T-minus 2 days and Austin will be receiving one of the best gifts ever!!! We had our last transplant appointments Monday. We had to:
1) Have labs drawn (11 viles of blood!?!) for the last cross match. They combine his blood and Jacob's to see if any antigens develop. This was done a while ago, but they double check to be sure that nothing has changed, or that any mistakes were made earlier. They also run other tests.
2) Have a chest x-ray.
3) An EKG.
4) Hospital pre-admidt.
5) Meet with the surgeon.
6) Meet with the nephrologist.
7) Go to dialysis.
We left around 7 am and got back around 8:30. It was a long day, but we felt very accomplished, and Austin did a great job!!!
While were at the hospital pre-admission I received a phone call from transplant stating that I needed to get over to the transplant clinic at once, that the Dr. I needed to see was there. I was some-what annoyed since I had a lot of stuff with me, a rambunctious little boy, had just finally had our name called to go into pre-admission, and now had to leave and carry everything over to a new building. But I hurried over anyway and was greeted by a very unassuming quiet Dr in his long white coat. He informed me that our surgeon was on sick leave and he would be replacing her. I was not very happy to hear this since it was so late in the game. I asked him how many transplants had he preformed and he informed me "over 2,000". Then I asked "how many pediatric?". He couldn't give me a full answer, he said something like "oh, well, I have done quiet a few". So I asked how to spell his name and explained that my family would like to know more about him, so basically to look him up. He smiled and told me he would do one better and gave me his card. He was very kind and patient as I continued to question him on the process. He was very gentle with Austin. I like him, I told Ben. He asked to see his card (which I had not bothered to look at) and informed me that he was the Surgical Director! HA! I had been grilling the guy that probably taught that surgeon that he replaced! I laughed at myself, and now it totally made sense that transplant wanted me to hurry over to see him, he doesn't have tons of time I'm sure. Yeah I kind of felt dumb, but sure am glad that he was patient with me and answered all of my questions. That is my kind of Dr. So I am actually kind of happy with this new development, and we feel pretty blessed.
Austin will go in on Monday morning, have dialysis, go on a clear liquid diet, get an IV started. Jacob (his Uncle and donor) is coming in Sunday night, and will spend Monday night in the hotel room. The surgery will take about 4 hours for Jacob and around 6 for Austin. They will be in operating rooms right across the hallway from each other.
Jacob's recovery will be about 24-48 hours before he can leave the hospital, and then another 6-8 weeks before any heavy lifting. Austin will be in the hospital for a week or 2, and in isolation for about 2 months. He will have labs drawn Mon and Thurs for a couple of weeks, then only on Mon for a couple of months, then every 2 weeks, then every 3, till he will only need to go once a month. All the lab work will help the Dr.'s adjust his immuno-suppressants to where they need to be. He is on immuno-suppressants right now, so we are in isolation right now. I woke one day with a runny nose and almost had a heart attack, thankfully it was allergies. I have NEVER been so thankful for allergies! If any of us gets Austin sick we might have to move the transplant.
They said that if all goes well we can go to Wa for Christmas!!!!! But that Austin needs to stay out of big crowds for about a year, so no Make-A-Wish trip for 12-18 months post transplant, or
Disneyland, or other crowdish places.
Thank you all who pray for our little guy, hopefully he'll come out on the other side of this swinging, and ready for the rest of his life.
Emma, in her Disney gettup!
Austin loves to dress up!
My two Monkey's
With that said I am real excited for him to be able to eat again!
Your precious family is in my prayers. I am hopping on for the ride 
