Life at home post-transplant is calmer than being in the hospital, but somehow still just as busy. In fairness, we probably wouldn't be a fraction as busy if we hadn't just moved in to our new home. *clears throat* *to the tune of The Ballad of Jed Clampett*:
But come listen to a story 'bout a man named Josh.
Poor stressed husband tryin' ta keep his mind from gettin' lost.
Then one day he was huntin' somethin' new,
And out of the web came a beautiful viewwww.
(A house, that is. Paradise. Real-ty.)
We actually started casually looking for a house back in the spring and summer. Just doing Zillow searches and driving around. Not ready to make a move on anything, but wanting to see what was out there, how long things stayed on the market, pricing in relation to size, all that fun research stuff. (Ok, I think the research part is fun. And apparently this makes me nerdy, which...is totally fair.) So one day in late summer I spotted a house on Zillow that actually fit all our needs and most of our wants as well. So I bookmarked it and as soon as Josh got home I practically mowed him over trying to tell him that I'd found something we should actually take a look at. And he told me that was funny because he had seen something he wanted to show me as well. Now for those of you that watch Hallmark movies, you know exactly what's about to happen. That's right! We had both independently found the exact same house. All together now: Awwwwuh!
I'll let you fill in details. But so far this story is adorable, is it not?!
But the second part of this transplant saga prequel is the fun part. Once we realized we both fell in love with the same house, we immediately contacted our realtor friend and asked to get a showing. Fell deeper in love at the showing, put in a bid, started the process to get the loan, bid was accepted, and loan was approved. I think literally the day before the feds hiked the interest rates, which is why we started the loan process early. A couple weeks goes by, we realize I'm rapidly deteriorating, and so we get special permission from the seller to bring our family members by so they can see the inside of the house because there's no way I can help move us in. So we're going to need their help...a lot. At this point it's the first couple days of September and it's a month since my transplant evaluation and testing. We set the closing date for September 15th and start to breathe easier knowing it's almost done. But then at a visit on September 7th, Dr. Garcia determines she wants the right heart catheterization done STAT and not just "whenever they can find a spot" and suddenly I have a heart cath scheduled. For September 13th. That's right: 2 days before our closing date.
Well poop.
So I scramble to sign and get notarized a Power of Attorney that is situation specific, giving Josh permission to sign on both our behalf in case they decide to admit me to the hospital immediately after the heart cath.
Spoiler alert: they did.
So that gets you caught up to where my blog post Medical Procedure Bingo takes over. I chose at that time not to tell anyone the fact that we had bought and were trying to move into a new house in addition to everything else. It was highly stressful and was the event that made me realize just how much Josh was going to have to carry on his shoulders for the both of us. So now we knew that he would be moving us into our new home without me. We stalled for a handful of weeks, hoping I would get a new heart first. Josh was still living at Lisa's because she was keeping our 2 dogs and cat for us while he was spending as much time as possible with me in Charlotte. Moving into the new house but leaving the pets with her just didn't make sense because then he'd be splitting his time between 3 sites plus working. The original plan was wait until I got The Call and then Josh would use the time while I was in ICU to move boxes and everything possible into the new house. But we revised when I hit the 2+ month mark. Josh moved everything non-essential into the new house, while keeping his bed, home office, and clothes at Lisa's. So all my stuff got moved, basically. (Hey, I obviously wasn't using any of my 40 pairs of shoes. Or anything in my closet, really.) He also emptied out our storage unit, which took even more configurating due to the fact that we had also stored some of Lisa's furniture from the rooms we took over at her place when we moved in with her in 2020. So he had to coordinate our move-out with her move-back-in while also doing a moving purge. You know the kind. When you realize exactly how much stuff you've accumulated in the X years you've lived in one spot. So you make semi-frantic dump runs, selling and giving away items, and also purchasing more things that you need that you somehow don't already have. While also showing up at the hospital twice daily, working full time, showing his face to our dogs so they don't think both parents have abandoned them, arranging surprises for me (please see "Surprises!" post for that story), and probably giving himself stress-induced ulcers. Clearly he's crazy. Or loves me beyond all reason. Quite possibly both. It was also his birthday, as well as the month of birthdays for his family. Every one of which I missed. So good times had by all. *note heavy sarcasm*
So that gets everyone caught up with the house part of the overall equation. I kept this pretty under wraps because I wanted Josh and Mom to have as much privacy as possible, and there really wasn't much anyone could help with during all this.
Special thanks to our friends that ended up dropping everything for like 3 days with about 2 days notice to come help move the big pieces into the house and get things mounted, arranged, rearranged, and set up. Austin, Chelcei, Dan, Brandon, and Bobby, don't listen to Josh; you guys are angels. Lisa, Ernie, Mom, and Scott, thanks for not having either of us committed during all this. I promise we knew what we were doing the whooooole time...*fingers crossed behind back*
New address:
Joshua Cummings / Elise Yaussy
2604 Marble St.
Newton, NC 28658