A man and his jeep

This is completely off topic but its one thing that is dear to my heart lol. So here is the story...

I driving a piece of crap 1982 Chevy Celebrity. This thing left me stranded more then a few times. Seemed it had a appetite for alternator belts. I wish I would of stuck with my 1985 Ford Tempo, except for the rust (yah who would of thought a Ford could rust lmao) the thing was a tank and never left me stranded once! Anyways I decided to start looking for another vehicle. I had driven by this car lot a few times and noticed a 1987 Jeep Yj. So after hours I stopped in and had a look over (I hate going during business hours and dealing with pushy sales men. It was a decent price and they offered guaranteed financing! This was good cause up to then I did not have any credit behind me. So I talked to my buddy that weekend and he gave me some tips for driving standard as id never driven stick before. I took his moms VW a few rounds around the mall. So Monday came and him and I went over to the lot and talked. We got to take it out for a test drive which was interesting, after a few stalls we were on our way. It felt a little weird everything seemed so tiny in it lol. But I liked it! So the deal was made, financing approved and at that time a crazy rate! The next day my dad drive me down to the lot to pick it up. It was a little icy out. After getting the keys and the handshake I went to drive off, burning the clutch and spinning the tires lol. My dads words to the sales man was "he'll be back next week for a new vehicle lol" So I got home, was an interesting drive. It took a day or so with alot of driving and I got the hang of it. I now prefer standard over automatic lol.

Who ever had traded it in had a add-a-leaf lift on it which raised in about 2 inches. So when the spring came I took a little drive thru the Simcoe County forest behind my house at the time and then I was truly hooked! A couple of years later my other friend and his then gf traded in her toyota 2wd p-up for a jeep. And then it was the two of us with friends hitting the trails every Sunday. I then installed a 4 inch lift and 31inch tires....so I could get stuck deeper in the bush lol. Ive have my share of stucks, my first was out in Coldwater. Me and a buddy were coming back from the auto flea market at Burls Creek and decided to take the back roads, which then led into a snowmobile trail. Which then lef to alot of sloppy clay which does not go well with almost bald tires. We ended up walking out of the trail and knocking on a door to get a ride home. My jeep was stuck there over a week. It was alot of digging to get it out. The next big stuck was up in Port Severn were the left front spring hit a rock coming up a hill resulting in cracking the bellhousing on the transmission and snapping the leaf spring. Again I had to leave my Jeep out there and all pile in my friends jeep. We went back the next weekend and managed to get it out to the road to have it towed home. I have now added a 2" body lift and 35 inch mud tires. I haven't been out on the trails now for a few years, due to money and such. But am really hoping to get back into the jeeping community. As of now my jeep sits in my garage awaiting a new body, thanks to Canada and all the salt they put on the roads. The rust demons have claimed it.

Like the say JEEP stands for Just Empty Every Pocket !

Here is a few pics of the life of the jeep ending in what it looks like right now sitting in my garage

Just taking things in stride.

Its been almost a month now since my dry run. Im not sitting here every second waiting for my pager to go off again, I figure when its my time it will go off. You have to keep your sanity or its just no fun lol. My Friend Allison got her call almost a week ago now. She is still recovering, she had a little what they say bump in the road but its just a normal thing in transplant. But shes strong and still doing great. Hopefully she will be out in a few weeks and be able to enjoy those new lungs.
I have been feeling pretty good, the other day I decided to take my O2 off and see what my saturations dropped down to, they only went down to 92-93 percent which isnt bad. Thats where I usually sit when wearing O2. They like to keep you above 90% its less of a strain on your heart. I dont need to wear that puppy out too lmao. It would be nice if I didnt need it to sleep with, would make life alittle easier. I still seem to need it for moving around so I wont be able to completly get away from the O2. That is the one big downfall of having to wear it to sleep with that I cant easily crash overnight anywhere.
This week ive escaped from going to the city at all. Just have to do my two days of Pre transplant physio in Orillia. Speaking of Orillia im still talking with the lady that I went to the show with. We were hoping to get together this past weekend but unfortnatly plans didnt come together. So were hopeing for next week sometime *fingers crossed :)
I was on fb the other day and one of the guys at the shop posted a video thing that I found pretty funny, its just like some of the customers I had to deal with when I was working there>>

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/7452561

I still can't believe that in four more days it will be my birthday (27th) ill be 35 and yes I was almost a leap year baby. Its pretty amazing, as my one good cf friend said I'm a grandpa in cf years! Thanks for making me feel even older. But in all reality when I was born the doctors had told my parents that I would only live till I was 13. You have to just sit and think in awe how far CF treatments have come. All us cfers are living alot older then ever expected...and hey I'm not complaining one bit lol.
As for birthday plans there isnt really much planned. Getting some friends together for breakfast on Sunday, not really birthday breakfast cause we were planning it before the fact lol just happend to fall on that day. Then my brother planned a birthday dinner Sunday night at my moms....then told my mom she was cooking dinner haha.
As for the weather its still cold and snow hasnt melted yet boooo! Ill be glad when the warm weather comes and can sit out on the deck.. Like my one friend noticed we are all pretty non social in the winter. But come spring and summer we are all getting together alot of time to just hang out on the deck or what ever. Guess thats part of the winter blahs.
Ill end with a pic that I made with a roll up the rim cup from Tim Hortons....if it was only that easy :)

Just a weekly update

Its been 2 weeks now since my pager went off. It has yet to go off again lol. Heard there was another cfer that got his call the day after my call and he got his lungs. Hes doing good so far.

Friday night I had a date with a lovely women, it was nice. We went to the show and seen The Roommate. It was kinda a creepy movie. Lets just say I will be keeping an eye on my roommate lmao. After the show we came back and just hung out, it was really nice. We are getting together again Wednesday night :) I hope things workout, I like her. Saturday and Sunday I just hung around, grocery shopping,cleaning and laundry, all the fun stuff.

Monday morning when I woke up I found my bunny had passed away in the night. He was getting really old. I still remember the night me and my ex had found him on the side of the road, actually just up the road from where I live now. A few Easters he worked at the Stewart Vincent photography as a Easter model for kids to have their pics taken with. He was a star lol. He retired a couple of years ago. He is predeceased by his girlfriend Abby who had to be put down last year due to and hemorrhage eruption. I took him to the vet for a animal cremation and will have his ashes back in a couple of weeks. Its funny what we will do for our pets.

Monday at physio went well except for the nice hefty parking ticket I got. When I got to TGH they were lined up out to the road waiting for spots in the parking garage so I had to go into the parking at the mArs building. The only downfall there is its a pay and display and for some reason their stupid machines do not accept bills only change or credit cards. Well I don't have any credit cards and seriously why carries $18 in spare change with them? So after going thru my truck I managed to get $4 scrounged up mostly in dimes. So that only gave me 1/2 hour of parking which is a complete rip off! So I decided to take my chances. Went and did my physio, met yup with a distant cousin who was there for his transplant assessment due to pulmonary fibrosis. I made my way back to my truck to find a ticket. I paid at 11:00 and paid for 30 mins they ticketed me at 11:50. There was a hell of alot of cars parked how they managed to nail me 20min after is crazy. Anyways it is $74 or if paid within 7 days its $42. Fuck its cheaper to park in a fire route! I question if the tickets are legit and will actually effect me getting my plate ticket next year. Anyways I gave my mom the money and she paid with her visa online. I then called their main office to complain about the machines not taking bills and found out they are in BC wtf? anyways I got nowhere on the phone it was only if the machine wasn't working at all, so I had to submit a complaint online which probably just goes to their junk mail and gets deleted anyways.

This weekend is a long weekend, for my non Canadian bloggers we have a day called "family Day" so Monday there is nothing going on at TGH. They said it would be fine just to do my 2 days in Orillia. Which is awesome I get to save a trip to Toronto.

cf and pre tx clinics

Well the last two days I've had clinics. Monday I have my physio which was scheduled for 10:30 am and then transplant clinic at 1pm. Clinic went well, it usually doesn't consist of much, just how are you feeling are you still on all the same meds as previous? I did ask about why the donor lungs didn't meet their standards and was suprised to hear that upon checking all other organs for other life saving transplants they found some spots on the liver which they put down as cancerous so cause of that non of the organs are usable. So I guess even though the donor may not have known Cancer has affected more peoples lives and their possibility for life saving transplant. Although the donor is still in my thoughts for being courteous and signing their organ donor card....if only more people did.
Tuesday (today) I have my CF clinic. Things went well in their too, my PFT's were up from .99lt to 1.12lt which is amazing. The wait was like always long. I finally seen Dr T around 2:15. She was sad when she heard about my dry run last week. I described all the details of what happened lol. She was happy on my results today and said I have been pretty stable and in great shape for transplant as I'm up and about and such so keeping my strength up.
Well I think that's about all I have to update for now :)

First call a no go.

Monday was a long day. I was up early to travel down to Toronto General Hospital for my regular pre transplant Physio. It went good, had to redo my 6min walk test again as you know if you read the previous blog. But anyways there was really no change in distance from when I did it three months ago. I went 513meters in 6 min, that was good considering some inconsiderate people that wouldn't get out of the way in the hallway Dumbasses!So I got home around 4:30 and was a little tired. I got on to check fb and everything and learned that a couple of my fellow cfers were not doing so good. It kinda got me in a sad mood. I didn't have much for dinner just a Scandishake and a peanut butter sandwich. I then just laid around on the couch watching Tv. Thinking of my one friend that got some terrible news, something I don't know how I could handle if was told but she seems to be strong and continues to fight! It was about 9:20 when my pager started beeping away, I figured it just needed a new battery. I checked and it said one new but figured it was from last time I called it to check that it was still working. So I called the number and got a message to leave a number so I was convinced. Then my phone started beeping saying I had another call. I answer it and it was Toronto General Hospital. Hell this is Toronto General Hospital, we believe we have found some lungs for you. and then asked how I was feeling and such. She then asked how quick I could get there and said as long as I was there around 12:00am, she said have a bite to eat now and a shower if you like. So I called my roommate that I just got "the call" and ask where he was. I told him to meet me at my moms house in Victoria Harbour. So I informed my mom and a few friends that I was talking to online at the time. Filled my o2 tanks,got dressed and drove over to my moms. I got there which is about a 15 minute drive and my roommate wasn't there yet. He showed up about 10 minutes later, hell he was more of a wreck then I was, I was wondering if it would be safer for my to drive lmao. So we hit the highway. We had to stop and pick my brother up at the service center in cookstown. We arrived at TGH at 12:10am and went in thru emrg. I signed in there and was directed on where to go to have a chest xray done. For an emrg dept it was really quiet, I think there was only 2 other people sitting in there. I had my chest xray done and headed up to the 7th floor. They put us in a room that was full of recliner chairs. They took my vitals,drew 12 vials of blood and put a iv line in my right arm. They gave me a 5 page questionnaire to fill out. After that they had someone come in and do and ekg to monitor my heart. The on call doctor came in and talked with us. He said some of them had left to retrieve the donor lungs. And they will know around 3am what the condition of them are in and if its a go. The nurse came in around 2:30 and gave me my first large dose of cyclosporin which is an anti rejection drug. At 3am the came in to check my blood sugar which I figured would be high as I didn't take my night time humlin because I could not have a snack but it was only 5.8 whats with that? Then the nurse said try and get some sleep. Wtf how does a person suppose to sleep with all this going on. Its like saying congrats you won the lottery but first take a nap. 3 am came and went and no word. The nurse said the time of surgery is booked for 6 am but still no word on the lungs. 6 am came and went and the nurse came in and said they have rebooked for 8:15am but yet still no word on the lungs. The porter came to transfer me upstairs to the 10 floor holding area. When he showed up his cell went off. after he got off he said everything is on hold and just to stay here. I think it was 9 am when the transplant nurse came and took us up to the 10th floor. When I got up there and in a room, she started an iv drip of antibiotics and gave me a shot of heaporin in the arm (blood thinner) then we sat and waited some more. The transplant surgeon came in and told us that they were still waiting on the cond of the lungs, the way he was talking sounded like they had to fly out west to retrieve them. It was close to 10am when Dr Chaperio walked past and noticed me, she came in and was all happy I had gotten the call, she then left for a but then came back in to say they did not like the lungs so everything is off.

I wasn't overly disappointed cause I have read of others having dry runs. And lets face it I only want the best lungs for me...dont want any "as is" lungs I need fully certified lungs ready for the road of life!

So it was an experience and I fully know what to expect for the next time the call comes. As of today it is 5 months I have been listed.