine and toasted to many more.
On this birthdate, Nancy knows that if things continue like the last two months, subsequent birthdays will be filled with warmth, happiness, and even fun.
Best of all, on this birthdate, Nancy’s smile is confident and without pain. There is abundant hope instead of abundant uncertainty.
Summary: On Nancy’s fifty-eighth “birthdate” yesterday, we had a true and utterly complete celebration.
Our very best,
Winnie