Fashion Show

The fashion show was amazing!!!!! oh it was everything and more I ever dreamed of! I was blown away.
The video is not up yet, but keep checking www.cfforcf.com. It should be posted soon and trust me you will want to watch it. It was amazing! The models, the volunteers, the guests, Kim thank you thank you thank you times a million for making the night the huge success that it was! I was floored. You guys owned the night. I cannot get over how professional the models were. Thank you Cathy model coach, truly you are amazing! KC you rocked as the MC my love. I knew from the get go you would shine. I just had to convince you! haha
Thursday night was magical. I can't get over it.

On Friday I also got some more great news from my bronch on Tuesday I have no rejection and no bacteria growing so far! awoohoo. Life is good my friends, life is great!

7 weeks

7 weeks and i'm breathing easy....7 weeks and someone else is grieving.
I'm so sorry to my donor family for your loss. I hope that they take comfort that I am doing so well...I hope they realize that by donating their loved ones organs they saved my life. They allowed my family and friends not to grieve....

I'm so grateful to lay awake in bed and breathe deep. No crackles of mucus, so loud keeping me awake at night, no struggles through my mouth for breath...just nice smooth flow through my nose...I'm breathing...it sometimes catches me off guard. It sometimes is still hard to believe.

My clinic appointment on monday went well again. I am holding strong at 40% my x ray continues to improve, the only thing we have to work on is my kidney levels...they don't seem to be working properly which we think is due to being dehydrated from all the drugs. I'm also quite nauseous (throwing up is not fun every day!) all the time, also have some headaches...so we have to fix that. If those are the only things I have to complain about after going through a HUGE surgery then I think I am pretty lucky.
I am keeping up with physio and now can stand up from a chair without using my arms, thighs are getting stronger.

I had a bronchcscopy on tuesday. They drug you up, and stick a scope down in to your lungs and take snippets of the lungs to see if you are growing any bacteria or have rejection of the lungs. I felt every snippet this time, and kept raising my hand for more drugs.....but they never came, so all three snippets were felt, ouch ouch ouchie. My pain tolerance is getting high these days.

The fashion show is today today today today today!!!! soooo exciting!You can check out the video of it, either live tonight, or tomorrow online at www.cfforcf.com. Everyone has been working sooo hard and now today is it!!! bah six months in the making, and soo much has happened! I was listed for a double lung transplant, AND got new lungs all in the time that this show was pulled together!!!

Matthew Strader you are amazing! An article was put out by the enterprise this morning about the show and "summer for hattie". You can check out the article online by clicking here or read below.

Ninety pounds of inspiration - one life changing hour
Wednesday August 25 2010 By Matthew Strader, Enterprise Staff

Hattie Dunstan poses with good friend Kim Alderdice on the patio of a family friend’s condo in downtown Toronto. Dunstan is recovering from a double lung transplant she endured on Monday, July 5. Matthew Strader photo

Every now and then someone can change another person’s life. Sometimes they inspire. Sometimes they educate. Sometimes, they don’t even try.

And the ever-growing story of Hattie Dunstan is one of those ever-growing circuses of life-changing moments – and all this Caledon girl is trying to do is take one long walk on the beach.

Dunstan is a Cystic Fibrosis sufferer recovering at a friend’s condo in downtown Toronto from a double lung transplant performed on?July 5.

This diminutive, and yet formidable Caledon resident has faced a medical challenge this summer that could topple any character, and through it all, she has maintained.

Her unbreakable spirit, her passion for life, permeates everything she does, every word she speaks, and every person she keeps in her life.

So overwhelming is the love that she has nurtured with her family and friends during her 22 years, that her trial has turned into their mission.

‘The Summer for Hattie’ has become a town-wide push for Cystic Fibrosis fundraising and organ donation awareness that has seen groups of 20-50 friends and family get together for bottle drives, car washes, mock-fashion events, flower sales and the piece de resistance… ‘The Couture Fashion For a Cure Found’ show that will happen tonight, August 26, at the Glen Eagle Golf Club.

For The Enterprise, it began with two girls in the lobby.

Kim Alderdice and Rachael Grice made an appearance asking for coverage of their first event, ‘The Mainstreet Strut’. A mock fashion show and auction that saw them turn a downtown Bolton location into a raucous mix of firemen being auctioned off for yard work, and friends taking to the stage to strut in silly costumes and entertain a boisterous crowd. Both of the girls admitted openly that they didn’t know what they were doing, just that they had a friend named Hattie who had inspired them to try.

It is only three months later and Alderdice is a model of organization and co-ordination. Grice is an experienced MC and host. The group of girls working with them is a well-oiled machine that has not only put on the events they imagined, but surpassed their own, and anyone else’s expectations with their success.

‘The Mainstreet Strut’ raised $4,604.93 for the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Their two charity car washes have raised $770.39, and $600.75.

A recent bottle drive pulled in, in excess of $1,000.

And flower sales are topping the $500 mark.

Hattie’s crew has gone from a group of rookies, to seasoned philanthropic veterans.

And still, talk to any of them and it remains about one thing. It is for one thing. It is because of one thing.

“It’s because of Hattie,” Alderdice told The Enterprise. “It isn’t even because she’s suffering from this disease. It’s because she’s an important part of all of our lives.”

Dunstan spoke to The Enterprise from a condo in downtown Toronto where she continues her recovery.

She is a shell of the girl seen in pictures as her body has atrophied from her weeks in intensive care to the point that she now works every day to rebuild the muscle structure she lost.

And yet, spend an hour with her and you will feel nothing short of meek in her presence. She is the embodiment of the potential of the human spirit. And a life-changing example of what real strength is made of.

And, without a doubt, you’re also going to join her in a good laugh.

“I’m so messed up,” she jokes, while rubbing at her temples. “The drugs are so strong. Last week I couldn’t hold a conversation.”

“She just kept apologizing,” chimed in Alderdice. “It was pretty funny.”

Dunstan’s journey has been a roller coaster of ups and downs through a fog she can’t control.

Her downs began approximately a week before her transplant, when her own lungs started to succumb to her disease. Her lung function fell to drastic levels of just over 10 per cent.

“It was really scary,” she said.

Placed on the rapidly deteriorating organ donation list, her personal blog became a macabre story of fear, confusion, impatience, frustration, and, through it all, strength.

At two in the morning one fateful night, she got the call.

Lungs were only 40 minutes away.

And her coaster climbed up.

The week after the surgery, she doesn’t remember. The drugs were too strong.

Today, she struggles to focus. She works hard to rebuild the body she’s not so sure is hers anymore.

“It feels like someone took my brain and put it into someone else’s body. Like this isn’t mine anymore,” she said, her hands waving over her torso. “But I know I just have to keep working. Build up my strength, and it will be mine again.”

For now, tests are showing that she has stopped growing bacteria in her lungs. Her lung function is at 40 per cent and climbing. Her daily frustrations bring her down, and then the realization of the benchmarks she is passing bring her back up.

She is slowly working toward a full recovery that will lead her to the goal of walking the beach at her cottage.

And without knowing it, she is changing lives everyday.

This reporter went for what should have been a very routine run during the evening after a visit with Dunstan.

A pause at a trail bridge, a deep breath in and a gratitude for the simplest of things never felt before changed all of that.

There is only one person to thank for that.

You can thank her too. All you have to do is spend $40 on a fashion show ticket you won’t regret and spend an evening with a dedicated group of girls trying desperately to make sure nobody else has to go through what their friend has gone through.

For more information on the event, or how to donate visit: www.cfforcf.com.

Follow Hattie’s journey at www.icecreammaplesyrup.blogspot.com.

And find out about organ donation information at: www.giftoflife.on.ca.

two and a half weeks!

to paint ones toes nails while on post transplant meds seems a near daunting task....(due to the sometimes incessant shakes of the hands) but alas at least I CAN paint these toe nails of mine.
I can know while sitting put on my own shoes, and tie them up, paint my toes, do all the other stuff that is required of feet care etc.
I am now beginning to see the improvements myself! which must mean i am getting better quite quickly. a man came up to me in physio this morning (after i did 30 minutes on the bike, thank you very much at an increased tension! woo) and asked me when i had my transplant, his daughter had hers june 20th...she is still on oxygen, and looks in quite a lot of distress, gasping for air, etc. she was 6 weeks in ICU, and he says to me "oh wow july 5th, you are recovering quickly"
I seem to be doing really really good. This girl didn't seem to have the best attitude...sooo i can only attribute a lot of me recovering so well to (well of course that i got the mosst perfect lungs haha and had the most perfect surgeons!) but also to working my butt off....and now it is paying off. I am seeing the difference. I am at home again this weekend, and the things that I can do around the house this weekend compared to last weekend are really encouraging the difference!
Last monday at clinic,, they said my x ray looks good again, my lung function is up to 40%...yessss 40% wooo hooo! have not been that since first year university...inner tube waterpolo shall I make a come back on the team???
The fashion show is on Thursday and I am so excited for it. I am not attending it, as that big of a crowd of people that I love all wanting to hug and talk to me but are full of germs = not good for new lungs, especially for the first three months sooo I get to watch it live, but of course Hattie style I will be dressing up, sporting a fancy drink (non alcoholic...my brain does not need any intoxication!) and cheering from the side lines...(i am disappointed about missing it, but there is always next year when it is bigger and better!) Everyone who is missing the show, who didn't get tickets...those babies were sold out before they even went to print! you can check out the fashion show the next day (friday august 27th, 2010, online by going to www.cfforcf.com)
I am two and a half weeks out of hospital, and going strong!

best birthday ever

helloooo,
so monday clinic went really good.
they said my xray was even better then when I left hospital. My bronch came back growing nothing...thats right, i am growing NOTHING in my lungs...for right now, nata thing. Its been 22 years not growing bacteria. hello world, its nice to not be growing anything. the only thing was my kidneys are not functioning correctly so on this monday we will see if those levels have come back down...they think its from the tac levels, an anti rejection drug.

I started exercise this week. it is sooo hard with my weak thigh muscles, I already fell in the room once this week, and my cousin had to lift me off the floor haha....hoy boy.
but ive had some real good mile stones this week....i showered, went on my side,(so far ive only been able to lay on my back, i still lay on my side, saying ouch ouch ouch ouch the whole time, but i bet its good to practise...) and went on the treadmill....AND got up from the edge of the couch without the assistance of my arms. I also went down to the courtyard. Makin improvements....just have to keep pushing, mind over matter. walk walk walk walk all the time so I can start walking normally...haha

I think my brain is starting to feel less alien too (although it is still soo weird feeling) ...since i even thought about going back home home home this weekend. i saw a photo of my cat and got incredibly homesick.

the fashion show is less then two weeks away! i cant wait to see it all go down. (theyre doing a live feed, so if you cant make the actual event, you can see it online!) you girls are doing an awesome job! wish i could be there live...but 300 people...im not suppose to be out in public places where i dont know the cold or germ situation....next year next year

its funny i started a journal each day so i could write down exactly what i did, to know the improvements snice its so hard for me to tell, and write down my moods, and yesterday was such a bad day...today is way different. ups and downs. i hope soon i willl start reading books again. i think i will, cause ive been thinking about it a lot...i have found that when i start thinking about things a week or two later i start to do them....if that makes sense...like i remember in the ICU i did not want my blackberry very often...the drugs messed me up and i just had no desire, but know it goes with me everywhere, and is back to normal, i also used to not want to talk on the phone, and now i am slowly anwsering and talking more on my phone....sooo everything will come in time...6 weeks on monday. Just have to pass the time for the next little while. but i think taking it one day at a time filled with visitors, so i dont get bored or depressed is key...followed by forcing myself to do all the hard stuff, like no matter how much i dont want to go for that walk...get up get up and just do it............
wow biggest rant ever ahahah...sooon ill be me again, i just have to patient.
ps did i mention i am going to have THE best 23rd birthday EVER....its in december....AND ill have new lungs (and hopefully no more alien feeling and able to walk normally? hah) and be all fixed up by then....chya...cant wait!

cutting myself some slack

i am feeling a bit better today. i know that this will all take time. i just have to keep getting over these hurdles. thank you to everyone for reminding me!
it is just going to take a long time, but IT WILL GET EASIER...heck ive only been out of hospital four days...i cant except anything less then what i have accomplished. just one day at a time...baby baby steps.
tomorrow is my first clinic appointment. i am nervous. i blow my first lung function test, which will probably be pretty low, but not as low as before transplant! it will take a few months even a year i think to inflate these puppies....but ill get there!
i am watching a lot of tv....and we washed my hair in the sink today...could not do that last week! haha so theres an improvement!
my mom and dad are also on operation gain weight, so ive got boost, every sort of thing you can imagine to eat to try to get soem strength back so i can start feeling better. I seriously have THE best parents in the world. they are just doing sooo much.
FInally today my blood sugars are under control so i will start gaining nutrients from that too! soo...i just have to cut myself some slack....im usually such a mover and a shaker, but this time i just have to relax and let things take their course...it will get better!

frustrated

this is so hard...
im tired and the drugs are really messing me up...
i have to patient i guess...
its just so hard when im so weak still, im naseuous still, and i dont want to eat really anything at all....
they are filling my body with toxic drugs though so for the first few months i should expect not to feel good....but its frustrating feelinglike this, its like nothing ive ever felt before...its really really messy on your head and your body and your mind....i have to keep pushing through i guess...its only been 5 weeks....
did this happen to others....what did they do to get through it...
just get stronger i guess and by christmas i;ll be perfect....
ugh sooo hard.
i don;t like being left alone, yet i cant really go out in public cause im too tired and weak by the time i get there...

made it!

well so many things have happened since I last posted...


Im out of the hospital. Last night for the first time in 6 or 7 weeks I slept outside of a hospital bed. It was wonderful...although I did miss my roomate Loretta. She is the funniest little duck. This sweet old lady, yet does she have a mouth and a wit on her when the nurses are not looking. She was hillarious. She had a double lung transplant ten years ago and is now 75 years old. She was calling to hook up her phone and she was getting so frustrated with them, and said no i dont want to talk to your wife...i want to talk to the fat woman who works there...the things she quips off...maybe you had to be there...haha she must be 3 feet and 80 pounds, and just hillarious.



Yesterday was also the first time in 6 months that I am tube free.....they pulled my last hand IV....I have not had a picc line, oxygen, any sort of tubing hooked up to me for the last 6 months...i always had something in me...and today...nothing. Its very surreal and ghost like. I sat out on the patio today and took off my sweater but only took off one arm, since I am so used to covering up my picc line with the other sleve and realized...um no I no longer have anything in me, take it allllll off! it will be weird going shopping and not looking for sweaters or things to cover up a picc.



They are still adjusting my tacc levels, anti rejection meds, and my levels were through the roof, so it makes my brain a bit fuzzy, hard to concentrate on things, and general not feeling myself...so please bare with me as they straighten out my drugs, if I seem a bit out of it and not myself. I;m susper weak still, but that will come...i;ve also lost 13 pounds gah! mission gain a lot of weight starts yesterday.

Its surreal lying in bed though and breathing...you lucky dogs doing it all your life! haha

not to wake up in the morning with gobs of mucus, not to hear crackles as you go to sleep...just to lay there and breathe through your nose as if its the most natural thing in the world...which it should be....but it just boggles my mind...like i still am so humbled maybe thats not the right word...in awe...that this is what to breathe normal is like. Sometimes I wake up and I am like am i still breathing...because its just no effort...before it was such an effort, I have to check sometimes, because its too good to be true?

The chest incision still makes it totally hard to breath full same with where they pulled the chest tubes, so I am also on a lot of pain killers...my eyes are also still blurry but i hope that will go away once they figure out the drug levels and such.

So we did it...we made it! Monday is clinic, next week is back to the physio room for three months to build up strength...and yesterday is the beginning of my new life.

heres me a few days ago, while visiting the condo on my day pass!

lungs lungs lungs

I didnt grow!!!! I cant believe it. still 5 foot three and a bit...maybe i just feel taller cause i am standing up straighter now...hmmm.

I did 20 minutes on the bike today...no oxygen, no heavy pursed lips breathing, 97 precent oxygen level...sooooo weird, for a whole year ive had to use oxygen when exercising...and ive never been 97 percent oxygen for a few years...it blows my mind. I also did 12 stairs today by myself! haha tiny feats, but compared to two days ago when I could not even do barely one on my own! still using the railings like crazy but getting there!

They say one more week hopefully, then home!
I am still having suuuuch heavy feelings where they cut open my chest and pulled the chest tubes, but ive only had the chest tubes out a few days, and I have to remember that they did cut open my whole entire chest and replace my lungs...so im sure its going to hurt for awhile. 4 weeks tomorrow since surgery! The farther away i get from that date the better!

Unfortunatly becuase of this rejection they put me on a huge dose of steriods through iv so i now have absolutley like no immune system so now we have to watch out for infection. heres hoping i dont get that and can just go to the condo and start getting stronger and stronger and the heavy chest feeling will go away. ive only been on food for a 9 days though....so i would have to say i am making pretty good head way!

As for the amazing cfforcf.com committee of girls. they are working hard and after this long weekend are urging you to drop your empties off to the beer store in bolton on tuesday evening, all the money will be donated to to the CF foundation! they are also looking for more volunteers to help count the empties starting at 5pm on tuesday! so please if you have a free hour or so, they would looove some help!

Hope everyone is enjoying the weather, the cottage is within reach for me! hopefully i;ll get my legs stronger...its these darn thighs, and i;ll be able to go up on a weekend inbetween all the appointments. for the first three months you have to go in for exercise as well as blood work there days a week, which is why we have to stay down in the city, blood work you have to be here super early before your 9 am pills...so its just too far to drive from caledon,but i;ve always wanted to live in toronto, therefore gotta inflate these lungs and get these legs tip top shape so i can start enjoying the city, during the low people times so as to not catch anything...

the nurse said today that she could here breath deeper down in my lungs then yesterday so hopefully all the biking is working and inflating these lungs will just keep going!