Ana and Isa’s blog

It has been a few weeks since we’ve posted- time flies when you’re unwinding from a long trip. Although my mind is saturated with memories, the piles in my house remind me that it was time to come home.

Please join me this weekend in remembering my donor James, who, 8 years ago on June 14, 2000 gave me the gift of life. He, like so many other organ donors, had his life cut short for reasons we will never understand and left his family and friends mourning his loss and remembering his  life and who he was. I am privileged to know James’ family and join them in spirit this weekend to remember the events of 8 years ago. His loss was like the rain that sprouted a new tree for others and my life has been never been the same.

So I pay tribute to him today, although it is bittersweet as it is actually the first of my transplant anniversaries that I actually don’t have his lungs within me. I still honor and celebrate him no matter what and thank him for his breath, his life, his energy. I  commemorated the occasion by swimming in the morning and going on a kick-ass 14 mile bike ride that left my thighs burning and my new lungs stretched out. (yes I did this with the damn cast on).

Ah - to be breathless from motion is the best form of breathlessness there is.

As June is half over, I welcome the warmth, I enjoy the sun and the outdoors and I celebrate how different things are today than they were a year ago.

Please join a glass with me as we toast to James ….

 I hope this finds you all healthy and enjoying the summer and anticipating some travel plans of your own.

Tomorrow I return to work after being on disability for 13 months.  Back to the working world- both a privilege and a dread. It is a PRIVILEGE to be well enough to return to a job I love but a dread at the early mornings and inflexible schedule. Back to a reality that  almost everyone experiences- Monday morning at the office. But I’m grateful to return to my former part-time benefited position in prenatal genetic counseling- grateful to stimulate my mind, work with my dear genetic counseling colleagues and give back what little I can to others. Life goes on, thankfully.

Hugs to all my friends and bloggers,

ANA Stenzel

This entry was posted on Monday, June 16th, 2008 at 1:18 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.