Much good news from Toronto!

After a great harrangue, and much help, I have found a good apartment! It is so close to the hospital that I can feel the whoosh of the medivac helicopers as they land on the roof of TGH. This will be great in winter as I scoot along to my apointments and don't have to battle the wind tunnels created by all the tall buildings here. Furniture for this new (and accessible and mould free!) place has materialized via the collective efforts of one kind family and will be delivered by a crew of volunteers from the staff of George Brown College on Thursday!

Being homeless is a chronic problem very evident in a city like Toronto. My week of speculative homelessness as distant from the hard reality as it is, has made me appreciate and really observe those who are not so fortunate as myself.

Second good news item...

As of Monday when a very generous donation was sent to the Lung Assocaiton, fund raising passed the half way mark...and by several thousand dollars too!

Thanks to all

Sandra

I've landed! An unremarkable trip to Toronto and an easy installation into my furnished apartment on Wood Street leaves me anxious to meet with the surgeons on Monday and get this show on the road! I have heard of people receiving lungs the first day they were listed. Failing that wishful thinking, this spot should be very interesting once I get my bearings.

I'm on the 30th floor and my balcony looks south over the core of downtown and the lakes where I can watch tiny sailing races on any given day. There is a distinct feeling of being in a Jetson's TV show as the air traffic is amazing...bright orange copters and sleek jets heading for Toronto island whiz by my balcony dodging spires and other high rises.

The first day I was called to the balcony because a pipe and drums parade was going by..what a royal welcome for an arriving Nova Scotian. The days have contained everything from VERY loud presentations by hari krishna, rock singers, baladeers and middle eastern singing groups. I haven't quite located the source but the buildings amplify the sound so it comes in loud if not clear. Oh, the buzz of a city.

I have yet to go out and explore as my scooter is not yet here. But Andree has done a recconoiter for me and has located the most important things, food, a pub, the library, an LCB.

On her first trip out she was asked directions from a woman. Andree told them she'd been in Toronto only one hour. She exchanged information with the woman and found that she was a Newfoundlander who wa accompanying a woman waiting for a double lung transplant...and where did she live? The apartment next to mine! Were did her partner hail from? Hantsport Nova Scotia!! This trip is ruled by providence.

All this to say, first part over. And thanks again for all the people involved in just getting me here. Kansas is too busy with her new job as foredog on the Rein Tree horse training farm to have put an entry on the blog but I'm sure we'll be hearing from her soon.

Sandra

Listen to Sandra AGAIN on CBC on Thursday, July 12th on Information Morning between 6-8:30am!

Sandra is going to be on CBC AGAIN...just a day before she heads to Toronto to begin the waiting process for new lungs. Our fundraising efforts continue here. Tune into to CBC Radio One to hear the interview with Sandra. This is a follow up to the earlier interview they had done with Sandra on June 27th.

To hear the interview from June 27th, Click on the link below to hear the interview via streaming media...http://www.cbc.ca/informationmorningns/interviews.html . The link for the interview from July 12 will be here soon too, after it has aired or by going to the CBC Information Morning website.