Update!!

Hello all ya'll!!

I have had more news and it may be good it may be bad, I can't figure it out yet. I left off when I was going to have a liver biopsy. I was nervous about this "procedure" because I am not familiar with liver biopsies, so I did my research and watched one done on you tube. Bad idea, I watched it 2 hours before I went into the medical centre and all that I could think of was that 5-6" needle that they stick in your side. When I actually got into the procedure room the Doc said that he had to go through my ribs because my liver is so large, yikes, I thought. Quintin was there and started to film it but stopped when the Dr was uncomfy with him doing that. The numbing needle went in and it was just a small sting, no biggie. The Dr inserted the straw needle that goes all the way into the liver and I didn't feel a thing. He proceeded to take 3 samples from different areas of my liver and I did feel when he moved the needle but it just kinda felt like a gas bubble. The whole thing was done in about 15 mins. I just had to stick around for 4 hours, no bleeding or anything. It couldn't have gone any better.

Q and I left the next morning to fly to Brisbane. We got to our hotel which we found was only about half a block from the temple, It was so great to see. Small problem, Quintin forgot his wallet, no temple recommend and a couple of days later when it opened I got dressed to go and it had closed at 2:00 and I went at 3! But it was pretty to look at. :)

We went to Sea World on the Gold coast and it was wonderful, I loved it but Quintin was a stick in the mud, bad mouthing Sea world because they were consumer oriented and not animal oriented. He kept saying that they were torturing the dolphins and so I had to ignore him the whole time. After we went down to Surfers Paradise and went to Hard Rock, a REAL restaurant, it was great.

We went to see the Adult CHD doctor and after a few tests he took us into his office and told me that my heart looks good and that it looks like I don't even need a heart transplant. My life kinda fell apart when he said that. You would think that I would be jumping up and down with excitement but I was the opposite and even more upset because I didn't understand why I wasn't excited. Quintin was so happy, this meant that we could stay in Australia and he could continue following his dream.

Quintin was able to go to a Pearl Jam concert (his early Christmas present) and we went to Steve Irwin's zoo.....meh. When we came back to Cairns I e-mailed my Dr in the states to ask what to do about all of this crazy talk going around that I didn't need a transplant. While I waited to hear back from Dr Yetman I talked to my Mom on skype to figure out while I wasn't happy at the thought of not having a transplant.

She asked three simple questions.

1. Are you disappointed because you want to come home? No because I can always come home to visit and when I feel the cold I will want to high tail it back to Cairns.

2. Is it because you want the Dr's and medical medicine in the USA? Well no because I can just see the Dr in Brisbane for check-ups

3. Is it because you want to have a healthy body? At this I broke down crying. ding ding she hit the nail on the head.

I realized that I was tired, tired of being sick and I wanted to know what it felt like to run and not be weary, to go to visit my sister in Park City and not get raging headaches, to take long walks with my dogs (and husband) and also to dance. It's hard to be a "trooper"

Quintin and I discussed staying or leaving, argued about what was best for us and prayed that we would know what we need to do. My Dr e-mailed me back the next week. She said that while my heart is stable, I do have severe liver dysfunction and that indeed it was best for me to have the transplant. I guess I felt relief, crazy that I felt good about it. However on the other side I do feel pain for Quintin, he loves Cairns so much and it is his greatest dream in life to live here and research and conserve the tropics. He wants to come back to Cairns one day and I told him that I can't promise that I will be on board with the idea. It is hard for me to make long range goals when I am using all of my energy to get through this surgery and recover fully.

Sorry if this is too much 411. I use this blog as my journal and my therapy time. Anyway, the plan now is to come back to Utah on January 26th. Dr Yetman tells me that she wants to do a cardiac catherization to map my heart and the blood flow to determine if I can be on the list. However, she can't do anything until I have medical coverage and Medicare will take 4-6 months to get. I can't do anything more about applying for Medicare until I am on US soil, so it is nerve racking to come home and not be covered for a few months.

I love you all, more updates on the way.