Haiku Transplant Story

My class has been writing poetry today, and we wrote haiku poetry this morning. The librarian led the lesson, giving me some time to be more of a learner/writer. She asked us to brainstorm a topic and words associated with that topic. Heavy on my mind today was the donor family, and that fateful day, 3 years ago, when we got "the call" for Jens' new lungs. Many of you know our story (if you don't, go back a few posts, and you'll find it), so we ask you to join us each month, each year on the 17th to remember the donor family. The timing is not lost on us, and we believe it was one of the good gifts of God's timing that we have two special days to commemorate and, in a way, compartmentalize our feelings and emotions about this life-changing piece of our story.

Inspired by the writing I did with my students today, here's a snippet of our transplant journey, as told through haikus. (*If I messed up on any of the 5/7/5 syllable structures, please let me know!)

Our first Durham Bulls game of the 2017 season, watching a few Vanderbilt friends play.

Lungs 4 Jens, as told through Haiku:

(cough) Breathing treatments
IV (cough) medicines (cough)
Cystic Fibrosis

exploring transplant
get the most of out old lungs
exiting Nashville

working with COTA
raising funds and Lungs 4 Jens
telling our story

City of Bridges
black and gold on Squirrel Hill
crossing to new life

Saturday morning
ring-ring-ring 412 number
with the gift of life

frantic, rushed, scared
UPMC waiting room
hurry up and wait

passing time slowly
Luigi brought paperwork
signature... go time

remember with us
the seventeenth of each month
donor family

the new lungs are in
medical talk with surgeons
everything looks good

out of surgery
not a sprint, a marathon
now recovery

into ICU
wanting extubation now
breathing on his own

ready for 9-D
nurses became family
solid foods, not yet

surgeon D'Cunha
wired sternum in new way
"You look good," he says

lung function expands
normal range (in September)
no more oxygen

Doctor Pilewski
trusted pulmonologist
"Keep up the good work!"

daily hallway walks
getting stronger day-by-day
goal is eighteen stairs

isolation room
tuberculosis, they think
tests are negative

a month on the floor
chest tubes out, ready to walk more
we want to go home

stay away from germs
immuno-suppressed organs
double-lung transplant

celebrate each month
miles turn to kilometers
winters are cold here

5-18-14
marks time and activity
lungaversary

happy, healthy life
pills, bloodwork, few appointments
lots of baseball games

life three years later
Durham, North Carolina
coaches Cavs Baseball

Pittsburgh, special place
grateful, thankful, living well
inhale... exhale... breathe