Dear friends,

Thank you for reading our blog and sharing our lives! We hope you are enjoying your summer.

My first announcement: today is my 13th wedding anniversary to the most amazing husband in the world- Andrew Byrnes! Andrew is my other ‘power of two!’ I am the luckiest woman in the world to be so indulged with love and affection, every single day. I wish everyone could experience what I have! Though Andrew and I are busier than ever, and are learning the tougher side of our control freakishness with the film production process, we nonetheless remaind steadfast and strong. We have shared 17 years of our lives together, and what an incredible privilege–and surprise– that we’re growing older together. Thank you to all our friends who have supported our love and mentored us along the way.

It has been too long since I’ve posted, but I finally have down time to sit and write. Actually, I have cold now so I’m in the hospital for 5 days of ribavirin, a common anti-viral treatment for lung transplant recipients who catch a cold. Ha! That’s what it takes to slow down… mandatory confinement, with an admitted sigh of relief to check out for a few days:).

My virus is actually metapneumovirus, a new bug for me that’s in the RSV family. I think I’ve been burning the candle on both ends for a few weeks and it finally caught up with me. Plus exposures to the dentist, gym, grocery stores, airports, workplace… who knows.I’d rather not play the blame game and just accept that sometimes these things happen. Besides, I haven’t been in the hospital since January 2009!

On an aside, I will make sure that this blog isn’t too much venting about the hospital, but I could write several entries in 2 days about the mishaps- but I’ll refrain. My mantra is ‘Please God, let me know have a conniption fit every time someone walks into the room.’ The good news is while waiting 36 hours for a bed to open up, Andrew and I had time to go to a friends’ wedding at Stanford Memorial Church- nearly 13 years later. It was wonderful to relive that glorious ceremony. Though we both had colds and couldn’t touch each other, the sparks were flying. And then head to E-Ground at Stanford in wedding attire.

Anyway, there is much to write about. I started a part-time job that gives me structure and a little paycheck. It’s local, great colleagues, flexible, part-time, and temporary- what else can I ask for? But I realize how hard it is to fit in my other life: film festival submissions, CF volunteering, bagpiping, transplant volunteering, plus caring for a precious dog with chronic bloody noses from her tumor, etc. I enjoy having an excuse to say no to volunteer stuff because of “work.”

On June 6, I sadly lost another dear CF friend, a legend in the CF community, Katrina Howell, who waited 2 years for a lung transplant but it wasn’t meant to be. I ache inside on a chronic basis. I rushed down to San Diego to her service and had a loving time with close friends there. Life is a little too full and stressful.

Right after I started working, our film team planned our first Bay Area screening Premiere of “The Power of Two” on September 10,2011! We rented the Castro Theater, and this is going to be one big huge party. I truly hope as many people as possible can come out and see the film, mainly because we got a bit ambitious with this 1400 seat theater (hint, hint, please join us with everyone you know:)). There is a 2pm matinee and a 7:30PM Gala which includes a VIP reception and three musicians from the soundtrack who will be performing. Both are followed by a Q and A. We are so excited! But there is so much planning and detail to go through. As usual, we have a wonderful team of supporters helping us.

I’ve mainly wanted to write for a few weeks about a fabulous experience we had on Saturday, June 11. Ana and I threw a fundraising sushi party to raise money for our Japanese friend, Taka Maeda, who came to America for a kidney transplant. She received her new kidney in Iowa on May 21, 2011, after only 11 days on the transplant list! But she is left with a $100,000 loan… so every dollar helps. This party was planned as an intimate gathering of friends who paid $35 for an all-you-can-eat sushi party.

When Ana and I throw parties, WE THROW PARTIES. It started a week in advance, with Ana planning party favors, door prizes, and buying extra dishes we’d need for a party of 18. Ana set out a fundraising table of flyers, fundraising opportunities, and put out Taka’s signs. I packed my 8 foot folding table, chairs and all my Japanese dishes, sake, wasabe, wakame, seaweed, rice vinegar, rice cooker, and all the extra little stuff into many boxes and stuffed my car full. I brought all the drinks and alcohol I owned, and was at Ana’s house by 10am. We unloaded, set the table, and of course prepared 10 cups of rice in two rice cookers. Then we head out to the Asian market nearby. As I pushed the cart, Ana darted from aisle to aisle, calculating portions and systematically rattling off “we need this, is this enough, that’s too much, it’s a party for 18 not 50!” We jammed and filled the cart, in order of warm to cold foods. The raw fish is always purchased last, packed with frozen eel and edamame, and then we head straight home and throw it in the lowest drawer of the fridge. My mother warned us of the great responsibility to serve raw fish to so many guests, most of whom are transplant recipients!

Then the real work began. From 12 noon, we went at it. Picture this- twins in tank tops, no bra, hair up, hair band pulling flyaways back, glasses, and working like bees going from stove to counter to cubbard to sink. We didn’t even have to plan. We just KNEW. First cool the drinks. Then make the salads. The desserts (some red bean cakes but also fruit and anmitsu), then cool the rice, then prepare inari (fried bean curd), then cut veggies, then put out cooked foods- shrimp, eel… Boom, boom, boom. We shouted out what we were doing next, and can you finish this or start that, and then I’ll take over, and we did everything without any arguments, as if we were just reading our minds and knew exactly what came next. It was the TRUEST POWER OF TWO moment.

Closer to 4pm (by the time my feet were burning), we started the marinated pork, and the basic ingredients for miso soup, then edamame… and finally the rice was cool and it was time to cook another 10 cups!!!! It was so much fun. Then Trent entered the kitchen and in his funny way would joke how this was like Iron Chef Chinese (or Japanese for that matter), and he’d exclaim, “1 hour, 16 minutes!” He’d return and shout, “49 more minutes!” and we’d rush and rush in a frenzy. It was quite comical. There really was NO way we could pull this off individually, or even just with our men, because they’d get sick of us barking orders and complaining of how slowly they chop veggies.

At 5pm, after Ana finished cutting 8 rolls of California rolls, we shouted, “You take a shower first!” And one of us would disappear, reappear 10 minutes later in party attire, and pick up where the other left off, while the other twin showered. It was perfect symmetry. No words, just 39 years of reading our minds and following our genetic code of action. Andrew arrived for last minute help, but there wasn’t much more for him to do. Then, like clockwork, at 5:45 PM, the raw tuna, salmon and yellow tail were removed, rinsed, and cut very carefully on a sterile cutting board and very clean knife, placed on platters, covered with plastic wrap and sent back into the fridge. We were ready. I swear, we prepared enough food for 40 people, so when the guests finally arrived at 6pm, their eyes widened and jaws dropped (and hopefully mouths watered) as they saw the table completely covered with platters and platters of colorful food and dishes. Any doubts they had that Ana and I weren’t really obsessive compulsive were dashed out the window. Thankfully, our dear Japanese friend Mari, a lung recipient, brought an authentic dish of friend chicken, called Karaage, to top off our meal. Some cooked food for the raw-phobics!

Our friends arrived with open arms and love, to spread joy with each other and to give so generously to a stranger named Taka Maeda. The men did what they do best, and greeted the guests, and offered drinks. After an initial chit chat while Ana and I frenzied with last minute prep while hosting, and hitting up people to place their donations in the prepared canisters, WE WERE READY!

We were so happy to be surrounded by our closest friends, most of whom had met Taka at the Transplant Games. The living room was at maximum capacity with 18 guests. It was an evening of bliss. All but 2 of us were transplanted patients or partners; and most of us were on prednisone. We expected LARGE appetites, and for the most part, we liked what we saw. Even our kidney recipient friend Tiffany’s 4 year old ate lots of sushi, and my CF community friend Ed surprised me with cleaning up our platter of raw fish. Ana and I pushed food on people like Japanese mothers, as if this was their last supper! I was most happy to eat with Mari, who kindly commented how authentic our food was– coming from a real Japanese, that made us glow! And Mari, who has struggled with severe GI problems, was EATING with us after nearly 2 years of struggle. We were all together, healthy, and still here. We raised glasses, toasted to life, to organ donors, to Taka and her courage. These are the moments when I’m so grateful to be part of the transplant world. Just for moments, Ana and I exchanged glances, holding back tears, because we missed our friend Lara, who would’ve been there and would’ve helped us devour all this great food.

At the end of the evening, after the guests hobbled out the door holdng their bellies, Ana, Andrew, Trent and I spend another 2 hours washing what felt like a million tiny plates and trying to sort all the leftovers into tupperware.

Then came the joy of counting the canister. We raised $750 that night, thanks to those who opened up their wallets generously. Though the cost of the evening was a decent chunk, it wasn’t only about raising maximum dollars. It was about putting on an awkward fundraiser (it’s always hard to ask for money and we do that ALOT, right?), together with an intimate party with friends, for a good cause. Most of us transplant recipients had a smooth course paying for transplant and getting listed. In gratitude for our gifts of life, it was the least we could do to help Taka. I think we made Taka proud that night.

Wow, what a night. At midnight, Andrew and I went home exhausted with a packed car. I woke up the next day and felt like I had run a marathon.

Thanks for reading about our sushi party on prednisone. What a joy to write about it, relive it and share it with you. I wish you were there. We might have another party, so if you’re interested, please let us know!

Thanks for your ongoing interest in our lives. I wish you a virus free July 4, with all the gifts of summertime coming your way. Take care, with love from “The Power of Two.”

-Isa

PS Taka has returned from Iowa and is recovering at Ana’s home for a few more weeks. She’s doing great, eating anything she wants, has endless energy, and is so grateful to America for her gift of life!

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