I'm taking a break from catching up on blogs from Casey's 2nd transplant to blog about something that Casey asked me yesterday that I will never ever forget. He was just sitting in his favorite chair; I could tell he was thinking about something very profound. He asks me out of nowhere, "Baby, do you think there is something really important that I have to do in life? I mean, why else would God give me a second and then a third chance to live? If there wasn't something really really important that I needed to accomplish, then God would have taken me the first time my liver failed." He says he is going to work on figuring out what it is that he needs to accomplish to make this world a better place. I'm sure God has a very special plan for him. He deserves the best life ever!
I have always wanted children so I told him that it was not his time to go because he still needs to father my baby! ;-) He had a vasectomy during his first marriage. We had begun to talk about a reversal before he got sick the first time. After he got sick, the thought of having that procedure done had to be put on hold for at least one year after his transplant. One year after his transplant is when he found out that he had cancer and needed another transplant...so the reversal must be put on hold yet again for at least another year! He says, "Maybe that's it...maybe we are supposed to have a baby who will grow up to be very important to the world...like the one who finds the cure for cancer!!"
God tests us in so many ways. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger. Regardless if God has a really important plan for Casey, the most important thing is that we have both changed from this experience and learned so much!! We have grown closer and have taken our relationship to a level that most couples never experience!
Saturday, February 27, 2010
MUCH NEEDED UPDATE: THIRD LIVER IS A CHARM
For those of you that know us really well already know that we finally did get "the call" that we had been waiting for! Due to all the stress and mayhem, I have not really felt like blogging in a long long while! I apologize to those of you who have been following my blogs! Of course for those of you who are on my Facebook, you had been getting updates frequently!
Let me start all the way back when we got the much anticipated call. It is all a blur right now, but I think I can mamage to remember the most important highlights! On Friday, January 29, 2010, Casey got a call from Baylor Transplant services during the early part of the day. We were both at work and really were not expecting to get this call since it had been almost a month since the last false alarm. Transplant services informed Casey that he was YET AGAIN a back up for a liver that had come up! WTF, he was a back up the last time he was called and was told that he would be NEXT on the list!! The reason he was a back up this time was because the liver was coming from a 16 year old boy. There was a pediatric patient that was ahead of Casey on the list. Since this was a young boy, they must consider the needs of a child first. The only concern was the liver was too large for the pediatric patient and it would have to be cut in half. The committee had to make the decision to either cut the liver in half or give the whole to Casey. It was hours and hours before we got a return call. It was around 9:45 pm when transplant services contacted Casey and said they were still up in the air with the decision...and not even a minute later, the same transplant nurse called right back and said the liver was his!!!! Talk about relief and excitement!!!! We had not anticipated this call so we were not very prepared. We had not packed, it was a kid weekend so we had the kids that night, and we had not found a dog sitter for our dogs! But not to worry! The kids' mom was very prompt to come pick them up and since it was really late, it was bedtime for the dogs anyway. I decided I would just leave the dogs at home and come back home in the morning to let them out, feed them, find a sitter, and shower and change. Dogs are just like kids! I was so worried about them!!
We headed toward Baylor Hospital in Dallas around 10:30 pm. We had to be there by 11:45 pm. It was smooth sailing and thought we would get there early...WRONG!!!!! Once we got to I-75, there was a traffic jam!! Why in the world would there be a traffic jam at this hour?! Turns out there were two accidents up ahead and it was down to one lane!!! It took us about 30 minutes to get to our exit which was only a mile ahead!!! No worries...we made it right on time! We were there on time, but ended up having to wait hours and hours before Casey went into surgery. Surgery was set for 5:00 am Saturday morning. The 2nd time around was not as stressful and hectic as the first time. There were very few doctors and nurses coming in and out of his room; no research nurses bombarded him with questions. The few doctors that did come to see him were very excited and eager to get the surgery started! It seems that Casey is a really big deal around Baylor Hospital!! No one has ever been through what he has been through and the doctors are just flabergasted with his story! One of the doctors did have a good talk with us regarding Casey's cancer situation. He told us that if once they got Casey opened up and they saw the cancer had spread, they were going to have to sew him back up and cancel the transplant! They cannot do a transplant if the cancer has spread outside of the liver. Several tests pointed towards the cancer not having spread...but it had been a month since any tests had been done. I was so scared!!! I have never prayed so much in my life!!! After Casey finished filling out all the paperwork, we took naps until 5:00 am. The clock struck 5:00 am, but no one had come to get Casey. He wasn't even rolled into the O.R. until about 6:30 am!! His mom and I waited in the pre-op room with him for about 30 minutes and then he was rolled away for surgery!!!
After his mom and I ate breakfast, I drove home to shower and let the dogs out and find sitters. I was hoping not to get a call in a few minutes to inform me that they were going to have to cancel the surgery. But several hours later, no call. No news is certainly good news!!! After several hours later, one of the surgeons notified his mom that everything was going great and they found no traces of cancer outside of the liver!!! They had gone ahead with the transplant!!!! Hallelujah!!!!!!
The surgery took about 5 hours. He did very very well!!!! He was in ICU for one day only and then was placed in his own room the following day!!! All the doctors and nurses were so amazed at his progress!!! He would tell them, "That's how I roll!" His oncologist who was so pessimistic in the beginning was now calling him a STUD! LOL! The 16 year old liver probably had alot to do with how soon he bounced back...as well as Casey's optimisitic attitude throughout this ordeal!! God bless the family of the donor!! The saying "third time is a charm" is certainly true...except in our case it's "third liver is a charm!"
Stay tuned for a continuation of his update!
Let me start all the way back when we got the much anticipated call. It is all a blur right now, but I think I can mamage to remember the most important highlights! On Friday, January 29, 2010, Casey got a call from Baylor Transplant services during the early part of the day. We were both at work and really were not expecting to get this call since it had been almost a month since the last false alarm. Transplant services informed Casey that he was YET AGAIN a back up for a liver that had come up! WTF, he was a back up the last time he was called and was told that he would be NEXT on the list!! The reason he was a back up this time was because the liver was coming from a 16 year old boy. There was a pediatric patient that was ahead of Casey on the list. Since this was a young boy, they must consider the needs of a child first. The only concern was the liver was too large for the pediatric patient and it would have to be cut in half. The committee had to make the decision to either cut the liver in half or give the whole to Casey. It was hours and hours before we got a return call. It was around 9:45 pm when transplant services contacted Casey and said they were still up in the air with the decision...and not even a minute later, the same transplant nurse called right back and said the liver was his!!!! Talk about relief and excitement!!!! We had not anticipated this call so we were not very prepared. We had not packed, it was a kid weekend so we had the kids that night, and we had not found a dog sitter for our dogs! But not to worry! The kids' mom was very prompt to come pick them up and since it was really late, it was bedtime for the dogs anyway. I decided I would just leave the dogs at home and come back home in the morning to let them out, feed them, find a sitter, and shower and change. Dogs are just like kids! I was so worried about them!!
We headed toward Baylor Hospital in Dallas around 10:30 pm. We had to be there by 11:45 pm. It was smooth sailing and thought we would get there early...WRONG!!!!! Once we got to I-75, there was a traffic jam!! Why in the world would there be a traffic jam at this hour?! Turns out there were two accidents up ahead and it was down to one lane!!! It took us about 30 minutes to get to our exit which was only a mile ahead!!! No worries...we made it right on time! We were there on time, but ended up having to wait hours and hours before Casey went into surgery. Surgery was set for 5:00 am Saturday morning. The 2nd time around was not as stressful and hectic as the first time. There were very few doctors and nurses coming in and out of his room; no research nurses bombarded him with questions. The few doctors that did come to see him were very excited and eager to get the surgery started! It seems that Casey is a really big deal around Baylor Hospital!! No one has ever been through what he has been through and the doctors are just flabergasted with his story! One of the doctors did have a good talk with us regarding Casey's cancer situation. He told us that if once they got Casey opened up and they saw the cancer had spread, they were going to have to sew him back up and cancel the transplant! They cannot do a transplant if the cancer has spread outside of the liver. Several tests pointed towards the cancer not having spread...but it had been a month since any tests had been done. I was so scared!!! I have never prayed so much in my life!!! After Casey finished filling out all the paperwork, we took naps until 5:00 am. The clock struck 5:00 am, but no one had come to get Casey. He wasn't even rolled into the O.R. until about 6:30 am!! His mom and I waited in the pre-op room with him for about 30 minutes and then he was rolled away for surgery!!!
After his mom and I ate breakfast, I drove home to shower and let the dogs out and find sitters. I was hoping not to get a call in a few minutes to inform me that they were going to have to cancel the surgery. But several hours later, no call. No news is certainly good news!!! After several hours later, one of the surgeons notified his mom that everything was going great and they found no traces of cancer outside of the liver!!! They had gone ahead with the transplant!!!! Hallelujah!!!!!!
The surgery took about 5 hours. He did very very well!!!! He was in ICU for one day only and then was placed in his own room the following day!!! All the doctors and nurses were so amazed at his progress!!! He would tell them, "That's how I roll!" His oncologist who was so pessimistic in the beginning was now calling him a STUD! LOL! The 16 year old liver probably had alot to do with how soon he bounced back...as well as Casey's optimisitic attitude throughout this ordeal!! God bless the family of the donor!! The saying "third time is a charm" is certainly true...except in our case it's "third liver is a charm!"
Stay tuned for a continuation of his update!
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