I've had a really hard day today. Went to UCLA and all went great there and they gave me 2 1/2 weeks off! Then went to lunch with my Man and we sat outside (since I can't go indoors anywhere) with a heater. The food was delish! And then it all went downhill...took my morning meds in the parking lot after lunch and en...ded up leaving ALL of my lunch and IMPORTANT meds on the asphalt...blah! Eeeeewww! I've felt that way all day and had to retake and hope I took the right amount of those meds. I've also been in a lot of pain today. They broke my sternum during surgery and for some reason today it hurts a lot! The upside is though that I've been watching football with the Man and I'm actually getting back into it after a 9yr break! So that was my day...tell me something funny?

Merry Christmas to Julie Ochoa!

I was having problems posting this...BUT now I can show you! Many blessing have been given to us lately and I have to say that this one made me cry like a baby but filled me with so much joy! This Christmas has been full of reminder after reminder that LIFE is given by Our Creator. He gave life to our Savior in order to save us, gave us each life at birth, and life through Salvation....and then HE GIVES LIFE THROUGH HEALING!! I have just experienced that and am rejoicing!! Here's to all of the lives that have blessed me and those that did in this video!! LOVE OVERFLOWS!!

Merry Christmas Eve!!

So much to be thankful for...a Savior was born to give us eternal life through Him who bore our sins and the gift of NEW LIFE here on earth! REALLY WE ALL HAVE THESE BLESSINGS...IT DOESNT GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS FRIENDS! Accept Jesus as your savior and KNOW you will go to heaven! BREATHE LIFE and KNOW that HE has you here for a purpose!! MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE I LOVE YOU ALL!!

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Sionara Oxygen!!

Look who left our home!!! You are not needed anymore! Praise God! SEE YA! YOU'RE OUTTA HERE!

UCLA Post Transplant Visit #2

Went to UCLA again today....I'm doing good!! I had to do pulmonary function tests which before were sooooo hard for me....BUT now since God has healed me with 26yr old lungs....(drumroll) I did 3 times better than before!! And that's just 3 weeks post-op from the most difficult of transplants to perform! GOD IS SO GOOD...ALL THE TIME!! Ideally they have you go to transplant clinic days every Mon&Thur for the first month you're home. My first was last thursday and then today and he said I don't have to go back until Monday!!!! Plus they dropped my prednisone down by 10mg and stopped my insulin and a heart med! So the prayer is that my body be fine with these adjustments and that my blood results come back safe and "normal" range to be able to stay on these lower doses and keep lowering them. I'm sooo excited!

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Erratic heart rate

I've been experiencing a very erratic heart rate...it doesn't feel good at all. I called my Dr's and they are adding 3 meds to help...please pray that I respond to the meds but that they don't harm my stomach too. Also pray that it's something we can wean very soon. Pray there is nothing further going on and that this just go away. Thank you for your prayers you all are such a blessing!

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URGENT PRAYER REQUEST!!

Please pray right now!!! Bella has a fever and a sore throat, which is detrimental to Julie's health!! PLEASE PRAY FOR PROTECTION AND HEALING FOR BOTH OF THEM!!!

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Dr. Ardehali, my surgeon!

A funny thing

On Monday, when I was realeased, the nurse came in and said "ok you can leave". Manuel, Maggy, Amy, and I were stunned that she meant literally at that moment I could go! She wished us well and we agreed with her that we liked and appreciated her but did not want to see her again. No more hospital please!! She said she would call for escort to take us down. Manuel and I sat there waiting for maybe 40-50 minutes, when finally I yelled "WAIT!! I CAN WALK!". We called the nurse and asked if that was ok and she said "of course". What a new life!! I CAN WALK!! No wheelchair needed!

The other really cool thing was that as we rode the elevator down it stopped and picked up some people on another floor...In walks MY SURGEON!! Dr. Ardehali the hands that God used to perform HIS miracle! I know God put him there as a reminder of coming full circle. I thanked him for all of his work and told him I felt amazing!! I AM SO IN LOVE WITH THE WAY GOD DOES THINGS! Wow, huh?

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A quick hello!

I have so much to say but my eyes don't focus very well and so this will be short. (sorry if I don't catch misspellings)

I am in complete amazement as to our GOD and HIS MIGHTY ways!! I am stunned and full of love! There are SO MANY things to tell of this experience and little by little I will share. Thank you to EVERYONE who has prayed, commented, text, emailed, cleaned, made meals, picked up stuff, and helped with the girls!!!!! Like a chess game God has moved all the pieces where they need to go and where HE wants them! I FEEL AMAZING!!! I CAN BREATHE!!! I AM EVER GRATEFUL FOR THIS GIFT AND KNOW THAT IT IS STRAIGHT FROM GOD!!

We have a lot of new rules to live by...a lot of changes. BUT it's all worth this life and I have complete faith in what GOD is doing! I am at home now with my babies and my amazing man!! There is NO WHERE else I would rather be! Last night was beautiful and today is the same! I took a walk on our street (never done that before) and it felt perfect! My new lungs are perfect...only God would do that! I can feel the difference almost as if you were to compare tap water to distilled water. I have to learn to breathe normal again...weird because I have to teach myself an involuntary motion. My brain has trained itself to breathe rapidly anytime I get up. The cool thing is that when I take a deep breath I feel replenished by it...whereas before I would need 10-15 breaths to recover from 1 deep breath!

I love you all and am completly grateful FOR EVERYTHING!!

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She's out!!!

Julie just got paroled!!! She gets to go home and be with her babies and hubby!!!!! Praise God!! Praise God!! They are confident in His MIGHTY HAND AND WONDERFUL WAYS!! please cont. to pray in Jesus' name for no illness, complications, and set backs! Pray for His peace and strength to cover over them and for them to ease into this new life of meds. Yay!!!

Update

Doctor Sagar came in yesterday and said that the CT Scan shows a little fluid on one of Julie's lungs. This could be a very small sign of rejection or something from her old lungs. The amazing thing is that they are not very concerned about it. It's stable and hasn't gotten any worse and is not showing up in other lab numbers. The family is finally starting to feel the tired set in and so we've been a little delayed in updates. Manny was able to leave in the afternoon yesterday because he said he had "something to do that he couldn't share yet"....such a loving hubby who still looks to put a smile in his wife's eyes! Amy also was able to break away Friday by gifting the girls with an amazing and much needed day at Disneyland. They are still smiling cheeck to cheeck. She was also able to go watch her boys perform in their Pirates of Penzance play but then very faithfully returned to sleep with her Jewel last night. Julie spent the whole afternoon
and evening with her dad at the hospital and loved every minute if it!! We learned that we never clarified about Julie's use of oxygen. She has not been on it but maybe 2 times since surgery for about 30 mins each time. Julie can not wait to get in here and explain the MANY ways that God has showed HIS MIGHTY hand in all of this. She has, since the second she got the call, heard worship music in her head continuously!! She would often in ICU tell us that the neighbors were reading the Bible or playing worship music or would ask us to turn up the music we were listening to. Julie has felt the miracle of healing through all of this. Doctors and Nurses are repeatedly expressing how amazingly well Julie's recovery has been. They keep commenting that her lungs are perfect and that she is doing great for sugery having been so recent. Her stumbles have been, according to them, minor and many nurses don't get why they just don't let her come home.
There are two brother Doctors (the Sagar's) and one tends to be more layed back and say "you're fine and we'll just keep watching that"....while the other is mote cautious and says "we need to check that more and watch you here"...the one that came in today is the more strict one and he finally said "you are doing amazing and I'm not too concerned so we'll look at sending you home Monday or Tuesday". Julie quickly pleaded for Monday with him and let him know mother to father how great it would be to get home and be with her girls. He chuckled and said he'd really put that into consideration. We will update soon again! Have a blessed morning!

Friday's Update

Today has been a good day. She had some famliy come visit and spend quality time with her. Dr. Sagar came in said they will do a CT Scan today to check the lower part of the lung that hasn't fully expanded. They just want to make sure there is no infection or pneumonia. Depending on what the scan shows they may also do another bronchoscopy. Dr says she is still doing well but please pray for the lower part of lung to fully expand and that the scans don't show any signs of infection. She has been doing better as far as the morning meds go. She thinks she has the routine of all the meds down and has not be nauseated. God bless Manny. 
 

Julie update

Ok well it's been 12 days since we arrived at the hospital. 11 since surgery. Julie is doing great! Every day there are ups and downs. Funny stories, joyful stories, sad stories but overall just a process of Gods hands at work on my friends body. Still and always will be incredible to think some incredible person willingly gave of their lungs to save another life and those sponges are inside Julie giving her new breath!! We are in the midst of needing prayer!!! The doctor came in this morning and said there still appears to be air leaking from her chest. Right side again, the side that had the last chest tube left in. You can feel bubbles in her neck. So they will be taking her for another xray sometime today and looking to see if it's bad enough to need to put some very small tubes in the front of her chest to get the air out of her chest so her lungs will fully expand. He said the bottom of her lungs have not expanded yet and they want to get them
opened up. I don't believe it's serious but needs to be out. Julie does NOT! want any tubes put back inside her so she asks you to pray that not be neccessary! She got sick this morning so they are giving her antinausea medicine now. They are also checking other ways for bacteria and she is tired and feeling a little nervous about tubes. They are keeping an eye on her heart rate cause it went up last night for no known reason. They did an EKG but everything seems to be fine. Xray just came so I wil post again when I know more.