What I Did During My Summer Vacation

Summer is coming to an end and typically I look forward to the up and coming new school year. But not this year. I feel as if I didn't really even have time to enjoy my summer vacation. I feel that I spent way too much time worrying about Pittsburgh and the evaluation as well as not feeling well. I didn't give myself a chance to relax and get it out of my head. Even when I went to Hawaii I was not feeling well (ended up having Bronchitis) and the whole time I was worrying about the trip to Pittsburgh for my evaluation. Nothing about that trip was fun either and it didn't help that my Bronchitis had turned into Pneumonia. After getting back from Pittsburgh there was a question on whether or not to go to Oregon. 

My family has gone to Oregon every summer since I was three years old and stayed at our beach house on the river. Everyone loves it there, especially my dad. It's the place he can go and get away from it all - something I know he needed after our stressful trip to Pittsburgh. I wanted to go because Oregon for me is so relaxing. It's far away from everything and I am able to just relax. But I was not only emotionally drained from Pittsburgh - I still wasn't feeling well. I felt like I was letting my family down by not going to Oregon, like I was ruining a family tradition. I was worried that I would be breaking my dad's heart if I stayed home while he and a few of my siblings went to Oregon. 

I didn't have the option of deciding if I went or not, after going to a pulmonolgy appointment the doctors said that if we waited any longer, I would just get worst. My oxygen level was in the low 80's just after walking from the waiting room to the exam room. So I was admitted for a week into the hospital, missing the chance to go to Oregon with my family. 

Finally a few weeks after getting out of the hospital, I am finally feeling like I am back to my baseline. Not only that, we finally got reassuring news from Pittsburgh that I was not in need of the transplant just yet. But now I start school in a little over a week. I was driving with my mom the other day and I told her, "Mom, I feel like I wasted my whole summer with worrying and not feeling my best." She reminded me, "Well there is always next summer." 

So next summer, I'm not going to worry about transplants, I'm not going to get Bronchitis and then Pneumonia. Next summer, I'm going to relax, hang out with friends and finally get that tan I've always wanted. 

Love and Hope,

Becca