It's NEW Life!

As I sit here typing, my beautiful boy is resting peacefully with a brand new (gently used) kidney! I'm not sure that I've totally come to grips with the fact that my son is a transplant recipient. We've waited for this day for what seems like an eternity, and now it's over, and Owen has beautiful, perfect labs to show for it!

For our kidney friends: Creatinine: .14  BUN: 1 (They've warned us they won't stay this low, but have said he's got a GREAT kidney!)




Last time for dialysis at home!



Getting ready to leave for the hospital.

Transplant day has come and gone, but will likely remain fresh in my memory forever. We had a wonderful group of family and friends who came up to support our family during this time. Not to mention, the hundreds of emails, posts, messages and texts we received from those who were loving on us from home!

I wasn't able to get a picture a picture of all our visitors. Sweet Owen had about 20 people cheering him on in the waiting room! We are so, so thankful to those who took the time to drive up and spend the day with us. You made our day so much easier and we are so thankful for your kind hearts!

We are completely blown away by the number of people who know and love Owen, and are consistently praying for him. We thank you, from the bottom of our hearts for your dedication to going to The Father on behalf of our son!

The actual transplant was a bit delayed in getting started, due to a transplant that occurred through the night. Carrie was taken back around 10am and Owen followed around 11am.

The surgery went very well, but Owen made things very challenging. (Surely the doctors weren't surprised....he's yet to "follow the books!")

Resting after coming out of surgery.

Carrie's surgery went very smoothly and she was out in recovery within about 4 hours. Owen's surgery began by removing his right kidney and ureter, as they are a risk for infection due to the reflux. This proved somewhat difficult as his ureter was "glued" in very tightly!

The doctors came out or called our room periodically so we had some idea as to what was going on during the surgery. There was a small "snafoo" when attaching the arteries of Owen's new kidney, but from what we hear it only lasted about 10minutes and his kidney is working perfectly. Literally. They said it was perfect.

The Lord has completely orchestrated and blessed every minute of this experience and His presence was so thickly felt during the longest day of our lives. Owen's doctor even said he was so pleased that he had a female donor rather than a male. So although our hearts were saddened when Michael was ruled out to donate, clearly there was a reason! Carrie's kidney was "quite large" and he didn't think there would have been enough room had we used a bigger, male kidney! Clearly, The Lord knew what He was doing! :)

Post Op Day 1

The urologist was quite surprised as to how Owen's bladder looked. From birth, we have been told that Owen has a tiny, very thick walled bladder. Well, when the surgeon went to attach the new ureter to his bladder, he found a somewhat small bladder, but the wall is very, very thin. Like paper thin. Why? No one has a clue! Owen did, however win the award for "Most difficult bladder to work with" according to our surgeon! All that, though and everything was attached perfectly and safely! The urologist made no changes to his bladder. He doesn't feel a vesicostomy or ureterostomy are necessary. We will increase our cathing regimen to every 2 hours for now, and leave one in over night. (Although right now he has in a Foley catheter and will continue for a few more days.) Our doctor has made it clear that Owen will have future surgeries, but, we are off to a terrific start! We are praising God that no other interventions were needed to his bladder and that it is strong enough to support his new, amazing kidney! :)

Aunt Carrie is doing wonderful, she is so tough! Words will never be able to describe our gratitude for her. She and Owen are connected for life!

Two very special people! (Post Op Day 2)

Owen is still in the PICU now, but will hopefully be moved to the regular floor tomorrow. His pain management is going much better than yesterday, but he's still a bit of a grump when awake. (Do you really blame him?!) As far as we know, Aunt Carrie should be discharged tomorrow. She's been up and walking today and is healing well!

Thank you, thank you for following our story and praising God for this miracle (x2)!! We love you all and are so blessed to be surrounded by your love and prayers!