A New Heart

We left my Dad in his hospital room on Tuesday night to get on an airplane and fly back to Salt Lake. I was happy with the time we got to spend with him and to see that he was looking good and feeling ok. It broke my heart though to think of him staying in that little hospital room for a long time waiting for a heart to come. I was scared it was going to take too long or that he would be there getting sicker and sicker or that he would just be sad and depressed waiting and not leaving that room.

I didn't need to worry. My Dad had much more faith in the Lord than I did when he told us that he planned on being at Tawna and Kory's wedding in June. There were so many prayers offered in his behalf from so many people. People he didn't even know. Our family and friends fasted for him that week. We were all praying that a heart that was a good and healthy match would would come to him soon. And it did.

On Sunday evening my cell phone rang. I'm not the best at answering my cell phone, but I ran to it this time. Krista was on the phone and said, "They have a heart for Dad!". Really? What? So soon? Wow. I felt so excited, so happy and so grateful that Heavenly Father heard our prayers and was blessing my Dad (and us) so much. He said he would be having surgery at midnight. I hung up the phone with Krista and called my Dad. He answered and we congratulated him and told him how happy we were for him. He sounded quite happy as well. When that phone conversation ended, I hung up and cried and cried. I was overwhelmed with happiness, but also still scared for the surgery that night.

We didn't sleep much that night. My Mom and Dad seemed to have slept just fine as they waited for the surgery. We found out that it was pushed back until the early morning. I woke up through the night looking at the clock thinking, "It's 4:00 his time, they must be prepping him." "It's 5:00 his time they must be taking him in." We got to talk to him at 6:30am right before the surgeon came in to take him away.

I decided to take the kids to the Children's Museum with Playgroup that morning. All through the morning I got text updates from Tawna as to what was going on with Dad. "They have him all ready for the heart." "The heart was being flown from Northern California from a 22 year old young man." "The heart is in." "Surgery is done and the heart is pumping." I shared these updates with my friends as we chased our kids around the museum. I was so happy to know that all was going well.

Landon, Mom and Tawna continued to update us as they waited for Dad to come out of being sedated. He was finished with surgery about 11:30am on Monday morning, but wasn't woken up until 3:00pm Tuesday afternoon because the ventilator was still in breathing for him. Seeing Dad coming off the drugs that kept him sedated sounds hilarious. I would have loved to have seen it. He woke up, but was still quite loopy.

I finally talked to Dad yesterday. He sounded just great. Unfortunately not loopy anymore. He said he feels weak, but has no pain. Wow. He had been up and out of bed and in a chair for a few hours. I think he is recovering quite nicely.

I am absolutely overwhelmed with emotion when I think of how the Lord has taken care of my Dad. I am just thrilled that a heart came to him. A young and healthy 22 year old heart. I am filled with so much gratitude that my Dad gets to be with us for many more years. I am happy my kids will know and have a relationship with him. I can not wait to see all that he can do again and how good he will feel doing it. I still cry every time I think of the donor and his family. What a true gift. I am just so thankful to them. They are moarning the loss of a son right now and I really feel for them. I wish they could know of the joy their son has given to our family.

Dad receiving a new heart is a true miracle and I am grateful for it. So happy. Now we wish him a smooth recovery and a long, happy, healthy life with all of us.