Wind Song Journal

Cherie, thanks for your note! I hope to meet you this Saturday. Last Sunday, Dave and I went to Castle Rock State Park to go hiking. First, we took the .3 mile trail to Castle Rock. Then, we followed the trail to the Waterfall area. In total, we covered about 3 miles. I have so many memories at Castle Rock. They started coming back to me as we passed each rock. I had mostly climbed with women from sheclimbs, the kids from my old team, or my friend Mark. I have been doing a lot of climbing, too. Monday, as Cherie mentioned, I went climbing with Rhona and her girls. Tuesday I climbed with Amy, and after the session I had a breakthrough! I actually did a couple pull-ups! It made me very satisfied. Yesterday, I also met Isa at the pharmacy where we buy our meds. She is back from a family vacation to Norway, and we had a nice lunch. Later, I had Robin over for a dinner of garlic chicken with green peppers. We hadn’t seen each other since I was in the hospital so it was great to talk to her. For some reason, I couldn’t fall asleep last night until 2:30 a.m. So today I’m not feeling so well. I threw up right before lunch. I still get sick almost every other day. Progress is still slow in the digestive department. Stacey, from Belmont

Thursday, I met Gillian at the stadium and we did a lunch-time session. After the stadium, I met Tom for a bike ride at the Sawyer Camp trail at Crystal Springs. I was glad that I could do both activities in one day, even though I am very slow! Friday I climbed with Cindy and Oded. I did some sets of 15 push-ups and accidentally made myself sick from the exertion. I was happy to be getting my upper-body strength back. Stacey, from Belmont

Kristina and Peg, thanks for visiting my website! Yes, I do remember you, Peg, and I should really take up meditation practice again. Kristina, it was great to talk to you and we’ll climb soon. Update from Boston: Joshua’s climb was not rated 5.12b, it was a 5.13a! (Much harder!) I also heard that the father, Richard, took 1st place in the adult category. Way to go, Richard! Sunday night, Mark brought over steamed catfish and we had a fun dinner at my house. He has been gone for almost the whole month in different Asian countries so it was great to see him. July 4th, I had a wonderful picnic with my aunt Lorraine and cousin Brenda. Chicken pasta, salad, fresh bread…at a picnic table at the park. It was a trek for Lorraine to get from the car to the picnic table, because she had to negotiate lots of tree roots hidden in the lawn. But she didn’t give up. She walked to a tree, rested, and continued on her way to the table even though it was difficult. (We decided an alternate route using the pavement would be better for the trip back to the car.) Yesterday afternoon, I went climbing with Rhona. We are both improving. I tried some 5.10a’s and 5.10bs, and some 5.9 overhangs to work on strength. As I am able to do harder climbs, the moves are getting more interesting. Rhona had a great time. She described her experience as “touching the inner chimpanzee within.” Last night I had dinner with Cindy at my house. I made chicken with a garlic wine sauce and spinach salad. It was so wonderful to talk to Cindy in a relaxed way. I respect her for her great friendship throughout my illness and recovery. While I was living on oxygen, and during the “dry run” (when I was called in for the transplant and it didn’t happen) she had helped me immensely and organized my friends to take care of me, too. She is a friend with great character. Now that I am getting better, it is nice to just have fun together again., Stacey

I have been on some little adventures lately. Saturday, I went for a bike ride with Dave at Crystal Springs, and Sunday I took a little “climbing road trip” to Cragmont Park, in Berkeley. The bike ride was beautiful but humbling. Dave can walk as fast as I ride right now. In fact, as I was riding, I was passed up by quite a few joggers. (Well, if I cannot take pride in my pace, at least the view was pretty, with the hills and water nearby.) Today, I went with Mark, Sandy and Heather Ostrau to climb at Cragmont Park. Cragmont is the perfect low-key place to climb. There is no hike, and it is easy to set up anchors for the ropes. Heather was on my youth team and I have not seen her climb for a long time. I was so impressed with Heather and Mark. The climbs were slabs, which means that in order to climb them, we had to look for footholds and balance–as opposed to pulling ourselves up by the handholds. We all worked on a 5.8 and a 5.10a. I got up the climbs okay, slipping just once on the harder one. I was glad the drugs I am taking for my transplant do not seem to affect my balance too much. While we were climbing, Carrie called me with an update from the USA Nationals in Boston. Her son Joshua re-captured his title as the Boys 11-under National Champion in Difficulty by doing a 5.12b climb in the final round. He also won the Speed title for his third year in a row! I was honored that they called me to give the news right away! Joshua’s younger brother, Yuri, also competed and took 18th in Speed. Not bad for an 8-year-old rookie! Stacey, from Belmont

On Wednesday, I had a blood draw and the nurse just called to let me know that the test results showed that everything is going fine. Kidney function and cyclosporine levels are all normal. After the blood draw, I went to visit Gwen and David, who were staying on the ground floor. They are both getting a little bit better, but life in the hospital is still hard. Lack of sleep is a big problem. Lately, I have been climbing a lot, and really feel my strength coming back. I’m still having trouble with the reaches because my lack of strength does not allow me to climb as dynamically as I used to, but things are really improving. I’m planning my first outdoor trip this Sunday with the Ostrau family. I talked to Carrie, Joshua Levin’s mom, this morning. They are at the National Championships for USA Climbing. Joshua has made it through the first round, flashing his route along with 10 of 33 other boys in his category. Stacey, from Belmont

Felix, the site looks great now. Thank you for your time and encouragement. Yes, it’s on to 5.10a’s these days. I climbed with Amanda and Cindy yesterday and even tried some steep overhangs. Much to my surprise, I accomplished the routes with just a few rests. Life on other fronts is not going so well. I had a rough morning, throwing up once at 5:15 a.m. and again at 8:30 a.m. So I was too tired to drive down to the hospital for a blood draw this morning. I also found out that I do not qualify for food stamps, even though I receive only a little over the $1000/month income limit from the government. Luckily, I am not hungry due to extra support/loans from friends and family, but I fear for the poor in the Bay Area. $12,000 year is an incredibly low income and I do not see how anyone could live here on that, a place where one room in an apartment costs $650/month. Everyone must cram into apartments and combine their incomes to make it work. The government food stamp program has steep requirements. Stacey, from Belmont