We did not move to Brampton with even the slightest idea of my mother getting a transplant. In fact, back in Calgary she had a respirologist who's answer to my mom's question about transplant was "You wouldn't survive it..." A solemn lowering of his head, gently gesturing no... Much sympathy in his eyes. It robbed her of her hope. The chance she had wanted to hear, shattered. My mother did not mention the possibility of transplant again, that is until several years later when she moved in with us here in Brampton.
Our intentions were to take care of her and my grandmother. My grandmother had dementia but was functioning quite well on her own. She was able to cook, and in fact after moving here she adjusted rather well. She was walking daily to the grocery store where she would buy cans of spaghetti etc, talk with people and just generally enjoying what we had promised her we would always give her... "Freedom!" She valued this more than anything and years prior without truly understanding it's consequences I promised her that we would never put her in a nursing home. She died in a hospital only because she had contracted an Antibiotic Resistant Organism and had to be isolated. They asked us if we wanted to pursue aggressive treatment to save her live but at 94 years of age it was time to let go. The doctors advised us that she was suffering greatly and that her dignity was of utmost importance to us all...
Now back to my mother... She was happy that we were able to bring her mother with us. It meant she would not have to live with the guilt of abandoning her mother in a time of need. My mother's quality of life at this time had come to a screeching halt. I mean her entire world was spent in our home and within the constraints of the oxygen hoses and tanks. Her O2 was now at 4litres flow and more importantly her Oxygen Saturation dropped into the 80's whenever she performed any sort of exertion. It was very frustrating for her indeed. Trips to walmart often ended in panic and despair when her tank would malfunction or she would exert so much that an ambulance had to be called. Infection after infection we were really starting to worry that we would not have her much longer. We were told that in Ontario, finding a family doctor was nearly impossible... Specialists even more difficult and so we were really scared, wondering if we had done the right thing by bringing her here...
But then!, we found a family doctor... Right near our house in fact and he is such a great guy! The clinic receptionists, now that's an entirely separate blog about how they lost our medical charts etc but the Doctor seemed really good. Soon after that we met with a respirologist and then the miracle came to us... During a regular checkup the respirologist explained to her that at her current end stage disease she would likely not live past the next couple of infections. aggressive treatments had always helped, All the amazing drugs and therapies had extended her disease to now past 18 years and we had been grateful for that. But then he asked her if she had ever considered transplant. I will never forget the look on my mom's face when she heard that.... She couldn't speak for a couple of moments and actually trembled a bit. Her words crackled as she expressed the disappointment she had had years earlier with her Calgary doctors...
Suddenly it was all clear to me, everything in our lives had fallen into place for this purpose. It all happened so perfectly... We found ourselves at the Toronto General Hospital talking to the evaluation team about the possibility of Transplant...
And that is where I will leave this blog... I will return to describe the process as we experienced it...
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