A note from Terry

Terry has a blog on the site CaringBridge, under the name Terry Tyler. I'm copying this entry from his blog. One day I asked him what would change for him if we were able to go through with this transplant. Here's the response I got from him:

You asked what would change for me if I got a transplant. I didn't really give the most significant answers. It's not so much what would change as my being able to keep two very important things in my life, for a long time, hopefully.

The first would be to keep the wonderful and ever improving relationship with Ingrid. We have had our times of trials in the past but have gotten to a place of intimacy and friendship that is actually hard to believe. Groundhog day was the thirty-fourth anniversary of our meeting and in August we had our 25th wedding anniversary (we had an 8 year courtship, including 2 years apart.) We never wore wedding rings before, but in August we got a pair of rings from Ben Nighthorse, with bear totems. Last night we had a a lovely dinner at the Kennebec, then this morning, snuggled, made love, babbled and sat in the hot tub from 4 AM to 10 AM. It's really had to beat days like that.

The second thing to keep is my practice. When we first came here 19 years ago Ingrid would ask me when I thought I might retire. I said 10 years. I was 51 years old. Every few years she'd ask again and I'd say 10 years. Now I'm 70 years old and I'm still saying 10 years (with the possibility of extending, of course, if I'm doing well.) I continue to love the work, seeing people get better (most of the time) and I love seeing my patients. When I've been off for a bit I start thinking about individual patients, wondering how they are doing and I look forward to getting back. Hard to beat that too.

So I'm not so much looking to restore something I had before, although that would be nice. I'm hoping to stay healthy enough to continue to love and be loved, to help others appreciate their lives, for them to be loved and to love. If I can do that for another couple decades (or more) that would be the greatest gift I can imagine.

Terry

So two days from now I will have one of his kidneys cleaning my blood. And also, less well known, keeping my red cell count up to par and keeping my blood in the right range of acidity.

So for me one of the important things that has come from all the prayers is running into Paul and Joyce that afternoon in the Mercy cafeteria. And having him offer to donate. This seems rather miraculous.