Goodbye again

Received news of the death of another local transplant patient.  I have no idea what the cause was, but it brings home the fragility of life that a transplant patient lives everyday.  May he rest in peace and his family remember all the extra days they were able to share together.

It is also interesting to watch the storyline on "General Hospital" right now.  I remember when the character "Maxie" got her heart quite a while ago...it was one of the most touching programs I've ever seen.  It showed the anguish of parents who had a child that was dying and were the aunt and uncle of the donor.  They've downplayed the character until recently when she came down with a case of "pneumonia".  Now, the writers are doing a good job of showing the vulnerability of transplant patients.  It appears that there is going to be a health crisis....the question will be whether it is a quick TV healing or if they will play the storyline out as they should.

But, all of this has once again reminded me of how fragile life for a tranplant patient can be and how we should live our life with no fear, but with determination to do all we can as long as we can.  I just hope others can believe in that as well and give us the benefit of the doubt that we are strong enough to handle what comes.

The Insignifance of Some Things

Spring Break is here, and for the sake of so many others, I am so glad.  There are a couple of times during the year that I get so fed up and tired with people over what seems to be such dribble.  I've often wondered if it is because of the transplant or just the fact that I get so sick and tired of listening to the fussing and feuding of pre-teen and teenagers.

Then, I ran across this quote from http://www.psychiatry.med/ about transplant patients:  "The calmness, confidence, and resistence that some transplant patients show may arise as a result of their decreased reliance on the importance of personal identity.  The huge amounts of emotional energy that are required to build and perpetuate a durable and controlling identity are available to them for other use.  They do not need to defend themselves against helplessness and vulnerability.  They have faced these horrors and survived.  Their happiness is less reliant upon beliefs and desires that can be stripped out from under them by illness.  Therefore there is less to be anxious and fearful about.  Their personhood is based on a more durable foundation that exists beyond the apparent strength of personal identity.  Their need for a desirable identity weakens.  The color of one's hair, the style of one's dress can rapidly appear of minimal consequence from the perspective of one who is (or has) confronting their own death.  The need to dominate or interact with others competively is also lessened.  Some who have lived through tragedy can see others' confusion lessened.  Some who have lifed through tragedy can see others' confusion at a glance.  This is because the complex ways by which others support their identity appear transparent to them."

Thank God I'm not a teenage anymore.