Transplant Housing

This week has been a flurry of activity, as energy has allowed. One huge part of planning for the transplant has been getting housing arranged for both me and my caregivers while over in Seattle. No small fete, mind you, when trying to cover a four to five month time frame, within a certain radius of both SCCA and the UW Hospital (a requirement). For those of you not familiar with Seattle, that area is smack in the high-rent zone of downtown Seattle.

My first choice, for a number of reasons, is the Pete Gross House. It is a special apartment building on the SCCA campus, designed for patients like me. It is the hub of support systems for patients and caregivers. It also is fully furnished, including linens (no, they didn't know the thread counts) and such. All I need to supply is my own computer (check), my own long distance (check), my own paper products (to do list), my own cleaning supplies (to do list) and my own groceries (to do list). They also have shuttles to the transplant center (and from there, to the hospital) as well as to a local shopping center including Safeway (purchased scrip gift cards this week) and some other stores.

So I am on the list but due to the nature of the beast, an actaul move-in date is impossible to determine. The manager there said that in her three years' experience, the longest that a patient has had to wait after arrival at SCCA is two weeks. So you make alternate short-term housing arrangements until the call comes that an apartment is ready.

I have chosen The Silver Cloid Inn-Lake Union for my first Seattle home. It is essentially on the SCCA campus and offers shuttle service (but is within walking distance) to the Transplant Clinic as well as to downtown. They beat the Marriot's rates (also on the SCCA campus), upgraded my room and don't charge for parking.

In summary, I expect to stay at The Silver Cloud from Febraury 7/8 for the first two to three weeks until my apartment at Pete Gross opens.

I've started adding relevant links to the right regarding "Seattle". I will also be adding contact information for where I will be staying as well as how to reach Craig and I by phone.

I want to thank all of you who have donated to my Benefit Fund for helping make it so much easier to make these housing arrangements. No doubt about it: it's high rent and not covered by health insurance. It's a huge financial hurdle to have overcome. Thank you for helping me make this aspect easier and giving me peace of mind that I will be staying where I should be and where is best for me and my caregivers. I am blessed to even have these choices.

I also want to thank Mia and Darin Davidson for their very generous offer of assistance with housing. Even though the location was outside the required radius, I am ever grateful for the offer.