Here We Go...

Check the archive to the left for new posts (click on the 2008)....Dad can't seem to make the main page display the latest post...


Family is gathering tomorrow, Jack's cough is clearing (phew!), my toes are freshly painted, I'm beginning to salivate about my final dinner before surgery (pizza, of course) AND we are planning to squeeze in a quick trip to the zoo tomorrow.


Thursday is called 'day minus 1' and will consist of blood tests, chest x-ray, EKG, teaching and physician visits for both Jack and I beginning at 7am. We'll be there most of the day and then return on Friday morning at 5am. Surgery is expected to begin around 7am.

We will be at the University of Minnesota Medical Center Fairview -(university campus) which is considered to be a world leader in kidney transplants. We are enormously grateful this is essentially in our backyard. UMMC has has performed over 900 pediatric/child/young adult transplants since their program begin in 1963. About 10% of the 250 annual transplants performed here are on little people (under age of 19).


We are abundantly grateful for the prayers, blessings, and heartfelt support surrounding us. It's incredibly tangible, humbling, and we feel it in every moment.

fishing in a koi pond

Curiosity, desire, or just the mere fact that Jack is getting all the 'press' lately, led Sam to take a nose dive into our friends koi pond last night. Everyone is fine - just a bit traumatized with a minor cut on the lip and horrifically smelly as the 3 koi fish that resided there last year didn't make it through the winter. (There is actually no adjective in the dictionary that quite captures the atrocious smell on Sam). Harry couldn't quite figure out what was rotting in the backyard when he stepped out there until he discovered all the kids gathered around the small pond with sticks and wide eyes in hopes they would pull out something grand.  Little did we know, it would be Sam covered in slime.   Needless to say we are keeping the excitement around here high. 

a new date

Surgery has been moved to Friday, May 2nd. Perhaps, now we can celebrate May Day. (What is May Day anyways!?)  I quickly leapt into 'planning mode' once we learned of the date last month and was gently reminded by the universe to quit it after the date changed for the third time.  So, I've softened up on the planning a bit and continue to trust in the abundance of life.  

We met with my surgeon last week and got briefed on the surgery, recovery, and his sense of humor.  (Jack was quick to inform him he was getting mommy's kidney!) So...no driving for 2 weeks and no lifting +10lbs for 6 weeks and surely no backbends.  My surgery will be performed laproscopicly (4 small incisions on my belly) and they will actually remove my kidney from my c-section scar. I should be out of the hospital in a few days.

No major updates for Jack other than he will have both of his existing kidneys removed during the surgery as one of them has reflux and could lead to infection afterwards. They also need space to accommodate my kidney.  

Life is exceptionally busy these next 2 weeks with work for both Harry and I but we're hoping to play as much as we can (all 4 of us) today. 

Love, Ali

the gift of life

And so it begins... or is it the end of this mystery, or maybe just the next chapter? On 5.01.08, jack (a.k.a. jack-a-roof-us) will finally receive his mother's kidney. Life into life itself -- AGAIN. What a miracle. 

With a date finally here, we can begin to visualize the path ahead. We feel powerful, overwhelmingly supported, humbled, and oddly excited to move forward with this.   This may all rapidly change to fear on 5.01 but for today, we continue to be inspired by Jack's own strength, courage, and smiley face. 

Many questions are still out there for us... jack's recovery time, life after transplant, do I have to wait 6 weeks to do a handstand?!, will Sam be happy that he doesn't have to share his new golf club set?  We realize that the answers aren't really something that we can unveil now. So, we continue to trust in the power of grace and life itself.