Last Saturday night Chris and I were just about to leave a Christmas party when something momentous happened. We were in the hallway saying goodbye when I happened to check my phone for missed calls and messages. There were two text messages, which is unusual for me; usually the only people who send me messages are Chris, my Dad and Vanessa. So what do you know, one of them was from Vanessa, but the other was from my mum (a little less usual). Both were about the same thing. Read on to find out more…

I didn’t even get as far as reading the individual messages… all I saw were the message previews. Vanessa’s said “I just got the call…” which was all I needed. I handed the phone to Chris and promptly burst into tears. Everyone from the party was gathered around, and I remember hearing some gasps and someone saying “Å, nei!” (”oh no”) thinking I had received bad news.

I had been making a huge effort to speak Norwegian all night, and suddenly couldn’t think how to say “Don’t worry, it’s good news” in Norwegian, so I just stood there bawling (totally forgetting that they could all understand English anyway).

In the end, Chris explained what was going on; namely that Vanessa had been phoned by her medical team to tell her that they had found her new lungs.

I was pretty freaked out, because I had no idea what time the messages had come in. On the way out to the car I desperately tried to send messages to Ness and my mum, but my fingers were getting colder by the second and I was pretty shaky. At that point I didn’t know whether she was already in surgery or what, and I was kicking myself that I hadn’t checked my phone throughout the afternoon.

Luckily she hadn’t gone in yet. She was lying in the gurney with the drip in her arm, but they hadn’t taken her phone away yet. So I was able to send a couple of good-luck-big-hug-excited-squeal texts before she went in. After that I pretty much babbled crap all the way home… after which there was no chance of sleep, so Chris and I played World of Warcraft until 2.30am when I was finally ready for bed. I left my phone on all night though, just in case there was news, but there wasn’t any real news until mid-morning the next day. This was to say that the lungs were in and that the operation had been successful. Amazing.

Now it’s only three days later, and our Nessy is sitting up, talking, drinking iced coffee and, most importantly, BREATHING! She said she can’t describe the feeling of breathing at full capacity, but that it feels amazing. Chris and I are due to travel to Australia at the end of January, so we will be making a special trip to Melbourne to visit her during her recovery/rehab period. Considering her current rate of recovery, I’m sure she’ll be doing the tango with a rose between her teeth by February.

Congratulations Nessy! Your new lungs are the best Christmas present this family could hope for. YAAAAAAAAAY!