A Breath of Life: Journey of an Organ Transplant Patient

By Robert B. Creber

This book is a biography, sort of, of my wife’s diagnosis of C.O.P.D. and all the problems we had during her diagnosis, waiting for a lung transplant, having the transplant and the recovery and life after the transplant and all the problems during that time. She was diagnosed in 1990 and received her double lung transplant in July of 1997. She lived with the transplant until February of 2011.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Mar 11, 2016
• ISBN: 9781483443713

Book preview

A

Breath

of Life

Journey of an Organ Transplant Patient

19381.png

ROBERT B. CREBER

Edited by Jane E. B. Simmons

Copyright © 2016 Robert B. Creber.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-4371-3 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 02/10/2016

God has a plan and His plan is our plan. Each day that we’re given is a beautiful gift from Him to us. And while we will pray each day for a miracle, we’re going to live each day as if it is a miracle. And it is.

By Rory Feek

I dedicate this book to Dorothy Creber, my dear and loving wife of fifty years,for all she endured throughout the years before, during, and after her organ transplant

Introduction

With this book, I am attempting to share with other people who face a similar situation that my wife, Dorothy, and I, how we managed to overcome all the disappointments and find enjoyment in the good times during the long period of time from the onset of her problem, on through the transplant surgery, and then the recovery process.

It is my hope that those who read this will benefit from our experiences.

Author’s Note: Throughout this book, as a courtesy to those persons and doctors involved with Dorothy’s treatment and care, I refer with a Dr. ******* or just a first name.

I would like to thank all of the doctors, nurses, coordinators, and all of the family and friends we encountered throughout our journey.

I especially would like to thank my dear friend and Disney World Magic Kingdom co-worker, Jane Simmons, who without her help, encouragement, and editing, this book would not have happened.

List of Chapters

Chapter One : Original Diagnosis

Chapter Two : Transplant Evaluation

Chapter Three : Dorothy’s Original Notes to Herself

Chapter Four : Independence and Loneliness

Chapter Five : The Long Awaited Phone Call to Move

Chapter Six : The Waiting

Chapter Seven : The Miracle of The Transplant

Chapter Eight : During and After The Recovery Period

Chapter Nine : Heading Home

Chapter Ten : The Happy Additional 13 Years

Chapter One

My wife of 50 years first came into my life when I was asked by a co-worker in my office to please sharpen Dorothy’s pencils for her. I did as Mary asked.

I was immediately attracted to this young lady standing in front of me. Then within minutes, this young secretary to the owner of the office building in which I worked, left with her pencils — pencils that were very finely-sharpened by one smitten former Royal Canadian Navy man.

What a momentous moment that incident turned out to be in my life, even though I was not fully aware of its importance that afternoon. But then, how many of us have a complete awareness at any given moment of what is a pivotal point in our lives? I guess a pilot shot down behind enemy lines might experience such an awareness, or anyone aware of an immediate life or death situation, or maybe a person after being singled out with a hug or a handshake by an internationally famous person and photographs of that moment circle the globe and are all over the internet’s social media.

However, as for a woman carrying pencils into one’s office to be sharpened, I imagine few people would immediately recognize that moment as life-changing. For me, it was.

From our first date in July of 1959 to her passing on February 6, 2011, a few days after our 50th wedding anniversary, Dorothy Skibo filled my life with joy and loving devotion, including the 25 years following the discovery of her failing C.O.P.D. lungs, the agonizing wait for a transplant, the double lung transplant surgery, and the recovery years.

My first date with Dorothy came soon after she came into my office, when I saw her in the lobby of our office building located about one mile from the famous Fort Lauderdale Beach. Her office was on the top floor of the six story building. My office was on the ground floor.

Dorothy remembered me. I asked her to go out with me. She agreed. We started dating regularly. This made co-worker Mary very happy. She was the office’s cashier and had been after me from when I first started working there to get a girlfriend. Mary and I had become good friends. At some point, it fully dawned on me that she had orchestrated Dorothy’s coming down **six floors to have pencils sharpened.

I had been hired several months earlier by the commodity brokerage firm of Daniel F. Rice & Co. My job title was teletype operator. I was one of an office staff that also included a secretary, a cashier who was Mary, a runner, about seven commodity brokers, and a girl who wrote prices on a chalkboard up in the front of the office. Back then, there were no ticker tape machines with the prices continuously printing out.

I was trained in the ways of the commodity brokerage verbiage and operation. I picked up the teletype routine pretty fast and was very comfortable. In the Navy, I had experience as a radio/teletype operator. In my job, I also got to learn many of the ways each broker handled their accounts and sort of kept track of their orders to help them. After several months, I became quite comfortable at the job and they all liked my way of handling things for them.

Dorothy and I continued to date.

Dorothy, a year younger than me, had moved from Leetsdale in Pennsylvania to Fort Lauderdale the year before the day that I sharpened her pencils. She was living in a small apartment by herself. I was living with my parents after my move to Florida in 1959 from Toronto, Canada. It took me two days on a bus to make the trip. My mom and dad lived on the west side of Ft. Lauderdale that back then was a rather small city.

One day, when we were having a great time at the beach, I asked Dorothy if she wanted to go to the little park at Boca Raton Inlet. This was a little bit north of where we were. She too liked the little area there that allowed for the fun of just wading into the water. After we got there and we were sitting down in the sand, I popped the question.

The day I asked Dorothy to marry me was in May 1960. She said yes. I did not have a ring because I could not afford one but she said she did not want one.

I did have a ring when we married on January 28, 1961, at The Church By The Sea in Fort Lauderdale. Since we did not have any financial help with our wedding, you can imagine it was not a big wedding. My family was all there including my mother, Ethel, my father Charlie, my sister Evelyn and her daughter Debbie, my brother Stan and his wife Joan, and their daughter Lynne. Dorothy’s mother Anne came down from Leetsdale. Our wedding reception was at a local restaurant on Federal Highway known as U.S. #1.

Many times during the lung transplant months, we both thought back to our wonderful earlier times at Fort Lauderdale Beach, not only of our engagement day but the many, many times over the years with our sons and our friends as well.

The fabulous memories we shared of our decades together before learning Dorothy had C.O.P.D. helped to bring us through the sometimes REALLY rough times.

I remember far too well the four words the doctor told Dorothy in August 1990: You have lousy lungs.

She thought she had a really bad cold and cough in addition to shortness of breath when she made the appointment. When she told me what