Today has been a good day! John’s doctor is happy with where he is. He is still watching a few things including John’s kidney function and neurological status, but overall things are going well. John has moved a lot today, but he is still not fully awake, and he is not following commands yet.
I want to tell you the story of this past Friday – the day of John’s transplant.
To explain the full extent of God’s goodness and provision for us, I’m going to back up to last weekend – before John was intubated with the infection.
Last weekend John and I were hanging out in his hospital room just like we did every day. I started having a feeling that John’s heart was coming really soon. I told him about this, and I said that I felt like his heart would be here either this week or the next weekend. I was also making arrangements with some of our friends from Georgia to come up. I told them that we would love for them to come, but I had a feeling that his heart was coming this week or weekend, so the plans might need to change.
Well, even though I felt like the transplant was close, I didn’t expect for the week to go like it did, but as you know John got a really bad infection and became very sick and in need of a heart within days. Our prayers turned from “send us a heart” to “send us a heart this weekend”.
Our friends from Georgia planned to come in on Saturday and spend Saturday and Sunday with us. My brother, Brandon, came in on Thursday, and Jamie and Will, John’s sister and brother-in-law, came in on Friday.
On Friday I was sitting in the lobby next to the elevators on John’s floor, and his surgeon came by. He asked me if I was going to be there for a minute. I told him yes, and he said he’d be back in a minute. When he came back he said that John was matched with a heart, but he didn’t like it for John. I said, “O.K., but do you think we’ll get a heart within the week?” He told me that there was a lot of activity, and he really thought we’d transplant this weekend. That was the first time any of the doctors had put somewhat of a time on when they thought we’d get a heart. I was thrilled!
A little while later I was in John’s hospital room, and his surgeon came in again. He said that he had gotten more data on the heart, and he was going to go and look at it. He liked it better now. As you can imagine, I was beside myself. It still wasn’t for sure, but it was closer than we had ever been before.
I immediately got on the phone and told our friends who were coming into town and Jamie and Will. Our friends were supposed to come in on Saturday, but they said to let them know as soon as I could whether or not it was a go on the heart and they would leave right then.
Well, it was a go! Several hours later I got word that they were bringing the heart back. I immediately got on the phone. Our friends left right then.
In the meantime, Brandon, Jamie and Will, John’s parents, and I were told to come back to see John. They were already starting to put him to sleep and prepare him for surgery, but we got to tell him that we loved him one more time, and we prayed over him before he went back for surgery.
John’s surgery started at 9:34 p.m. on Friday night. Most of our families were there and our friends were on the way. Not only were our prayers answered for a heart and for the heart to come this weekend, but God knew the most perfect time He was going to give us this gift. He blessed us by being surrounded by our family and friends. If things had gone the way we originally expected and planned, I would have been here by myself when we got the call that John got a heart because we couldn’t plan for everyone to come up ahead of time. I would have had to sit in the waiting room myself and receive all the updates myself. God is absolutely amazing and perfect and so, so good!
We were told the surgery would be about 5-8 hours. Every two hours we received a phone call updating us on the surgery. The nurse told us in the first update, “They are transplanting.” The next update, “They are still transplanting, and he is still on the heart/lung machine. His new heart is beating” Hallelujah! Then, “He is off of the heart/lung machine. He is not closed up yet. They are mending his incision from ECMO.” And finally, “He is closed up. They are bandaging him now. He will be coming down the hall and into his ICU room momentarily.” Thank you God for hearing our cries and answering our prayers!
The surgery took about six hours. It was about 4:00 a.m. Right after that our friends from Georgia called to say that they were here. When they got off of the elevator on the third floor we were all standing there waiting to see John being rolled down the hall to his room.
A few minutes later he came down the hall, and he was surrounded by his family and his closet friends all right there to see him!
A little while later John’s surgeon came into the waiting room to talk to us. He told us that he was pleased, but that this was a very critical time. He told us to thank him two to three weeks from now when John is at home.
It took John’s nurse about two hours to get him cleaned up and settled. Our friends and I waited for a while, but decided to head on back to the hotel to get some sleep and come back in the morning.
I got back to my hotel room at 6:00 a.m. I was back up and at the hospital at 10:30 to see John.
Yesterday was such a wonderful, special day. John was transplanted, and I was surrounded by family and friends. Eight of our friends from Georgia traveled up to see John and support me. We hung out all day and went to dinner last night. I felt blessed beyond my wildest imagination.
Today everyone went back home. Tomorrow my best friend, Christina, is coming up from Georgia with her mom and baby Abigail to spend a few days with me.
I give God all of the glory for providing for our every need. He answered our prayers specifically by sending John a heart this weekend, but He also sent it at the most perfect time when all of our family and friends were in town. It was always planned this way, I just didn’t know it. He always did, and He knew the path He wanted us to take. He was always in control. God heard our prayers and answered us not because we deserved it, but because of His endless grace and mercy.
My heart is full with awe.
Thank you, Jesus, for forgiving us, loving us, and answering our prayers out of your complete gift of grace.
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