I'm going to Hollywood!! And by Hollywood I mean back to Duke.

My plans for Friday was to head to Haywood county to see mom (who had a birthday Thursday) and dad. On the way I was going to stop and see my sister (who had a birthday today), my brother in law and that sweet little niece of mine. Well, plans had changed. Mom was really bad sick with that virus and I was not about to go there so I still went to spend the day with Margie and Presley and see Jason that evening. As you know, I was waiting to hear from Duke about returning for more testing. Well, I was traveling down I-26 and got to thinking how bad the reception is at their house. What if they tried to call? I decided to email the transplant coordinator and let her know that I had not heard yet and see if she could go ahead and call me. I was still about 45 minutes from Fletcher and she could call before I lost signal. So I pull over (way off the road over on the bank because I hate being right next to that traffic whipping by at 80mph) and just as I am reaching into the console to get my phone it begins to ring. Caller ID reads "Lauren Rich" which is the coordinator I was waiting to hear from. I get that feeling that I want to hear what she says but if it is bad I would rather not answer. Honestly I was almost positive they would say, you are in too good of shape to go through a transplant yet. You get around on your own and still work full time, etc. That would crush my hopes of getting off this oxygen and enjoy life so much more. So I answer and she says "We got a whole lot of records on you from all the doctors that have worked with you over the last 8 years and we were able to really get some good detail into what you have been through. You did a good job in getting information to us. We are all in agreement that we would like you to come back for some more testing. This will not be the full evaluation but only lacks a couple tests of being everything." She said that there were a couple tests that are not normally done but I am a rare enough case that these are most necessary to have a successful transplant. Also they would like me to loose 20 to 30 pounds. Now, I DO have a lil bit of a gut, but the last time I was that small I was so weak that I had trouble squatting down and standing back up. I weigh about 195 now and think 180 is fine, maybe even 175, but that last 10 pounds will be tough. I already have no butt so I hope it will leave me what I do have left. Well, I have said this whole time. You gotta man up and do what you gotta do. Sure am gonna miss them hot dogs and cheese burgers. I heard a preacher say once in a sermon about letting go, that sometimes you have to let go of one gift from God to free your hands to accept another. In my left hand there is a hot dog and in my right a cheese burger. I need to drop them so God can hand me a left lung and a right lung. Ha ha. Seriously it will be tough when you are so limited to how much you can exercise. That means I will have to be that much stricter on what goes in. Anyway, she went on to say that they would be contacting me to give me the schedules for the testing. I would be there around March 9th and they would be doing some more intense procedures than the last time such as the heart cath.  It would take 2 to 3 days for all of this. Also due to the severe scaring in my lungs they would need to do a little extra like a chest MRI to assess the damage more clearly.  So I guess this is my golden ticket to the next round. I got a yes from all the judges including that last doctor that was so negative. I guess every group has to have it's Simon. Funny thing is that I did not detect even the slightest British accent.