Stacey’s New Journal

In a very belated celebration of Stacey’s new lungs here is a much needed new and improved online journal and guestbook!

Stacey’s orignal journal, which covers her journey from the beginning in October 2003 through July 2006 (wow!), can still be found HERE as an archive.

Want to leave a note for Stacey?
It is just as easy as before, you just have to Register the first time.
A password will be emailed to you automatically after you register. Then simply Login and write away!

And help support her site by checking out some of the sponser links!!

-Tori

4th of July Climbing Epic

Greetings, blog readers! I apologize for the lack of posts lately; a lot has been going on in my life these past few weeks.

 Tori, thank you so much for setting up this new blog! I really appreciate the time you spend on the website. I hope to be in touch with you soon.

After coming home from the Transplant Games, I had to sleep a lot to recover from all the excitement and activity. But on the 4th of July weekend, I headed to Mammoth Lakes, which is on the other side of Yosemite. Howard, Eva and I rode together for the six-hour drive, and met Dave and Mark at the condo.

On the first night in town, we ran into Hannah and Lucas, from our home gym in Belmont! We all headed out to climb at a spot called Al’s Garage the next day. It was extremely hot, and the approach was a short but very steep hike, walking up dirt piles and scrambling up rocks, sometimes climbing at a 45 degree angle.

When I arrived, Lucas had already set up a 5.11a, and I jumped at the chance to do a challenging climb on top-rope. Next to me, Dave was lead-climbing a 5.10b, and had come to a crux…looking around for a handhold, and then all of a sudden–a BIG fall! He swung out from the rock in an arc, and slammed into the wall–his leg stuck straight out–shattering his ankle! We called Search and Rescue, and when they arrived with a stretcher about two hours later, 20 people helped carry him out. SAR took him to the local hospital. We all packed up and headed to the hospital, too.

He had emergency surgery that night. Things seemed to be going okay, although Dave was in pain. While I was in the hospital, I checked my oxygen saturation level. It was 90%, precariously low. I decided to wait to see what happened. At 90%, most doctors prescribe supplemental oxygen.

The next day I spent with Dave in the hospital, keeping him company. He was tired from surgery, but recovering okay. Then I checked my saturation level; it was 85%! I had a choice of checking myself into the hospital as a patient and arranging for supplemental oxygen, or leaving the area (an elevation of 8000′) as soon as possible.

That night, I left with Hannah and Lucas, and we enjoyed a long, but relaxing ride through Yosemite National Park. We stopped at Olmsted Point and took pictures of the sunset and Yosemite Valley in the background. We arrived back at home at 1 a.m.

Meanwhile, Dave was having further troubles after the surgery, and was airlifted to Kaiser hospital in Redwood City, near his home. It turned out that he was having acute kidney failure! Now the broken ankle was the least of his problems.

After two weeks in the hospital and some dialysis treatments, Dave made it through. He is now recovering at his home in Redwood City, and learning to walk on crutches.

If anyone would like to send a card, please let me know.

A Visit from Mom

On Wednesday, July 5th, my mother came to visit me here in the Bay Area. She arrived at night, and it was the first time she had seen the apartment all set up; she was delighted.

The next day we went to the hospital for me to get my monthly octreotide shot…it was a little painful this time because they went in twice. While we were at the hospital, we stayed for the monthly heart/lung Stanford patient support group.

It was our chance to talk about the Transplant Games. It was a great experience and sharing pictures and triumphs made it all the better. We also saw our friend Lara, who just recently had a transplant and is doing very well. She was two weeks out from the transplant, and speaking slowly and carefully, but she was there!

Thursday night we went to our favorite Japanese restaurant in Mountain View, where I used to live. Mountain View is an interesting city with a diversity of shops in the downtown area. At a tea shop, my mother bought a beautiful automatic tea pot. Later, we attended a lecture at the East-West bookstore by Marc Allen titled, “The Lazy Type Z Guide to Success.” I figured it is a good place to start for me…I just hope the principles work.

Friday night, I climbed with my friends at Planet Granite Belmont. My partner for the night was Kara, and a few other sheclimbers were there as well. Climbing is going well for me these days. I am up to on-sighting 5.10c on top-rope, only one number grade below what I used to be able to do before the illness. I have been red-pointing a few 5.11a’s, and completing 5.11’s and some 5.12’s with falls.

On Saturday, I played badminton with my new friend Helen. Actually, WE played badminton with Helen…my mother jumped in and started hitting the birdie back and forth, too. With a little practice, she started hitting some good rallies. I was so happy that she could enjoy the game, too.

During her visit, we also saw my friend Angela at Ray’s Tea Time in San Carlos. She welcomed us warmly, and showed us how to do a Chinese tea ceremony.  We were very grateful for the delicious tea and the lesson! After our tea ceremony, we took a walk at Waterdog Lake together. It was peaceful and wonderful to spend time with my mother just relaxing rather than worrying about my health. On the way back, my mother took some photos of me that amazingly showed a glowing light on my shoulder. Psychics have confirmed that it is my guardian angel showing up on film.