An Easter Miracle

This Easter was a whirlwind of emotions.

Friday night was filled with fun for me, I got to see my friend Jess who came down from Delaware to visit family, and of course we went to see Water for Elephants. (I strongly suggest going to see the movie & read the book, they are both awesomeness.)

The in-laws decided to come up for Easter, so after spending the night in Charlotte on Friday, Saturday morning I got up and headed back to Raleigh to have lunch and spend time with them. We decided to try a new Thai restaurant downtown, Fai Thai, for something different.

Some of you may know that my father-in-law, Ted, has been going through the process of getting on the liver transplant list for non-alcoholic cirrhosis. He has gone through many tests and gotten sicker over the past 6 months, as his liver gave out. Thursday, after fighting with insurance and many tests, he received notification that he was on the transplant list in Charlotte.

After getting our drinks and ordering our meal, we got a phone call. One that none of us were expecting. Just as the waiter was bringing out our appetizer, Ted received word that they had a liver for him. As we rushed around trying to get our check, the table next to us told us to just go and they would get our check. The restaurant however, told us everything was taken care of and for us to get to the hospital safely.

We got back to our house in Raleigh, and threw together clothes and made a crazy number of phone calls, and got in the car for Charlotte. They of course were waiting on us when we got there and took Ted straight to a room to get him settled and then start with a few (well a lot) of tests. The family and Pastor Pete were able to stay with him through the night as we awaited surgery the next morning.

Sunday morning around 7:30 Ted was taken to pre-op and taken into surgery around 8:30. The transplant team at CMC was awesome and made sure to keep us updated of his progress and the progress of the surgery. In total, the actual surgery took about 5 and a half hours, which is short for liver transplants, as they normally run from 6 to 10 hours. He came through the surgery amazingly and around 7 pm Jason was able to see him with Jackie. He said he already looked better and was resting well.

Monday Jason & I got there early from our "nap", to see what the transplant team had to say. Ted's labs were almost normal (which is amazing for a transplant patient) and he was talking and asking for an egg mcmuffin. All of the doctors were very happy with his progress and had high hopes for the coming weeks.

Tuesday Ted was moved to a regular room where they had him even walk a bit! The progress he has made has been amazing and our family has been extremely lucky for this blessing.

Receiving the transplant however, is a sobering thing, as at the same time our family is rejoicing in the extended life of a loved one, another family is morning the loss of their own. There is nothing more that we can say other than thank you to that family and pray for them to have strength during this time.

We have truly been blessed. Without the support of our family, friends, and their thoughts and prayers, we couldn't have done this.

Thank you all.