On Wednesday, July 5th, my mother came to visit me here in the Bay Area. She arrived at night, and it was the first time she had seen the apartment all set up; she was delighted.
The next day we went to the hospital for me to get my monthly octreotide shot…it was a little painful this time because they went in twice. While we were at the hospital, we stayed for the monthly heart/lung Stanford patient support group.
It was our chance to talk about the Transplant Games. It was a great experience and sharing pictures and triumphs made it all the better. We also saw our friend Lara, who just recently had a transplant and is doing very well. She was two weeks out from the transplant, and speaking slowly and carefully, but she was there!
Thursday night we went to our favorite Japanese restaurant in Mountain View, where I used to live. Mountain View is an interesting city with a diversity of shops in the downtown area. At a tea shop, my mother bought a beautiful automatic tea pot. Later, we attended a lecture at the East-West bookstore by Marc Allen titled, “The Lazy Type Z Guide to Success.” I figured it is a good place to start for me…I just hope the principles work.
Friday night, I climbed with my friends at Planet Granite Belmont. My partner for the night was Kara, and a few other sheclimbers were there as well. Climbing is going well for me these days. I am up to on-sighting 5.10c on top-rope, only one number grade below what? I used to be able to do before the illness. I have been red-pointing a few 5.11a’s, and completing 5.11’s and some 5.12’s with falls.
On Saturday, I played badminton with my new friend Helen. Actually, WE played badminton with Helen…my mother jumped in and started hitting the birdie back and forth, too. With a little practice, she started hitting some good rallies. I was so happy that she could enjoy the game, too.
During her visit, we also saw my friend Angela at Ray’s Tea Time in San Carlos. She welcomed us warmly, and showed us how to do a Chinese tea ceremony. We were very grateful for the delicious tea and the lesson! After our tea ceremony, we took a walk at Waterdog Lake together. It was peaceful and wonderful to spend time with my mother just relaxing rather than worrying about my health. On the way back, my mother took some photos of me that amazingly showed a glowing light on my shoulder. Psychics have confirmed that it is my guardian angel showing up on film.