Looking back...The Call

I have gotten a lot of questions about what exactly it was like when we got "the call" almost two weeks ago. So here you go...

My wife and I had just laid down for bed a little bit past 11:00 on Friday night. I placed my cell phone on the mattress next to me and double checked to make sure the ringer was on loud. Right around 11:45, when I was somewhere in between being awake and asleep, the phone rang. I looked at the caller ID, and saw a number that I did not recognize come up. I knew it was a Tampa number form the area code, which is where the hospital is located. A small glimmer of hope began to build inside, just as it had so many times before only to extinguished when I answered. This time was different.

The woman on the other end of the phone asked for me by name and I said that it was me. She identified herself as one of the coordinators from the Transplant Center, and said that she had good news for me. I immediately shot up in bed and began feeling around to get my wife's attention. The coordinator said that they had a liver and all preliminary tests came back that it was a good match for me. By this point I was on my feet and looking into the anxious eyes of my wife. The coordinator continued to tell me that we needed to head to the hospital at that time, and that the surgery itself was scheduled for 11:30 Saturday morning.

I hung up and told my wife everything that was just told to me. We immediately got going. We had previously set up a phone tree to let friends and family know when we got the call so we both went to work on making phone calls. Bags were already packed so it was just a matter of putting them in the car.

My heart began racing and my mind was moving at light speed. It was finally here. After all the waiting, it was finally time. There was a quiet chaos as both of us were making phone calls and adding last minute items to our bags. In the midst of it all, I just stopped. I walked up to my wife who was sending an email and picked her up. We hugged the longest and tightest hug that we ever had. In that moment, my heart slowed, my mind calmed, and the chaos subsided. At that moment I was at peace.

We got in the car and began to back out the driveway, and suddenly stopped. Before we started the drive, we stopped and took a moment to pray. So there we were. Sitting is the car in our drive way at 12:00 in the morning, holding each others hands and praying as hard as we had ever prayed before.

From there it was a very calm and peaceful ride to the hospital. We talked about how grateful we were that this time had finally come. We were admitted in the surgery ICU unit at the hospital where they took blood and ran a few other tests. We attempted to sleep and got maybe an hour or so in.

As morning broke, a steady stream of visitors came through which really helped pass the time. My surgery was delayed several times and then the time finally came. I was taken to the Surgery pre op room and the surgery became imminent. I laid on the bed with my wife's hand in my own. We continued to hope. We continued to smile. We continued to pray. The anesthesiologist came in to begin my sedation. As the sedation began to kick in and my mind began to fade, I was left looking at my beautiful wife and dreaming of our new life that would soon begin.