I made mention of the fact that my father was in need of some serious medical help a while back. He was on the list for a lung transplant. A double lung transplant actually. Three months had gone by with not much information and hope was fading fairly fast for him. Not that he was getting worse physically but his state of mind was not good. He was more and more worried that he wasn't going to get that call.

Well this past weekend he got that call. They called Friday night and told him to get up to the hospital as soon as possible. For my parents that is about a 3 hour drive. I was called and they left. I showed up the next morning and spoke with pop briefly. He seemed more relaxed than any of us and I figured that since he only had to worry about himself and nobody else he was finally able to be at a little peace. The doctors told him that they would operate that afternoon, then they told him late that night. He told me that it was definitely unsettling to realize that he was essentially waiting for someone else to die so that he would have a chance to live. It put a different perspective on this whole procedure to be sure. Not that we didn't understand that going in, it's just that when it comes down to it, you have to come to grips with it.

Late Saturday night the procedure was started and about 6 in the morning the surgeon came out (one of the surgeons) to tell us that the procedure was successful and he already had more strength in his new lungs than he did in the old ones. A collective sigh of relief went up from all of us at that simple fact. Then we were given all the other info, but truth be told I didn't listen to it all. I was just happy with the fact that my father had made it through the first stage of his fight. The rest would come in due time and we would be there for him.

The next couple of days were stressful for us as well as him. He is doing well so far, but we understand this is just the earliest of stages for him and the real work is yet to come. He has a a handful of pills a day to look forward to for the rest of his life and compared to the alternative that is not a bad thing.

I spoke with pop for a little bit when he was still in ICU and he told me that he didn't know how to feel about this "gift" he had received. He understood that the person who donated the lungs was a fairly young person and that gave him pause and he told me he didn't know how much he wanted to know. It was a little bit of guilt that he was feeling and although I didn't totally understand (how could I) I still got the sense of where he was coming from. I tried to explain to him that yes he did recieve this at somebody else's expense but he didn't cause what happened to them. Our whole family are set up as donors and someday if I meet an untimely end somebody else may be able to benefit from what I can leave behind as well.

I'm just amazed that we have technology that allows my family to keep my father around for a while longer. However long that may be is not important. It feels like we have been given a second chance and I for one am more than grateful.

To the family that lost their loved one all I can say is know that from your tragedy something good came. I'm so very sorry for your loss, but I'm so very thankful for what I received. The feeling is truly overwhelming.

So we begin our plans for the next three months and hope that pop will respond to all the treatments as well as he has to everything else so far. The man is pretty stubborn and resilient for 64 years old.

If you have an inside track with the man upstairs throw a good word in for pop, and throw another in for the generous soul who had the forsight to realize that in their tragedy they could offer up hope to another family who had none.