Happy New Year

Wishing everyone a blessed 2009! Tonight Nana and I are spending the new year together. Mark went to the casino in Lakeport with our neighbors for the evening. I can't go to casinos anymore because of the smoke, the risk of getting sick and the air flow in those places. So Nana and I just got home from having a beautiful dinner at Rivera. Rivera is a small Italian restaurant owned by Lucia and Rita. They called me almost everyday when I lived at the hotel worrying about me after the heart transplant. So when I called them to let them know I was coming they were so excited. They gave me a beautiful orchid plant and Lucia cooked a fabulous dinner.
Nana and I had a wonderful moment in time. Gary and Debbie, after I paid, had already paid for our dinner. Rita came running out to tell me it was already taken care of. How many thank yous can I say to Gary and Debbie. They have been my angels and I love them both so much. So now we are relaxing in our reclining chairs watching a movie called "Almost Famous" with Kate Hudson. Nana and I are not too expressed. It's not Sex in the City, that's for sure! I watch one of the series to Sex and the City each day I ride my bike for 45 minutes. My heart is pumping and I don't think its the bike ride. HA HA!


Today I met with Dr. Acktar, Chemo Doctor from Kaiser. He went over the formal report from Stanford with Mark and I. Nothing I don't already know. I will have more blood work done on Friday to determine the Amyloidosis count to start a baseline. My last count was done on 11-14-08 and was 206. The normal range is 19. I have a long way to go but they feel confident with the second chemo drug Valcade, and what I'm taking now Decadron, that the disease will be put in remission. I will start Valcade next week and I am ready to get going to put this disease in remission. 2009 will be a good year! I will be healthy and enjoy every moment!


I hope everyone has a safe and joyous New Year! Please say a prayer for my donor family giving them strength in their time of sorrow. My love and gratitude goes out to them tonight. I want them to know they are always in my prayers and that Jazmin is with them always!

love,
Debbie

The New Year

2009

What does it mean? For me it means second chances, time to reflect on the year past and just how grateful I am to be sitting here writing this post.

I also have mixed feelings. I hope everyone read my last post on December 24th, honoring my angel, Jazmin Iris Mitchell. I have so much to be grateful for and to look forward to in the new year but my feelings deep inside are hurting for my donor family. How can I be so happy when they are faced with so much sorrow. That's when I ask for help from God and my angel. I hope my donor family knows each day doesn't go by without them on my mind. I pray for them and can't wait until the day I can show them my love and gratitude.

So, 2009 I plan to spend it fighting this disease and being healthy. I want to do the things I have put off for so long. First on my list is to continue my lessons in Italian, finish my photo album from my trip to Italy in 2005 and start my other albums, exercising and eating right and enjoying every moment and I mean every moment!

Today was really FUN! I got to drive for the first time in almost 4 months. It felt so good to get my little red car out on the road, turn the music up really loud and just drive. It would have been really fun going topless (the car not me, HA HA). I felt free!! I really thought about taking a drive to Palm Springs. Wow wouldn't that be fun! I love the hot weather, water and just relaxing. Well, I can dream! Reality sets in and I realize I can't go that far right now but soon! It's amazing how much better you feel being able to do things on your own. It's very liberating!

Christmas was wonderful except I was really sick that day. I'm not sure yet if it was a flu bug or spicy Italian food I ate the night before, but I was really sick. I couldn't take my meds and Dr. Dana was threatening to put me in the hospital to infuse meds. So she gave me time to get them down and keep them down. It took until 3:00PM just to get the morning ones in and then I started all over again at 6:00PM. I felt better but a little wiped out the next day. Maxwell left for Canada on Friday. Matt and I drove to the airport to drop him off and it was very sad. I miss him so much. He stayed by my side the whole time he was here. We had so much fun. He is such a great son and I'm so proud of him. He's back in Innisfil playing hockey. The airline lost his new sticks so he's not happy right now. Hopefully, they find them soon! Matthew left on Sunday with Cassie, his little dog. Grandma (me) babysit Cassie the whole time she was here. She slept on my lap in the chair all day and all night. She is so loveable. I know she misses me now. It was great having all three of my boys here and of course my beautiful daughter (I hate the word daughter in law, and Erin knows it). You forget all the funny things they say and do when they are together. Why do they have to wrestle with each other or their dad?

Wednesday I have my first appointment with Dr. Atktar who is the chemo doctor here in Santa Rosa. He will be treating me and prescribing the chemo drug Valcade. I should start that next week. Hopefully, not too many more side effects from the ones I have already. I will take Valcade once a week for 4 weeks and then have 2 weeks off and then back on. As I said before, Stanford wants me to do this for 4-6 months and if my count for Amyloidosis is not decreasing then I have to consider the stem cell transplant. It's going to work!

Need to close for now have to go back to Kaiser to pick up my refill of meds. Have a wonderful evening. I posted this saying a while ago and wanted to post it again. Markie and Erin gave me a beautiful silver heart and this is inscribe on it:

LEARN FROM YESTERDAY

LIVE FOR TODAY

HOPE FOR TOMORROW

Love,

Debbie

Jamae Domonique Mitchell and Jazmin Iris Mitchell

Twins for Life

Jazmin Iris Mitchell

MY ANGEL

Jazmin Iris Mitchell was a beautiful 18 year old woman. She was loved by her family. I am told she loved the color purple, dreamed of traveling, becoming a veterinarian, was engaged to be married to Marco, honest, loving, strong, compassionate, accomplished artist and is my angel!

She is my donor and I will always be grateful for the gift that she and her family gave to me on the night of September 26, 2008. I want my friends and family to read and see what a beautiful woman she was.

How do you say thank you to a family who is still grieving the lost of a child. I have lost two children myself, my twins Joseph and George. Tragically, my donor family has also lost two children, twin daughters Jamae on December 2, 2006 and now Jazmin on September 22, 2008. My twins were babies and yes the hurt never goes away but nothing compares to the lost of two daughters at the prime of their lives. I want so much to hug their Mom Evelyn with my shared heart, her daughter Jazmin’s heart. I want her to feel Jazmin beating inside me. Evelyn has said after the holidays that we will meet and I will hold her so tight, because I know that is what Jazmin would want me to do. I can’t wait for that moment in time. It will definitely take my breath away!

I look and talk to Jazmin each morning. I thank her and tell her we have a full life to live. She wanted to travel and I promised her good friend Sonia that I would take her traveling and see the world. I plan to go back to Italy in two years when the doctors give me the ok to travel. I want to see Paris, Ireland, Greece and even places in the United States like Washington DC, Niagara Falls, The Liberty Bell, Lincoln Memorial, Yosemite, Vietnam War Memorial, and Arlington Cemetery. She will be with me sharing these moments.

Jazmin saved many lives that night and is truly a HERO! Her life will always live on in all of us who received life saving organs from this beautiful woman. I know I will always cherish my shared heart. I speak of our heart as “shared” because my good friend Doctor Kevin Anderson, who received a heart transplant on August 15, 2008, first spoke of his donor’s heart as shared. I thought that was very interesting to call our new hearts “shared” but he is right. Jazmin lived for 18 years with the heart that is now beating inside me and I will live the rest of my life with her heart, so we are sharing this beautiful strong heart.

So my wish is to honor this beautiful woman and her loving family. I hope my family and friends will welcome them into our lives and pray for them in their time of sorrow.

Love to My Donor Family,
Debbie

MILLION DOLLAR GIRLS

Tippi and me waiting to go in for our heart biopsy yesterday at the heart transplant center. Tippi received her heart transplant on 8-28-08. I met Tippi at my first heart transplant support group on 8-12-08. That was the day she was admitted to the hospital to wait for her heart. I knew the first moment we met that we would be friends for life. Not a moment in my day goes by where we don't text, talk on the phone or the computer. She is a sister to me! We have lots to do yet in our lives and I want to share moments with her. She has a beautiful family that supports her - husband Scott, son Rob and daughter Bri along with Mom, Dad and sister Lisa.

Today is Wednesday (day after biopsy) and we both are waiting for the phone call from the doctor about our heart biopsy results. I will post the results as soon as I get my call. All lab work looked fine to me when I checked it last night but still need to talk to the doctors. Look for my special posting tonight also. Merry Christmas!

love,
Debbie

BIOPSY RESULTS

What a Christmas this will be! Just received the call from the nurse at the heart transplant center regarding my heart biopsy results. I got an NER - no evidence of rejection!! That is GREAT!! The best result was no evidence of Amyloidosis in my new shared heart. I am so happy because I want to protect my new heart. I get to decrease my presidone to 5mg per day but that won't make too much of a difference since I took 40mg of Decadron today. Oh well what ever it takes to put the disease to rest so I can live a healthy life.

I have a very special post after this one. It means so much to me because I believe my angel, Jazmin is watching over me. She won't let anything happen and that's the reason why I am doing so well! Her family did say she was very loving and caring. I believe them! May you have a blessed Christmas and please say an extra prayer for my donor family.

Love, Debbie

It's late and I should be fast asleep but went to bed too early so now I'm up. I laid in bed thinking I should go back to sleep and then decided to get up and write this posting.

I spent the weekend enjoying new traditions and spending time with my boys. Saturday didn't start out very well. Saturday was my day to crash from the drug Decadron. They say on the third or fourth day is when it hits you and side effects can be different. That is true. Some days I'm fine and others I'm not. Well Saturday was about the worse! I felt extremely fatigue and out of it. We were planning to go to San Jose to spend Saturday with Erin's family celebrating Christmas. I knew how important it was to Grandma Ruby to see me, so I decided to go.

We had a few stops to make before - Hockey Xsport in Oakland. Maxwell needed two new hockey sticks and blades. I haven't been there for years when the boys were little and both in hockey together. It brought back lots of memories driving them everywhere to pick up hockey gear. I know at the time it was a pain but I would give anything to have those days back again!

We arrived at Grandma Ruby's house and everyone was there. Uncle Bob, Aunt Barb, Andrea, Michael, Martie, Jeff and Grandma Ruby. Grandma Ruby will be 91 years old in January and is so full of life. I watched her enjoying every moment in time spent with her family that day. We had a wonderful dinner prepared by Aunt Barb and Jeff and during dinner Grandma Ruby surprised all of us. She had written a paper about her life and wanted her family to know everything about her. She read a three or four page story of her life and as she read the story I found myself thinking she is a remarkable person. At 91 years old she wanted her family to know the accomplishments she achieved in her life such as owning her own business in the 1960s called "Martha Lee Designs" in which she employed 30 employees making small doll clothes for the then famous "Barbie" dolls. She went on to received several degrees at San Jose State University before retiring. She and her husband after retirement enjoyed traveling every where including Europe and the far east. She was so proud to share this moment in time with her family and I was happy to be there.

After dinner Mark, Markie and Maxwell left for the Sharks game. Grandma Ruby loves ice hockey and especially the Sharks. She knows everything about the team and the players. Grandma Ruby spends lots of time on her computer looking at the team stats and standings. She emails Markie all the time about current Shark events and he enjoys talking to her about the team. Her favorite player is Johnathan Chechoo #14. Grandma Ruby loves her Sharks!

This was my first time at Grandma Ruby's house for Christmas. I was so lucky to be included in their family tradition of gift giving and enjoying each other's company. Uncle Bob took the role of Santa wearing a special Santa hat that I assumed he wore each year. Each gift was given out in a precise order and was opened by the receiver before the next one was given out. Uncle Bob made sure that the person had plenty of time to open and thank whoever gave the gift to them. It was not a rushed event! Unlike, my childhood memories of Christmas gift giving where the hour spent was so rushed no one could remember who gave what! This was different. We spent time talking and enjoying the moment with each other. I kept looking at Grandma Ruby and thinking how wonderful it was to have her there sharing this moment. I told Martie it was a special time for me and it took my breath away. I'm so happy I made the trip even though I wasn't feeling well. I slowly became tired and fell asleep as they finished opening their gifts. Jeff was so kind to take Erin and I back to the hotel and you guess it I feel fast asleep.

Sunday, I spent the whole day home just relaxing and really doing nothing at all. Today is Monday and Mark and I will leave for San Jose around 2:00PM. We are staying at a hotel and I have my routine heart biopsy on Tuesday at Kaiser Heart Transplant Center at seven in the morning. Its been a month since the last heart biopsy and I'm really nervous. Tippi feels the same. I know it will be fine but its the unknown and the wait for results that always makes me crazy. This is something I will have for the rest of my life. I will have heart biopsy every month for the first year and then I believe it drops to one every three months and then one every six months. This next one will included the congo red test for Amyloidosis in which they will take a few extra pieces of the heart to test for Amyloidosis. My last test was negative and I hope this one will be too!

Today before I leave Mom and I will go grocery shopping for Christmas dinner. Maxwell asked for my homemade lasagna on Christmas Eve with Italian sausage. I have enjoyed preparing all of his favorite meals. The other night it was great smelling hot brownies cooking in the oven. It brought back memories of waking up at midnight smelling brownies cooking in the oven. Maxwell would cook brownies and eat only the middle of the pan. I'd wake up the next morning to find a pan of brownies with the middle gone. I would give anything for those moments again!

I have a special posting this week I'm working on. It means so much to me and I want it to be right. It definitely takes my breath away and I'm sure it will you!

It's almost two in the morning and I better get some sleep. I will post results on Wednesday of heart biopsy and of course my special Christmas posting.

Enjoy those moments in time that take your breath away!!

love,
Debbie

Me and Maxwell

Nana and Maxwell

Maxwell came home last night from Canada for Christmas. He has been gone since July and I have missed him so much. Maxwell plays ice hockey for a Junior A team in Innisfil, Canada. Mom is bragging but he is one of the youngest players on the team and this week made the top 10 list for GMHL league. Maxwell will be 18 in March and has been playing hockey since he was four years old. Markie would dress him in goalie gear and shoot pucks at him when he was four. Half the time Max wouldn't even have all the protective gear on - that's brothers! Maxwell will graduate next year and our hopes are that the scouts, who are looking at him now, will consider a college scholarship or semi-pro. Mark and I have sacrifice raising our son so he could pursue his dream of playing hockey in college, semi-pro or the ultimate NHL. We are very proud of our son! He has become a determined, honest, hard working young man.

Nana was surprised tonight with a new oven for Christmas from me, Maryann, Joey and Kathy.

Merry Christmas Nana! We love you!

Our dear friend, Scott Ford put Nana's oven in for her. Thank you Scott!

Nana loves her new oven!

Maxwell helped with the big pipe wrench. Stick to hockey sticks, Max!!!

BIGGER THINGS TO WORRY ABOUT

Well today didn't go the way I thought but there are bigger things to worry about. Maxwell missed his flight in Toronto, Canada this morning because someone did not get him to the airport on time. We learn a lesson and that will not happen again. So the poor kid has been flying all over Canada to get home tonight. I'm so disappointed because I want to see him so bad. He has not seen me since my heart transplant and I know he is worried. I also made him his favorite dinner ham and scalloped potatoes and corn. Markie is coming over at ten o'clock to see his little brother and have dinner after pick up hockey. Maxwell wanted to play hockey tonight with all the big boys with Markie. He lands in San Francisco at 8:00PM and my dear friends Debbie and Gary are picking him up at the airport, so I don't have to drive down there. They are coming back from Los Angeles and will wait to pick up Maxwell. I was afraid I would miss taking my drugs till late and not have dinner, so they offered. That's what I'm talking about - there are bigger things to worry about. I am so lucky to have friends - no they were never friends - I have known them since I was 17 years old. Mark was in their wedding and Gary was in ours. I have worked for them for the past eleven years - so they are family!!!!!

I talked with Tippi today and she is going in for lab work tonight before we have our biopsy on the 23rd. She is anxious just like me. It is so hard when the time comes for heart biopsy because you don't want to reject. Its been a month since last biopsy for me and her, so we are really anxious. I did my lab work last week and all labs were great, including my cyclosporine court (stayed the same at 200). I took Decadron today and will be up all night - wires me. I feel pretty good right now, just cold. I'm sure its really cold outside but the drugs give me chills. So I have the fireplace going and sit under my electric blanket to keep warm. I'm watching my San Jose Sharks play and they just lost.

Tomorrow I'm going to the nail salon for manicure and hair waxing. I hate the waxing and I really hate the increase of hair growth - EVERYWHERE! Mom is taking me to Sally Hansen's on Friday to see if they have a face cream to use instead of wax cause the wax is peeling my face skin. It hurts! I asked Tippi to ask the lady who had her heart transplant two years ago what she uses for the hair growth. Like I said, there are bigger things to worry about.

I watch one of the talk shows today. I haven't done that in years. I listen to something that really meant something. Today with the world economy as it is, we are all suffering one way or another. Maybe losing our job, home, life savings. The woman said she did not have enough money to spend to buy gifts and decided to write letters to everyone for Christmas. She used beautiful stationary and envelopes to express what the season meant to her. I think that is a wonderful thing to do. I never cared for Christmas and one reason is the expense, stress, buying unnecessary gifts and so on. What a wonderful idea to express how one feels for the person receiving the letter. I'm sure it relieves stress on the receiver also not to have to buy a gift and spend money they don't have. Just a suggestion.

Mark took me to Kohl's last night to buy small things for the boys and Erin. It was crowded and the lines were all the way down the aisles. Of course, I had my mask on and a kind old lady asked if I was contagious. I said no and that I had a heart transplant almost 3 months ago. You should have seen the heads of everyone turn to look at me. They all said they have never known anyone who had a heart transplant and I said me either. Now I know lots! They kindly asked about my beautiful donor, in which, I told them her name is Jazmin and she is 18 years old. I told them to pray for her family and give them strength during this holiday season. I look at Jazmin's pictures all day and I know she is with me. My friend Karen told me yesterday and that's all I will say because alot of you know Karen is a medium, my very dear friend. She helped me to understand a very important issue that happened after my twin boys died. I carried something inside of me for the last 26 years and she got the answer from them. You have to believe and I do! Thank you Karen.

Well I guess I'm just rambling on but like my friend Suzann at work said, its good to journal to get things out. She's right it feels great.

Have a wonderful evening. I'm counting the moments until Maxwell comes home.

love,

Debbie

It's Saturday and where's the rain. The forecasters said we were going to get soaked with the big storm. It was such a beautiful day. The air was cool but the sun would pop out of the black clouds every so often. I didn't go out but watch the clouds roll by. The wind was strong and the leaves are everywhere. My Italian and Sicilian flags are blowing in the strong wind. It's that time of the year.

I put up a Christmas tree this week. Alot of you know that the Douglas Family always seems to find the biggest tree possible and gather all the neighbors to help bring it in. Not this year! This year is different. The heart transplant doctors felt a real tree inside would not be best for me. They felt the possibility of fungus or mold would not be good for the heart. So this year, my good friends Jane and Steve Bjork gave us one of their extra artificial trees. It is so cute. It is on a rotating stand and was so easy to decorate. I just stood there as it went around and decorated. Oh, and no outside lights this year either. Mark just felt this year we would take a break and enjoy the holiday without worrying about the lights going out. There's always next year! A lot of traditions kind of went sideways this year! I wasn't able to do my Gingerbread house or make cookies. There's always next year! This year will be different but I am blessed. I'm here!

Maxwell is coming home this Wednesday. We haven't seen him since July. I'm so excited to see him. Uncle Joey and I will pick him up at the airport. He's already asked for his favorite foods -lasagna and split pea soup. So I will be cooking lots while he is at home. We are going to Grandma Ruby's house for early Christmas dinner and the boys are going to the Shark game next Saturday. I'm so happy to spend time with Maxwell while he is at home. He can drive me around and I'll be able to get out a little. Markie's birthday is Wednesday and we will be celebrating his birthday on Friday. He wanted a little get together in the bar room for his birthday. It will be so great to have all my boys home together.

Mark went to the trailer today. We haven't been there since September. I hope it's still there! HAHA! The doctors will not let me go to the lake until Summer because of the trees, dirt, fungus and mold. Our trailer has a propane heater and doctors feel it's not healthy for me. So Mark and Scottie went up today and closed both trailers for the winter. We will be back before the Summer enjoying the lake, boating, visiting with our friends and just relaxing. I love my little trailer.

We are going to Scott and Carol Dolinsek's open house tonight. Scott and Carol were so kind while I was living at the hotel to feed Mark every Thursday night at their house. I haven't seen them since I've been home so I'm excited to see them tonight. I'm feeling just a little tired and weak today. I watched the movie Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. What a cute movie! Find the meaning to the movie - it's amazing.

Tomorrow Mark is taking me to Costco. We need to stock up on meat. Then its Sunday football. Scott and Linda are staying for dinner and I'm making leg of lamb, roasted potatoes and carrots with Bearnaise sauce. YUM! Maybe the rain will come tomorrow. I'm looking forward to the rain. We need it.

My wish for all is to not stress during this holiday season. Think about what is important in your life. What do you value in your life. Spend time with family and friends making moments that take your breath away!

love,
Debbie

ONE WORD DESCRIBES THIS DAY - GRATEFUL

What does it feel like to be in a room with 30 heart transplant recipients ranging from transplant date of 1987 to October 31, 2008. One word - Grateful!!!

The word has such a strong meaning to me now. I am so grateful for the life I have been given to live and grateful to a beautiful family who gave me life.

What I saw today was people living their lives to the fullest. Each knows how close death was and realize how valuable life is. I can see it in the faces of each and every one of them. That is how I will live my life - to the fullest.

My dreams and goals for the future include more traveling. I want to go back to Sicily and knock on the family's door and speak italiano (parlare italiano). I want to sleep in a little village there and wake up the next morning and go to a small cafe and have caffe with the villagers. I want to see Washington DC, Yosemite, the liberty bell, The Lincoln Memorial, and Niagara Falls. I want to go to Toronto Canada to the Hockey Hall of Fame and then to Innisfil to see Maxwell play hockey. I want to see my first grandchild born and enjoy being a grandma.

When you are faced with a sudden illness, you begin to think about what is important. I now realize what is important - health, happiness and life. What is important in your life and what are you grateful for? Don't let a day go by wasted. Enjoy every moment in time!

Today was alot of fun! I saw Tippi, Kevin, John, Matt and Michael. All my heart transplant friends. We were treated to a catered lunch. Dr. Dana did the introductions and each of us were called one by one and presented with T-shirts from the heart transplant center. We took pictures with the heart transplant doctors and one big group picture. I was able to see Christine from Stanford, who took care of me after the heart transplant. This was the first time she had seen me since I left Stanford. It was a very happy meeting! I wish we could see our heart transplant surgeons again but what I'm told is that they are very busy. God bless them!

Dr. Dana also introduced us to two ladies from the Donor Procurement Center. I was able to talk to Lori after the meeting. She was overwhelmed by the contrast between her work with donor families and being with the heart transplant recipients. Donate Life was their message and they gave all of us wrist bands, key chains and book markers. They expressed that we are the ones who can pass the word to others about donation. Tell our stories and ask everyone to become a donor.

Every moment I spend with my heart transplant friends, the heart transplant doctors and nurses warms my new shared heart. They are miracle workers and God bless them.

Have a wonderful evening and enjoy every moment in time!

love,

debbie

WHAT A BUSY WEEKEND

My busy weekend started on Thursday night. I had a wonderful dinner with Gary, Debbie and Kathy Conley at John Ash. It was so great to see Kathy. Chef Tom came out and said hi. He was so concerned that I eat good things for my heart. He made sure my steak and everything I ate had little or no salt. It was a very nice evening.

Friday was a very special day. I was able to attend the client appreciation lunch at Tommy Toys. This is a very special day for my clients and alot of them take the entire day off to enjoy the seven course meal. Tommy Toys is a very famous San Francisco restaurant. Alot of you don't know what kind of work I do. I work for a commercial collection agency. I don't collect on medical or dental bills but for commercial accounts like food, beverage, radio, TV etc. My clients are mostly commercial large accounts such as San Francisco Chronicle, Youngs Market, Sysco Foodservice, US Foodservice and many more. The luncheon on Friday is for our clients to say thank you for the business during the year and for a holiday celebration. The meal is seven courses of Chinese French. I couldn't have alot of the courses because I can't have shell fish anymore. So I changed the menu. It was so good. I had five courses. My clients could not believe I was there and I knew how important it was to be there. I'm glad I went. I came home and crashed. I slept until 7:30PM and then Mark woke me up because I had to start dinner and take all my medicines. I slept really good last night too!

Today as usual I got up at 5:00AM and read the newspaper with Mark. I started my spaghetti sauce. Cousin Maria called and said her and Mike were coming up to visit. We had so much fun. Mike watched football with Mark in the bar room with the guys and Maria and I watched - Guess what! Sex in the City. They stayed for dinner and then had to leave. The weather was really bad outside - the fog was terrible. I was tired and went to bed so early and now its 1:00AM and I'm wide awake. I have a lot of trouble sleeping and going to bed so early didn't help. I'll play with my new lap top and hopefully get tired and go to sleep. I think I'll do some of my Italian lessons to pass the time.

I have asked my donor family if it would be ok to post a blog about Jazmin including pictures of her and her family. I want my family and friends to meet my angel. I'm writing a draft because I feel it is so important to be sure it is thoughtful and considerate of my donor family's feelings. So I don't want to rush. I'm so happy to have them in my life and can't wait to meet them personally.

I read Kevin's blog and he started the second chemo drug Valcade. Kevin received his heart transplant on 8-15-08, just about 6 weeks ahead of me. Therefore, starting the second chemo drug will be ok. I will talk to him today to see how it is going. I know the drug is given by infusion at least twice weekly, so I'll find out how he feels and what other side effects there are. I can not believe the side effects these drugs including all the heart medicines have. I had my face waxed entirely on Saturday to remove all the hair growth. It would be nice if the hair grew on your head and not on your face. HAHA! Well this is a small price to pay to have this second chance at life.

Well I think I'll play with my Italian tapes for a while and hopefully start to get sleepy. This week, I'll be going to the heart center on Tuesday for the support group meeting. I'm excited to see my heart transplant friends, doctors and nurses. It will be a big day!

Make moments in time that take your breath away! Give to others during this holiday season. Make a special moment in someone else's life. I have so many special moments to be thankful for and pray to God each day for the gifts I have in my life.

love,

debbie

WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON

Not much has been going on this week. Just trying to rest. On Sunday and Monday I felt some weird feelings in my legs and arms from the Decadron. Oh its on the list of side effects along with weight gain, mood swings, hair growth, soreness, swollen joints, headaches etc. I have them all! I spoke with Dr. Dana's nurse coordinator Sue yesterday and Dr. Dana has decided to wait until my next heart biopsy on December 23rd before starting the second chemo drug Valcade. I agree. I want my new shared heart to recover and that will be approximately 13 weeks out from transplant. Originally they said I would not start chemo for 3 months, so this will be perfect. I'm feeling great as for the heart. The side effects I'm feeling are from the drug Decadron (steroid). It is a terrible drug with so many side effects (as I listed above). I rode my stationary bike yesterday 45 minutes and did ball squats for 2 minutes. I'm hoping to increase the bike to 1 hour a day and the ball squats to 4 minutes. I felt great after exercising except I had a bad headache all day. Today it seems fine but I have been up since 3:30AM. The Decadron also wires you up - so not much sleep for the first few days after taking it.

Tonight I am having dinner with Gary, Debbie and Kathy Conley from Youngs Market. She is flying here from Los Angeles to visit me. We will have dinner at John Ash & Company. I called and asked Chef Tom to fix a special dinner for me (no salt) and also to be sitted away from the main dining room so I don't have to wear my mask all night through dinner. It will be the first time out for dinner. I will take pictures tonight and tomorrow at Tommy Toys in San Francisco. I am really looking forward to seeing all my clients tomorrow. It is a special day for them to acknowledge their continued business with Creditor's Trade Association and I do appreciate their business. Although it will be a long day, I am excited!

I also have something to share with everyone. My sister Kathy, as many of you have suggested I do, looked up on the Internet and found information about my donor and her family. I have known about them for weeks but felt out of respect and to be sure of the information I would wait until they contacted me. I did receive a call from the Donor Center who said someone from the family did call and received my letter but that they understandably are in deep mourning at this time but will contact me at a later time. I respect their wishes and it made me feel good to know they accepted my letter and know my feelings of gratitude. Since then Kathy has communicated with a friend of my donor. My donor's name is Jazmin. She is a beautiful 18 year. I have pictures of her and hope someday with the family's approval I would love to share her with all my friends and family. At this time, I want to respect their wishes and give them time to grieve. I promise I will honor Jazmin on this blog when the time is right. For now, please pray for my donor family and ask God to give them his blessings.

I don't have much going on except caring for myself and my new shared heart. I have a Heart Transplant Support Group Meeting in Santa Clara on December 9th. Gary, Debbie, Mom and I will be going. It is a BIG party celebrating everyone who has received a heart transplant and there will be about 250 people. They will present everyone by the number of days and years out from transplant to the group. So I will stand up when 11 weeks is called out. I will be able to see Kevin, Tippi, Phil, John, and all my other transplant friends who have helped me get through these last 4 months. It has been the most wonderful moments in time.

Have a wonderful day and enjoy each moment in time! I will post pictures this weekend of my party at Tommy Toys and dinner tonight at John Ash.

love,
debbie