Category: Random Musings

Mom, thank you for adopting me 36 years ago! I am so grateful to you and my late father, Glenn Collver, for giving me a loving family, a happy childhood and the opportunities for a better life in the U.S. (I am sure I would not have survived LAM in Taiwan, among other things.) Today…

At the USA Climbing Western #@*%!isional Climbing competition, many of the kids from my old team put in a very good showing. They are now older, more experienced, and stronger, and doing well with their new coaches. Josh(11) and Yuri(8) Levin both qualified to go to the National Championships. There were several other national qualifiers…

Yesterday, I went for a nature walk with Isa and Rupie. There is a wonderful little park by Isa’s house in Redwood City that has hiking trails. We chose the paths with hills to open up our lungs. The paths went through the forest and at one point there was a creek we had to…

Monday I attended a LAM support group meeting at Stanford Hospital. There were quite a few people there. One of my doctors, Dr. Roland Nador, gave a presentation on Pulmonary Function Tests. There are 42 LAM patients in the SF Bay Area. If you are a LAM patient and would like to get involved, feel…

Stephanie, it will be nice to see you when you’re in town! Thursday was full of surprises. Clinic did not go so well; the PFT showed a drop in performance even though I feel like I am getting stronger. Isa just got back from Japan, and she and I met to go to Ryan Park.…

Hi everyone, Just a note to say things are going well here. I went for a two-hour hike at the Stanford dish last weekend with the Levin family. It was great to be with them and enjoy the fresh air. The boys, Joshua and Yuri, are off to Oregon to participate in a qualifying competition…

Yesterday, Eva, Howard, and Eva’s niece and nephew took me on a mini-hike to Laurelwood Park. It was a short trail but the views were wonderful. There were all sorts of different trees in the valley. It was the first time I had been on a hiking trail since I’ve been out of the hospital…

Sasha, thanks for writing! I hope your injury is healing nicely. I’ll e-mail you. Wednesday I had a procedure done by Dr. Olsen and Dr. Dhillon to drain the lymphatic fluid from my lungs. The exciting part was not actually the procedure, but the ride to the hospital. We were just turning off El Camino,…

I had clinic today, which means a morning of blood draws, x-rays, a Pulmonary Function Test (PFT) and a meeting with the doctors. The PFT showed a little bit of improvement, with lung function (forced inhaling capacity) at 56% of normal. After the hospital visit and a healthy lunch of wheat bread with tomatoes, sprouts…

Denise, thanks so much for writing! It is always entertaining to hear about your girls. Today marks my six-month anniversary from the transplant. Coincidentally, we are moving out of the hometel and going back to my apartment in Belmont tomorrow. I went to the cactus garden by myself today, to reflect a little bit on…