Out with the old, in with with new!

“Not really scared, just nervous and tired” – Jordan this morning as they were prepping her for surgery.

We got the call we’d been waiting almost three weeks for yesterday as we sat for dinner at our dinner table (a kid table with little baby chairs in the corner of the CVICU waiting room).  The Transplant Doctor called Darrell around 6 pm; “The moms” didn’t think it was a big deal because he had been calling Darrell twice every day to give updates on Jordan’s status, so they just kept eating.  Shortly after taking the call, Darrell comes in, all too calmly, and says, “We got an offer on some lungs. Jordan is scheduled for surgery tomorrow morning at 6.”  “WAIT WHAT?!?!?”  Darrell had to repeat what he said because we were in such shock.  We had just gotten used to just maintaining life without any progress for the future.  We all ran in to tell Jordan and she was excited.  Darrell informed Jordan that it is typical to have one or two “dry runs,” which means they get an offer on lungs but for one reason or another the lungs are not deemed good enough by the transplant team.  So Jordan, being the mature 18 year old that she is, told her mom to “calm down.”  And so we did.

It’s such a difficult situation, the emotions you feel when you learn the lung transplant is taking place the next morning are so conflicting.  On one hand you are super excited because this new lungs are the only chance that Jordan has at a continued life.  On another hand, the surgery itself is very risky, so of course we were scared.  And also, you can’t help but think about the family who had to make the extremely difficult decision, accept a loss, and to donate the organs of their loved one.  Our hearts go out to that family.  I don’t know how we all haven’t had any heart attacks with this roller coaster ride we have been on the past couple weeks.  But, there we were.  So we kissed her good night and went home (except for Darrell who stayed with her) to get a little shut eye, as much as we could given the circumstances.

So this morning we were all there by 5:30 am just talking to Jordan before they came to take her.  The doctor called Darrell around that time to let us know that the lungs were local and he was going to go and personally look at them to make sure they were good enough.  We really don’t know if we could have handled a false alarm.

Around 7 o’clock, the nurses along with probably 10 other people were in the room preparing Jordan for surgery.  The doctor came over to us and said that the lungs looked great and they were going through with the surgery. We were so excited we couldn’t contain ourselves.  As they were wheeling her away toward the operating room all of the other CVICU staff that had taken care of Jordan and had grown to care about her were telling us good luck and smiling just as big as we were!  We watched them wheel her in and said, “We love you Jordan! You are a Warrior.”

Now here we are….sitting in the waiting room with family and friends.  The doctors told us to go take a long breakfast and distract ourselves.  Good luck with that….we got Dunkin Donuts brought over by some close friends and we are camped out in our usual spots.  In approximately 6 hours, we shall know more.  So until then….”just stay calm”