Friday, April 26, 2013

Answered prayers

Yesterday was full of answered prayers.

Theo was prepped and ready to be transported to surgery at 6:45 am.  We thought we would not get to see Whitney, so were thrilled when Whitney was wheeled into Theo's pre-op room and we got the chance to give hugs and kisses.  Whitney was relaxed and calm, and never once seem hesitant about what lay ahead.  Theo was his typical self: all smiles, lots of flirting, and loving the attention.  At 7:45 am, Whitney was wheeled away for surgery, and Theo followed at 8 am.

Despite sending them both to surgery (with smiles, no less), the full impact of the day did not hit me until we got an update around 11 am that the kidney was being transferred.  When I heard that, I lost it.  I was just so overwhelmed by the magnitude of Whitney's sacrifice, and so hopeful that it will lead to a much better life for Theo.  We've been praying for this day for so long, and have been praying specifically for Whit's surgery for about a month.  




Whit's surgery wrapped up around 12 pm, and Theo's was completed around 1:45 pm.  Both surgeons shared good news: Whitney handled surgery very well, and her kidney looked beautiful; Theo's surgeon said it was the "perfect" kidney and they expected big things.  I'm pretty sure that is as good an outcome as possible.
Typical Theo: all smiles in the pre-op room
Whitney is still recovering.   She was able to get up and walk around for a little bit this morning.  What's pretty incredible about her is that as soon as she woke up in the recovery room after surgery, the first thing she asked was, "How's Theo?"  (The nurse did not know who she was talking about, so she had to wait longer to find out.)  And then this morning, even as she was in pain, she told me that she was so honored that she could do this for Theo.

Theo is in the ICU, and looks to be doing great.  Dubya, his new kidney, is working well so far --
making urine, and more importantly, his creatinine (one of the main measures of kidney function) has dropped from 3.80 pre-surgery (an elevated level) to 0.31 this morning (a normal level), the lowest it has ever been in Theo's life.  He's sedated but is in and out of sleep, and he's running a slight fever (not uncommon post-op).  I'm told he won't remember any of this.  I certainly hope that is the case!

We were told that a successful transplant is a great first step, but to expect some bumps along the road.  We'll take the success of the first step -- it is such a relief!

We know hundreds of you, if not thousands, were praying for Theo and Whitney yesterday.  Thank you so much for your prayers.  God is good.  We said many prayers of thanks yesterday for all of the answered prayers on transplant day.



3 comments:

  1. WOW! A real answer to prayer! Such bravery on everyone's part.

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  2. Weeping tears of joy Natalie after reading this post. God is SO good. I've always known you have an amazing family when I met them years ago and it doesnt surprise me at all that Whitney did this for you. So many thanks for the testimony of God's love that you all are. Missing you all and looking forward to more updates and specific prayer requests! xoxo

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  3. P.S. THeo's smile is just precious and priceless- he is totally a happy little version of natalie and nick!!

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