Summer Days

Soaking up the joy of summer, one day at a time

Life has been pretty busy the last few months! May was a lot of fun beginning with a trip to the east coast and ending with attending a performance of The Lion King here in Kansas City. The east coast trip had two stops, first New Hampshire and then New York City. My Mom and I went to New Hampshire to visit my sister. I always love going to visit her both because I enjoy seeing her and because she lives in such a cool part of the country. The weather was a little cool and rainy (typical for May) but we had great weather for our day in Portsmouth. We had two great meals and saw a musical performance of a Cinderella adaptation. We had lunch at Popover On the Square and dinner at River House. These two restaurants have fantastic gluten free options!

The trip featured stops in (I think) seven bookstores total. I have learned that I cannot be trusted in bookstores, especially independent bookstores. I will leave with a new book (maybe two) almost every single time. I had trouble getting them all to fit in my suitcase when I came home!

After visiting my sister I took a bus to New York City and stayed for a week. Some of the highlights were attending a taping of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, a production of Good Night, and Good Luck (with George Clooney!), a Van Gogh inspired flower exhibit at the New York Botanical Gardens, a trip to MOMA, and an event with Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson where they discussed their new book about the Biden administration which was moderated by David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker. And of course, eating so much good food.

Pro tip if you’re traveling alone, have a Gen Z person take your photo instead of trying to take a selfie. They are all excellent with phone camera photography. For many more photos, check out my Instagram: lgreenbean83.

After getting back in Kansas City I went with a friend to a traveling Broadway production of The Lion King. It was absolutely incredible. I had always heard that it’s a fantastic show but I can honestly say it exceeded my expectations. If you have an opportunity to see it, I cannot recommend it enough.

I’m now settling into my summer routine in Kansas City. Earlier this month I joined a local health club with two outdoor adult only pools so I’ve been spending as many afternoons there as I can and I predict that will be one of my main activities this summer. Kansas City, like many other parts of the country, is experiencing an intense heat wave so the pool is the only thing I’m willing to do outside.

I don’t have much of a health update except to say that I’m doing well. I was really happy by how well I did in NYC with the additional walking and standing. I’ve been working with a trainer twice a week since November and my core and back muscles are so much stronger than they were. I can now stand for at least an hour and half without sitting down and I used to only be able to go about 20 minutes. In general my energy levels have been up and I’ve been feeling good. I go back to Vanderbilt in August for an appointment that’s scheduled for the 18th to discuss some potential quality of life improvements and the possibility of getting a cardioMEMS device. It would go in my lung and measure my arterial pressure in real time instead of having to have a cardiac catheterization to get that information.

In May a friend asked how I was doing and I said “it’s scarier now”. My response surprised me because I hadn’t really registered the thought before I said it out loud. But it’s true, it’s scarier now. A heart transplant is not without risk and it certainly isn’t a cure; trading one disease for another. But there were general expectations; a general idea of potential life span and how I might do. Now, I really don’t know and neither do my doctors. My KU cardiologist told me that he has a patient in his 60’s who’s been told numerous times that he probably had about five years and yet he keeps on living. The cardiologist at Vanderbilt told me that I’ve already defied the odds and he would never venture a guess on how long I might live. So it could be 5 years, it could be twenty years. It could be more than that. So what I’m trying to focus on is how I want to live my life. What’s important to me, what do I want to spend my time doing? As I’ve said before, my Dad didn’t change anything when he got sick because he was already living the life he wanted. It’s important to do the things that matter to you and to not put them off or say “I’ll do that someday”. So, for now I’m taking advantage of my sabbatical and am going to enjoy my summer by the pool, read lots of books, spend time with people I care about, keeping working on my French, eat good food, and drink good wine. It’s a joyful life.