Thursday 2/12/15
A friend had prayed with me over the phone before we left & I clung to that prayer. I remember hearing her ask God for peace. I texted & called people as we traveled. God woke up a friend & she saw my text. So, she stayed awake while we traveled & kept us smiling with texts sprinkled with scripture & humor. It sure made the ride seem faster! I was very calm, but as we made the last turn & I saw Johns Hopkins straight ahead, I could feel a nervous flutter. I thought back to the prayer for peace & tried to breathe in some of that.
Upon arrival at the hospital, I called my transplant coordinator & she directed me to the correct place. It was strange to walk through the hospital at 3:30am with empty hallways. On other other visits, there was quite a lot of action. The staff was waiting for me & directed us to the designated room. (This hospital floor has only liver & kidney transplant patients.) My nurse introduced herself, took some vital signs & then told us we could turn down the lights or watch tv...the scheduled time to take me to the Operating Room was 10am. What? 6 hours later? We had been functioning with such a sense of urgency, but all of a sudden it felt like time stood still.
I asked her when it would be appropriate to ask my list of questions & she said "Go For It!" So, I started my list: which surgeon would be doing the surgery? how long would the surgery take? where were the organs at that time? where did they come from? how long could the organs be held? what would happen between now & 10am? etc. etc. etc.
She said that she didn't have any info on the donor or their organs. Between now & surgery time, they would be doing routine tests: EKG, chest XR, bloodwork. There are 3 surgeons on the transplant team: 1 travels to procure the organs & travel with them. He will communicate with the surgeon that is taking care of me. So, this time allows them to get updated info on me & continue evaluating the organs to make sure they are match for me. I told her that I had been praying for a specific surgeon--Dr. Cameron. She said that he wasn't scheduled to be my surgeon; however, she felt sure that I would really like Dr. Dagher.
Now, that I knew a little more, I started to relax. I was encouraged to sleep but that wasn't easy. In between technicians & other physicians (kidney doctor, anesthesiologist, etc.) coming into the room, I may have slept 15 minutes. Even though I was calm, I was too anxious to sleep. I figured that I would soon be having at least a 10-hour nap :) . An assistant surgeon came to talk with us, but he had a strong foreign accent & was very difficult to understand. I could feel my inner peace slipping away. I was thankful that I was familiar with medical terminology because otherwise I think I would have understood about 25% of what he said. He started describing variations to the whole process that were different than what we thought. When we expressed our concern, he said that we would be meeting with Dr. Dagher & could talk with him about it.
Finally, Dr. Dagher came into our room. The nurse was correct--I liked him immediately. He had a calm, warm personality & explained everything very clearly. I, of course, had a few more questions for him & he explained the entire process to us. This would likely be a 10-hour procedure. There are various theories about removing old kidneys or leaving them in. Some of the "optional" parts of this process would depend on how my body was functioning. They would start on the right side & remove my liver & kidney. If I was doing well & tolerating the lengthy surgery, they would remove both of my kidneys & liver & give me new ones. If not, they may decide to leave in my left kidney. He asked how we felt about all of his proposals. We agreed with everything & trusted his wisdom. All of a sudden, I could feel myself relaxing & God's peace washing over me again.
As we waited, we had contacts from many people & we drew strength from that. We had several offers to clear our driveway, which was a blessing. We were later told about a group of men from our church who shoveled our driveway & our neighbor's driveway but then huddled & prayed. Wow--that really made us smile!! Another great example of the group of people that God has given to surround us.
So, our wait continued...I'll finish the story later.
Thanks for listening! It helps me to be thankful all over again!
Belinda (& Meg still hanging around)
