How Sweet It Is...

Folks - there's something indescribably sweet about celebrating a birthday that was in doubt. But I've got the greatest gift of all - a wonderful family and great friends. Dora, my new liver, is the gift that keeps on giving and I'll never lose sight of how blessed I am or stop thinking about and thanking my donor's family.

We've had some wonderful days of late - cook-out with friends on a glorious sunny day. And we headed up on a rainy day to Wildcat Ridge, north of here, to see migrating hawks. Tis the season, and some days there are meant to be thousands on display, if you're lucky. Turns out hawks don't like to fly in the rain. On the way to the hawks, Nancy, Alex and Tasha and I lost our way and found our way to a bat cave - complete with viewing perch. In the humid 80+ temperatures, frigid 40-degree air rolled out in a chilly mist from the gated cave - and eery but welcome find. Of course, the bats are active at dusk and dawn - not in the middle of the day. So, to recap - 1 hawk viewing area with no hawks, 1 bat viewing area with no bats.
We did find a flock of chickens chasing after a man who returned to his farm in his white pickup truck. They looked like kids following the ice cream man.
On the way to the hawk lookout we counted 26 frogs (or toads) in assorted sizes from the size of Tasha's thumb to the size of her hand. Alex was reluctant to pop one into his hat for a souvenir, but Tasha would have taken the whole hopping lot of them. It poured on us all on the way down the mountain (about a 1.5 mile dash) - but it was perfect way to spend a day - singing and laughing in the rain.
When your looking for hawks, or bats, and life gives you frogs - make frogade - or whatever.

On the good news front...
my birthday gift from Dr. Teperman kicks in at the end of the week - no more Valcyte after Friday. That means I'm on just on 6 meds/supplements vs 14 or so when I was sprung from the hospital.

Speaking of springing, Shari, who got her liver at NYU and made headlines with her friends' aggressive actions in promoting her cause, has been sprung from the hospital as of Aug. 25 and is recovering.

Oddly, after NYU and UNOS went through great pains to underscore that every is equal in the transplant world - the critical need for the organ being the criteria - NYU actually put out a press release announcing her release. Even more odd, they gave a nice plug to a foundation that she's starting.
Now, you know us - the more publicity for the cause, the better.
We just wish they would plug our similar foundation (INSERT PLUG HERE: The Save David Foundation, PO Box 206, Millington, NJ 07946). And a little NYU PR would have been nice on the fact that one of their transplant recipients - less than 7 months after getting a new liver - was the top fundraiser in all three of the tri-state 5K Liver Walks for the American Liver Foundation, raising a total of $5,120 from generous donors like you...It can only help the cause...

Further on the good news front, an amazing story - a 19-month-old Japanese boy who underwent a six-organ transplant in Miami - is heading home after his Christmas Eve 2004 surgery with: a new liver, pancreas, stomach, small and large intestines and spleen.

Unbelievable.

From today's thought-for-the-day calendar...
''The soul would have no rainbow if the eye had no tear.
Father, how often I rush to wipe away the tear without taking time to see the rainbow that You have provided. Please help me take time to see Your touch in my tears. Amen.''