Back in the States

Well, we are here in the pretty great state of Utah. It was a wild journey home but we made it.

About a month after I posted my last blog, we started selling our furniture and we sold our car. We had no idea that the stuff would sell so fast so we didn't have furniture for the last two weeks. We had very nice people in our branch that loaned us their air mattress that quickly popped and then we had a friend loan us a real mattress. In the middle of all of this selling and sleeping on the ground I got really sick, It was just a bad cold but it flattened me for a week or so. I had been so proud that I hadn't been sick in over a year and then I got sick.

This was a very high stressed time but everyone was so kind and supportive, the Cairns 1st branch is the best!! I had quit my job right after Christmas and Quintin quit school, luckily we will be getting money back from the school. Quintin took weeks to find a place to get the animals back home and he finally decided on which guy to help us.

The branch gave us a really fun McKell Farewell and I was surprised at how many people came in the middle of a possible cyclone! We had huge rain showers the last week we were there. All of the frogs and toads came out, birds were squawking and wallabies were eating in our back yard. It was heavenly!!

The morning that we left Cairns we had to take a taxi to the airport, Some of our closest neighbors came out to say goodbye, the guy came to pick up the animals, Rick was crying in his cage and as I closed the door to our home I started crying. The little girls next door starting wailing about how they will miss us which made me cry harder so we finally just got in the taxi. Crying all the way to the airport Quintin and I looked at the rain and the clouds on the lush rain-forest that we fell in love with.

After a two hour flight we landed in Sydney. I wanted to spend a bit of time in Sydney, it seemed weird to live in Australia for over a year and never visit Sydney, so we stayed there for a day. We went to dinner and straight to bed that day and then the next morning we took a double decker bus tour of downtown. However some streets were closed because it happened to be Australia day, which is like the 4th of July for Australia. The bus couldn't get to the Sydney Opera House or the Harbor bridge which is basically what you want to see if you go to Sydney. With one hour to go before we had to check out of the hotel and head to the airport. We very quickly took a city bus with the crowd gathering for a big Australia Day celebration, got off at the Opera house, ran to it (walked quickly) took a few photos and we made it back to the hotel with 10 mins to spare.
14 hours after we left Sydney we landed in LA, rented a van, picked up our kids, Tag, Rick and Casper and then we hit the road. We stayed at the legendary Virgin River Casino in Mesquite that night, mostly because it was pet friendly. We went on down the the Casino Chuck Wagon Restaurant and, not kidding, had the best meal we had had in a very long long time!
Pulling into the SL valley we were sad. It was gray and smoggy and cold. We couldn't even see the mountains!

After 3 weeks of being in Utah, being on oxygen 24/7 and many tears for the home in Cairns that we miss so much. It has been so nice to see friends and family. The first week I was here I found that I was covered by Medicare and that was truly a miracle. I had been told that it would take about 4-6 months and it didn't even take a month and a half!! So I'm headed to my first test tomorrow, just an echocardiogram but still I have emotions all over the place. I will also see Dr. Yetman, my cardiologist that has been going over my tests from Australia and urged me to think about the heart transplant.

So I will talk to you in the next few days about what is next for me

To be continued.... DUN DUN DUUUUNNNNN