Inspiration ♡

So recently I've been a bit distant on the whole social media front, mainly Blogger and Facebook and it's really hard to explain why but I'll try my best. 
So a few weeks ago, my very good friend (and ex PH sufferer, ooooo there is so much joy when I say that yay) Stacie Pridden who I think I've mentioned in a previous post a while back, got her call. Now 'the call' or 'her call' if you're not in the transplant world means that they've found a match for organs. And in this case they found a match for Stacie's organs (her heart and lungs). Stacie has been on the transplant list for 3 years and she's also had her fair share of false alarms so everyone had their toes and fingers crossed and were praying that this would be it for Stacie, that she would finally get her transplant. 
And she did, SHE GOT HER FRIGGING TRANSPLANT GUYS. AND SHE WAS OUT OF HOSPITAL QUICKER THAN YOU CAN SAY 1 2 3 AND NOW SHE'S AT HOME AND RECOVERING AND SHE CAN WALK AND GET UP THE STAIRS WITHOUT STRUGGLING TO BREATH AND AND AND SHE DOESN'T HAVE TO WEAR AN OXYGEN TUBE ANYMORE AND WOW.
It's absolutely incredible, the day she got the call I cried, with happiness but also because I was scared. Honestly the first thing I said was "Shit, I spoke to her half an hour ago, what if I don't get too speak too her again because it's such a delicate operation and what if something goes wrong". Goodness knows how her family were feeling, I was an absolute mess. I was genuinely scared for Stacie when I saw that note on Facebook from Candice and it wasn't even me!!!
Unless you've had a transplant or have been asked to consider a transplant you don't know actually know as much as you think, and I must say, sometimes I meet people and I tell them about transplant and they say "Oh well if you were my daughter you wouldn't have a choice". And that's because it's portrayed to be a simple thing having your organ's replaced, people see it as a quick fix sometimes and don't actually know what happens after. They think 'Oh as soon as you've had your transplant you can do all these amazing things that you couldn't do before'. Yeah part of that is true but what people don't know is that you have too teach yourself how too breath again, how too cough and you've got strict medication rules to stop rejection. For the first month after being home you have to have weekly visits too the hospital; there is so much more to having a transplant of this kind.
I was worried for the operation and for all the recovery and steps that happened after. But she proved me wrong that I had nothing to worry about, the women got her chest drains taken out with NO pain relief for goodness sake!!! And now less than a month after transplant she's home and going on walks and she's already getting ready too go to Wimbledon. There is nothing stopping her at all and it's absolutely inspiring and I'm so lucky too know this incredible lady. I cannot thank the donor and their family enough for quite frankly saving one of my best friends and for giving her a second chance at life and allowing her too inspire so many people, including me. 
Transplant is something that I've been asked too consider, and I've had a lung transplant assessment about a 2 years ago now so that they could get all the figures and facts in case I want to be put on the list. I don't. But something happened when Stacie had her transplant, it made me feel different and funny. I don't know how too explain the funny feeling, so you either get it or you don't and if you don't that's okay, you're really not missing out on much. Anyway it hasn't made me go GET ME ON THE LIST NOW I WANNA DO IT. Because it certainly hasn't done that. Lots of things creep me out and scare me with having a transplant and some things absolutely petrify me because I'm not very good with pain at all. Obviously there are so many benefits to me having a transplant but one thing that really get's me is that, there's no guarantee that your body will accept the new organs (in my case lungs) and it could be rejected straight away, which means I wouldn't have long too live (days or weeks) before I passed away because of it when I could of had a few more months without it.   However it has got me thinking about the possibilities, the negatives and positives. The things I could potentially do after I've made a full recovery and the places I could see. But there is a lot to think about but maybe this is a start and this is all down to Stacie and her amazing donor and donor family. And I honestly can't thank Stacie enough for being who she is and for being such a huge inspiration too me and the donor and their family for giving her the chance to continue being the amazing person she is and for giving her a second chance at life. 
Bring on the bucket list Stace. 

As always, thank you for reading 

Love, Erika