Got to tell you friends, Peggy Miller has never lived by the motto, "All good things come to he who waits." But as of the last 7 days, that'd be exactly what I am learning to have to do and I can say honestly, it stinks. LOL But I'm pretty sure that my "cause of death" will never be listed as, "she died while trying to be patient." And so, wait I must.
I am, of necessity, learning to do things with only one arm/hand and once again I offer thanks to our God above that the effected hand was NOT the one that I write with. I am slow, painstakingly slow at times--and yet I see a benefit arising from that. It has caused me to slow down and think about what in the heck it is that I am trying to do in the first place. Believe me, after I have taken four times the normal time to type a blog entry, the LAST thing I want to do is carelessly delete it. Most of the time, I normally like to spend my life moving at about 30 mph ABOVE the speed limit. For now, that has changed, and although it seems weird to me, I am making those adjustments.
I have been blessed beyond measure with a host of friends and family who have stepped in to pick up the slack in my life right now. I WANT FOR ABSOLUTELY NOTHING-I AM BEING WELL CARED FOR. THANK YOU ALL....Although, and I must be honest, I hate for people to go to trouble on my behalf right now, I realize how very important it is to graciously be the receiver of the
"gifts of human kindness" in times such as these. It is a most humbling experience.
As I close this blog entry today, I want to do so with the following note of thanks to the person whose death allowed me to receive the gift of a transplanted radius. I will forward this blog entry on to an office in Connecticut that is a liason between donor families and recipients. They will pass along this message to my donor's family. Much obliged to them for doing so.
To my dear friend:
My name is Peggy and last week I had the unfortunate experience of wrecking my bicycle in front of my own home here in Hutchinson, Ks. I am a 55-year old school teacher who ought to have been more careful but I guess accidents happen. I needed to have reconstructive surgery this week because of the extensive damage I had done. The dr. told me that among other things, my radius had shattered. That's where YOU come in dear friend.
When you died, you saw to it that your death would NOT be in vain. You chose to be a DONOR so that people, just like me, would have the chance to receive a very blessed DO OVER in this life. Bone material from YOUR radius was "gifted" to me and the surgeon was able to use your bone to make my arm over again. It will take many months for me to learn if my arm/hand will even return to partial normalcy. Without your gift I would have stood no chance.
As soon as I learned that I had received your donation, I realized that my life would be forever changed. Sometimes I hold onto my cast where the transplant occurred and it's as if I am giving you a big hug and saying "God bless you for caring about me, a total stranger." Talk about an overwhelming and bittersweet experience, well this is it!
I don't know if you were a man or a woman. Maybe you were a teacher just like me? Perhaps you lived far away from my home here in Kansas. None of that even matters--Now, a part of you shall live on inside of me. I surely do promise to take good care of "you". By the way, I decided long ago to be a donor too.
Someday, I'd wish to know who you were and if your family chooses to tell me, then I'd be grateful. I just want you to know that a common, ordinary schoolteacher named Peggy believes that your life did matter...and that in death, you continue to matter as well. I give thanks and count my blessings to be a recipient of your precious gift.
Sincerely,
Peggy
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