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Patience is a state of mind I feel grateful to possess during most of my waking hours. This morning, however, I am not only impatient, I am very impatient. 

Colleen's lung transplant coordinator Lisa was to have called Colleen on Wednesday or Thursday with the decision of the Selection Committee, which met on Tuesday to consider Colleen, among others, for lung transplant. And Col, myself, our family and friends have practiced patience and remained calm, or relatively calm, over those two past days. But now it's Friday.

Ninety minutes ago, 11:30 am Pittsburgh/New Jersey time, I vigorously urged Colleen to call her UPMC coordinator, which she did. The Lung Transplant Center's phone receptionist told Colleen that Lisa was out today but that she would pass Colleen's message on to Lisa's colleagues, the two other coordinators Paul and Christgin, who were in a meeting just then. "Please have them call me back whether they have any information or not," Colleen requested.

So that was ninety-five minutes ago. I just now put in a call myself to the transplant center, as Colleen's primary caregiver, and spoke with that same phone receptionist, who told me the same thing she told Colleen, although indicating this time that Paul and Christgin were out of their meeting. "Please remind them to call," I requested.

Friday quitting time in Pittsburgh approaches as does the weekend.

And now I am feeling very, very impatient, impatience bordering on being royally pissed off. I have tools to deal with these out-sized emotions, but I'd really prefer not to have to use them.

This is kind of like a first date not showing up at the appointed time. Was he in a car accident? (Did Lisa have a family emergency?) Did he forget, or not want to make the difficult phone call to say he'd changed his mind? (Did she forget, carelessly let time slip away, or elect to put off delivering bad news?)

One good thing:  Last week at Family House Colleen and I were given a heads-up by Judy and Ed, who told us that their call didn't come, as promised, on Wednesday or Thursday and that they had to call themselves on Friday. They learned then, three days after the Selection Committee met, that Ed had been given an unqualified "Yes" for transplant. Will we know the committee's decision on Colleen by the end of today too?

Three hours to go until 5:00 pm in Pittsburgh.

Yours truly,
Impatience