Great News!

Sleeping like a baby this morning.

The last time his chest will be a virgin canvas.

 Ethan and I were sitting at our desk in the hospital room.  A doctor that we had not met yet came in and sat down.  He politely asked us how Ethan was feeling and how things were going.  The typical banter when anyone comes in the room.  He then said "I have some good news, we found you a heart."  WOW! WOW! WOW! Suddenly I felt very small in a very big room. It was a weird feeling. Out of nowhere someone released a colony of butterflies into my stomach and they were all fighting to find a way out.

I looked at Ethan and he looked at me.  We were smiling. HOLY CRAP!  I then had an influx of 100 questions.  Ethan was quiet.  We found out the donor is around the same age as Ethan. The donor has been declared brain dead but is officially still alive until the heart is harvested. The team was able to look at all the imaging and blood work and determine it was a healthy heart, one that will do well in my son.  It is an odd feeling to blindly trust someone else with your child's life.  I wanted to say, "You better not screw this up!", but I didn't. But I thought it.

What does a mom say when she finds out that her son is getting a new heart?  "Get in the shower kid. You need to be clean for this."

After Ethan's shower he began packing up the room.  We were told we were going to move to up a few floors once Ethan has his surgery.  He wont have his own bathroom so we are back to the porta potty situation for him again.  Oh boy.  They said it would take at least 6 hours or so to figure out a plan and coordinate the harvest of the organs. (organs as well as the heart)

Let's touch on while we celebrate this day as the day Ethan is getting his new heart, someone else is grieving a young life.  Ethan's donor is around 18. Someone else is mourning their child. Their child was kind enough to donate and possibly save or help several people, including Ethan.

So we wait for further news.  They said it might not be until that it gets done. There is a lot of coordinating that goes on.

The whirlwind of people in and out of our room is crazy.  We are going over every possible risk of surgery.  Ethan is nervous.  I am nervous.  We both understand that the benefits outweigh the risks.  If we can keep him from rejecting the heart and not getting some sort of systemic infection while not totally damaging his liver and kidneys from the medication, we will be in good shape.  I should have a stamp made of my signature.  I am going to get a hand cramp.

I feel like his previous times under anesthesia will be helpful in preventing repeat episodes of low oxygen levels and vomiting afterword.  I think we have this down to a fine science at this point. 

Now we wait again.  There is still a chance that he may not get this heart.  Although very low, if it happens we will know it was not the right heart for him.  There is still a chance of stroke during the surgery and organ damage.  Obviously the team does everything they can to minimize this.  I can't say enough good things about this team.

And so we continue to move forward.  Looking ahead to much brighter days.