Here We Go!!

February 3rd 2015 @ 1:46 am - Ben's cell phone rang and woke us out of a deep sleep.  Believe it or not, its not too strange for Ben to get called in the middle of the night because if something is going on at the Mill and needs maintenance - he may get called in.  So Ben answered the phone, expecting full well for it to be a voice from the Mill on the other end.  But this time, it was Children's hospital in Pittsburg calling to tell us that they have a possible liver for Addie.  After 2 false alarms, we didn't get too excited (especially because it was 1:46 in the morning).  The transplant coordinator went on to ask the basic questions: Is Addie sick? Has she had a fever in the last 24 hours?  Is anyone in the household currently sick?  Ben answered no to all of the above.  She told us to sit tight, keep our phone close, and she'd get back to us shortly.  Some how, we actually fell back to sleep and didn't wake back up until our alarm rang at 5:30 am to wake us for work.  We got up.  Ben left for work and I took a shower, expecting to move on with our day as we had originally planned.  Around 6:30 am that morning, the transplant coordinator called back to tell us to head out to Pittsburgh.  All looked good on their end and it seemed as if this was going to be Addie's chance at a new liver.  Crazy enough, we stayed calm.  Nervous, yes.  Anxious, of course.  But we were so ready to move forward with this journey.  By 8:30 am, we had the car packed up and were ready to head out (we had our suitcases packed from the first false alarm we had on December 30th, so packing was fairly easy).

We got to Pittsburgh within 4 hours.  It was a bright, sunny winter day.  Cold.  But sunny.  Traffic was at a minimal and we had a fairly easy trip.  The transplant coordinator told us to expect an afternoon O.R time - so we knew we didn't have to try to get there too quickly.  We went to admissions and were taken directly to the transplant floor where they would prep Addie for surgery.


We got settled into a room and began our wait.  We waited well into the afternoon and right into the evening.  Around 6 pm, Dr. Shindi (pronounced Cindy) who was lead surgeon for Addie's transplant, came in to tell us that Kyle (the other surgeon on the case - but prefer's to be called Kyle, no Dr title please) was going to leave around 8 pm to fly to Philly to get the liver.  We should expect Addie to be in the O.R. around 10.  So we continued to wait.  It wasn't util around 2:30 am till they came to take Addie to the O.R.  By now, we had over taken Addie's room with people; Ben and I, Alivia, Katie, Ang, my Dad and Linda, and Bruce and Carolyn all tried squeezing into a room that was being shared with another patient.  Yes, we were bursting at the seems.  And filled with lots of anxiety, worry, fear; and an incredible amount of prayer.  We were ready to walk through this journey together.

Down we went to a very empty OR holding area.  The anesthesiologist gave Addie a dose of versed to help relax her and so she wouldn't have much memory of being separated from us.  About a minute after this med was administered - she started closing her eyes.  We gave her lots of hugs and kisses and tried to fight back tears - but it wasn't possible.  We had to watch our baby being wheeled back to an operating room where surgeons were going to cut into her abdomen and take her liver out, only to put a new one in.  This was, without a doubt, one of the scariest moments in my life.  Paralyzing for this momma.  After several minutes, when we could pull ourselves together enough to walk - one of the nurses escorted us to the waiting room, where we'd have to sit and wait.  SO... wait we did.  Once again, trusting our baby to the surgeons, nurses, and anesthesiologists in that OR.