Kayla Quote: "Kayla will get a beautiful new heart to match her beautiful soul. <3 Janelle, in an email 4/10/11 - Janelle has had her transplanted heart for 22 years and a kidney from her brother since July 2, 2010. She is 25 years old.
Short Synopsis: Kayla got intravenous lasix last night to help her breathing. There was a little fluid on her chest x-ray. Sh is much better today. She continues to walk well with her physical therapist.
Kayla is not allowed to shower until after she gets a heart transplant. This is very, very disappointing to her. The tubes are large that go into her stomach and there are four of them and this is a wound site that is a direct way for bacteria to get into her body. There is no way to shower with it. She has to take sponge baths or use wipes for the next year as she waits for her new heart.
With this in mind, it was incredible for her to have her hair washed. I have a method of using one of those pink rectangular buckets. I fill it with hot water and then as Kayla is sitting in a chair, I douse her hair in it. Then I put it down and wash. After that I need the help of the nurse - one holds the buckets as the other rinses. It works out well.
Long Story: Today Bumpy is off to her brothers and I am off to the hospital and will join her later at Robert's house. Deirdre's husband, Ty tells me how he is going to do a surprise party for Deirdre's 40th birthday tomorrow night. She has no clue. Family and friends are invited and Deirdre will be escorted to the driveway with a blindfold on, thinking she is getting a gift from him. We don't have to hide our cars and they will be lined up and down on Wilson Park in plain view! All week many of us have been fooled into thinking that it was going to be a regular dinner party at Valerie's house.
No matter!
When I tell her, it is obvious that Bumpy loves parties and can't wait to go!
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All of the company in Kayla's room yesterday makes for a tired mother today. I arrive at Kayla's room and go to retrieve a round personal pizza for her and a hot lunch for me. The cafeteria on the 2nd floor is a great resource for those who want to maximize their time with their loved ones in the hospital. Kayla and I are both exhausted from yesterday's party.
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On the chalk board:
"I miss you Steph." Beth
"I miss you too, Beth!" Steph
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Kayla and I decide to takes naps, she in her hospital bed and I go out to the new waiting room. It's not as spacious and nice as the one on the 5th floor. For days, they have been painting and the furniture is pushed all into the middle of the room. The couches are old, faded and torn. The pictures are boring. One worker is affixing metal wall brackets into a wall to hold up a new TV. Best part of this room is that spectacular view of the Hudson River. One huge window covers an entire side except for the metal grated heater across the bottom.
I grab a blanket and lie down on one of the couches, a little embarrassed. There are no other sleepers here like downstairs, where often you would see family members taking naps.
Am almost asleep...
A woman comes and disturbs me and is annoying. She asks a lot of dumb questions. She tells me I cannot be there. It's not allowed.
I am groggy.
I realize that she is not a worker here. She is just a strange woman with inappropriate questions.
"Are you staying here all weekend? Are you? Are you?" She is really pressing me now.
I sit up and get angry.
"Who the hell are you? I don't know you! It's none of your business what I am doing here!"
She flees...
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Everyone is wondering what sex Pip is. They are saying we may never know. Female and male red-tailed hawk youngsters are the same size in the nest in the beginning. As they grow, females become much larger. Since the other two eggs never hatched, there is no comparison to measure Pip by - no different size siblings.
If Pip were to be banded, and they have decided not to do this, he could be sex typed. They would borrow him from the nest at two weeks of age (today he is 2 weeks old). Alas, it's too dangerous to get to him because the nest is up 12 stories and that ledge is precarious. He or Violet could be harmed.
After all that has happened with Violet's leg after her banding, and subsequent swelling and infection - well, it would not be a popular thing to even consider banding Pip.
So Pip is just Pip - unisex!
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I head off to Robert Potter's house with great directions in hand. It's very clear how to get there.
Umm.....or is it? This is New Jersey. Nothing is clear in New Jersey, according to everyone, and especially according to the laughing Bumpy! Every member of her family has gotten lost going to Robert's house. And then there's the story of Cyndie's husband going on a long run with no ID and getting lost 11 miles away with no cell phone or number to call Robert. Oh jeez...
I have a great sense of direction. I have no fear going to new places. I thrive on it. But when I am on a road that all of a sudden becomes the Martin Luther King Highway and the ghetto appears I am beginning to think that, either Robert is very poor and lives in low income housing, or I am going in the wrong direction.
There are black men milling about the sidewalks. They are listless. They look hopeless. They sit on stoops but they are not really talking much. Do they have jobs? It is obvious who the drug users are. They have a vacant lost look and are sad.
How is it that these people are born into a life of hopelessness and I was lucky to be born into a life of opportunity. Still, there are families with strollers coming through. There are bustlers who are going somewhere important. There are smiles on the faces of young people who think they have the whole world coming up.
I give up and call Bumpy. She said it was a true comedy when she, Robert and Robert's son, Carson, figure out how to bring me in. Robert wants to just come and get me as I describe where I am now. I never stay still and have moved over to a different, safer place. I am 15 minutes away they tell me, but I cannot find a number on the street for them to locate me by internet. I say I am on Route 4.
I tell Robert I am fine. I can drive myself there. I stay on the phone for a few minutes. I am looking for Route 17 North now but it's confusing so I take the left fork on the highway.
Egad!! There is it - the entrance. I am tired of driving around so I take a big risk. I drive over the medium because I see it only has a small curb. I wait. Cars are blaring, but I am not in their way. I am waiting for a break in the traffic so I can scoot over and get on the entrance.
I tell Robert what I am doing, how crazy this maneuver is, but I don't care. I tell him I am hoping no policeman sees me. Robert is quiet.
A break in the traffic...
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Robert has a beautiful home in Ridgewood, New Jersey. The decorating is really nice. Everything is cozy. Bumpy and I will share the guest room on the second floor. Robert likes to play tennis and be in tournaments on the weekend.
What I notice the most is the stuffed hawk collection from their father. He hunted and killed them all. In today's world of wildlife protection, you cannot do this. Raptor birds are protected from being slaughtered, except for those people who have special licenses. Their dad had one of those licenses.
Behind a huge glass case are many different raptors - let's see if I can remember all of them. There was an osprey, a red-tailed hawk, harlan, cooper's hawk, an American Kestral pair (sparrow hawk) and a sharp-shinned...just about everything except a bald eagle. Bumpy has the eagle (not a bald one) mounted and displayed at her home in Austin, Texas.
Bumpy's father has the same fascination with the raptor birds that I do, only he is from a different generation. I would never kill one, ever. I would do everything in my power to save one. These birds didn't have a chance against Bumpy's father.
The Potters are proud of their Dad's artistic side but apparently, early on in his life, he gave up his creating inclinations. He left behind a painting they all love and their Mom made a bazillion prints of it. They could be sold on E-bay one day.
It's a painting of a hawk about to grab a bunny with its claws. A few feet away is the rabbit's hole for escape. The talons are just about at the bunny's back and the bunny is stretched out wide, mid-air, diving forward...
Bumpy says her Dad terrorized her.
"Dad, did the bunny make it?" she would ask.
"Of course not," he replied.
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