Today I remember the night we got the call the Jared that they had a lung for Jared. We had had a dry run in July so we were well prepared for this actual transplant to happen. On December 22nd in the evening we got the phone call. The caller ID said unknown number and Jared said "don't answer it." But I answered it anyway and the caller said "we have a lung for Jared." I handed the phone to Jared and said "it's for you." Our family and friends joined us at the hospital and we waited. The priest came to pray for Jared, we laughed, and told stories, anything to relieve the anxiety of waiting. Finally about 2 in the morning on December 23rd the nurse came in while Jared was doing a breathing treatment and said "Jared we're ready for you." Jared threw the mouthpiece down and we were on our way. I walked with Jared to the OR, told him I would see him in the recovery room, and that I loved him. We said a prayer and he went in and the doors closed. Leaving him in the OR was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I remember on the elevator ride up to the waiting room I was just sobbing and finally my mom looked at me and said "ok, this is a happy occasion we are going to celebrate Jared's second chance at life". The 12 hours of waiting were excruciating. Luckily my 4 peds nursing friends had supplied us with a cart full of blankets, juices, cereal, and toothbrushes. So we were able to lay on the floor that night and for me the most important thing brush my teeth. After 12 hours I got to go into the ICU room and see Jared. The first thing I noticed was that his toes were pink. In all the time we had been together I had never seen his toes be pink. I was so excited that I snapped a picture of his toes. I remember the next morning when they extubated Jared and the first thing he asked was did he beat the record for the being the fastest patient to come off the ventilator. Dr Baz told him that missed it by about an hour but that's only because it was a holiday. He was so upset. He wanted to beat that record. That day when Fr Jeff came into bless and pray for Jared the first thing Jared asked was for Fr Jeff to pray for the donor's family. He said "We are celebrating a special gift and they are planning a funeral at Christmas". Just shows you what kind of man my husband was that his first thought was to pray for others. But oh what a glorious glorious Christmas that was. He then sent his mother to the mall with a shopping list to buy me my Christmas present and I remember telling him that he couldn't give me me any better present than we just received. Jared came home 5 days after his transplant. Shocking I know but that year we celebrated New Years Eve in our condo just the two of us. We had sparkling cider and we danced around our living room. We watched the ball drop and shared a magical kiss at midnight. Jared's second chance, his gift of life, what a wonderful Christmas gift.
Jared's pink toes
Our Christmas photo
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