April 25th

It's hard to believe that we are almost there.  Transplant day!  We've been preparing for transplant for almost 17 months now.

Everything seems to be on track for surgery tomorrow.  Once Theo wakes up from his nap, we will be taking him to the hospital where he will have all of his final tests run (EKG, chest x-ray, lab work, etc.) He'll have his last night of dialysis in the hospital, and will be ready to go bright and early tomorrow morning.

Super Theo and Wonder Whit! (as a friend of mine said)

Whitney will arrive at the hospital tomorrow morning at 5 am to start all the pre-op work.  Currently, her surgery is slated to begin at 8 am.  Theo's surgery will start around 8 or 8:30 am.  It's been determined that Theo will get Whitney's left kidney.  We've affectionately named it "dubya" in honor of "W"hitney.

It's amazing to hear how many people are praying for Whitney and Theo.  Thank you!  It's pretty overwhelming, actually.  We are so touched.

As my grandma said to me earlier, Whitney and Theo are both extraordinary.  And they are.  Thank you for praying for them!

Love,
Natalie and Nick

Big News

Theo has something to share:

He loves his aunt.  He actually loves all four of his aunts (lucky him!), but today he is specifically talking about his Cool Aunt Whit.  On April 25th, Whitney, my older sister, will give Theo a better chance at a high-quality, full life.  That's right: transplant is scheduled for Thursday, April 25th!

On the list!

As of Monday, Theo is on the kidney transplant waiting list.  Wooohoooo!!  He is listed as inactive, which means that we will not be receiving a call in the middle of the night saying that a kidney has been found for him.  Instead, he will just accrue time on the list while all of his potential living donors are tested.  In the event that we don't find a good living donor match, he can be activated on the list at anytime.  Still, getting to this point feels like a huge milestone for us.

Exactly one year ago, Nick and I spent the night in the hospital to prove to the discharge team that we were comfortable and capable of performing all of Theo's medical duties.  The next day, we were able to bring Theo home for the first time.  Looking back, our time in the NICU flew by.  Yet at the time, it felt like it was never ending.   (And now I think about how long ago it was that we celebrated Theo's first birthday, and it feels like that was ages ago!  I think the lesson learned is this: Time is very precious, and it will pass quickly.  Take advantage.)  Never did we imagine that one year after discharge Theo would be approved for transplant.  

A big year ahead

The stud on his one year birthday

2013 is shaping up to be a big year for Theo.  We ended 2012 on a very sweet note, spending two weeks with family, with a family reunion in Branson, Missouri and then twelve days in California.  One of the main highlights of our trip to California for me, other than seeing Theo idolize his cousin, George, was hearing my mom say, "I feel like I really got to know Theo.  I never knew how happy he was!"  She is right; Theo is continually smiling, he laughs freely, and he is happy an overwhelming amount of the time.

I think Nick and I will always remember 2012 as a year full of joy.  We LOVE being a family of three, and watching Theo grow and develop.  He is an amazing boy.

Too much fun with George!

JOY

 When we first learned about Theo's kidney failure, we knew that there would be "ups" and "downs" along the way.  These last few months have definitely been "ups."  If I had to pick one emotion to describe it, I would pick JOY.  Theo is full of it, and so are we.  We live an incredibly good life, and have had an outstanding October and early November.

Roar!

Aside from a nasty cold, which Theo probably picked up from his one and only day in daycare, we have nothing but good news to report.  Theo is growing really well again, has made progress army-crawling (and can move faster than you can imagine), and his throwing up has greatly improved.  The near-zero throwing up during the day is truly a miracle, and one that has made our lives immensely better.

A very quick note of thanks!

For all of you who have prayed for Theo over the last three weeks (and well before that), I want to thank you for your faithfulness.  If you recall, I asked in the last post that you join us to pray for big things to happen in Theo's health for three weeks.   Let me tell you, your prayers have been powerful.

The day after I wrote the blog post, Theo miraculously stopped throwing up during the day.  Completely.  With only a couple of exceptions, Theo has been throw-up free during the day for the last 21 days.  He's still throwing up most mornings in the crib, but we know that God can heal that.  So, we continue to pray.

Transitioning from Baby to Boy

Our little Theo continues his transition from baby to boy.  It's pretty incredible to look back at old pictures and videos and see how much he has developed and progressed.  We're pretty proud of him.  

Once again, I have allowed too much time to lapse between updates.  Life never slows down, does it?  It feels like last week that I was writing an update, when it has been almost two months.  Long story short, Theo is making progress and doing great, but there is still more progress to be made.  Nick and I are still doing really well, too.  We added some new excitement to our lives recently; we closed on a lot in a nearby neighborhood, and will be building a home.  So, we have a lot on our minds right now!