Finally Time

I have always wanted to have time to write and record those things I want share or simply not forget. I find that most of those things the majority of people hope to forget, I find myself glad that I didn't. For those of you who I am just now reaching, welcome. To those of you that I know and love who have been so faithfully following my CaringBridge.com posts, welcome to Bethany 2.0. I have decided to move over to a blog from the Caring Bridge site so that I may expand my horizons and step things up a little, since I will have the time to now that I do not have papers to grade, tardy letters to write, and parents to call. I want to take full advantage of this time that I have over the next year and not waste it away, and to start off with I have really tried to think and organize what I want to accomplish while at the same time soaking in the one time in my adult life that I will probably get a break. Don't misunderstand me here; these are not resolutions they are a checklist that happens to fall in January. I would never want to jinx this list with label of resolutions. 





I hope that in addition to this blog just being my babbling that it will also reach those of you with a million questions about the transplant experience and give you peace. So many of you have tried to talk me into a book, but as of right now this will have to do until I can figure myself out. I have discovered so many new and interesting things while having to live through my laptop the past few months, and now I hope that others can benefit from the randomness: books, movies, shopping, news, products, services, etc. 

To my new readers:
The following is a timeline of the past year of my life. To fill in the details visit http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/bethanygipson where I have been journaling through the process.

• December 19, 2008 - got hitched
• January 7, 2009 - gall bladder removed during my second trimester
• June 5, 2009 - first root canal :/
• July 14, 2009 - birth of my son Finn
• September 11, 2009 - diagnosed with peripartum cardiomyopathy (heart failure)
• October 6, 2009 - received heart transplant
• November 5, 2009 - released from the hospital to live in New Orleans
• November 25, 2009 - released to come home to Alabama
• January 6, 2010 - 3 months with my new heart - Things are looking good!