Christmas comes early....we hope....

Hello all,

I realize it's been a while since I've blogged, so it's about time! Although I just love hearing from Donovan on here. And love those photos too! Doesn't he look great? I realize it's his mom saying this, but really! He looks so...what's the word...healthy!!! Gotta love it!

Yes, I am happy tonite. Got some great news from my Edmonton boys today. Donovan had his scheduled bronchoscopy today, and I have to admit I was worried about it. (I know you find it hard to believe I actually worry about things...) anyway, this is where they put a scope into the airways and check out their handiwork, kinda like a plumber, seeing if the pipes are clear, and what the "connections" look like several weeks after transplant. well, looks like that surgeon did a good job, because the report is that Donovan is 90% healed!!! Thank you God!!! There was no thickened scarring that could hinder breathing, no flattening of the airways or anything else that could signal trouble later on, and if that wasn't enough good news, there's more... after a couple more scans on Thursday, ct of lungs and sinus scan...(yes, unfortunately Donovan still has CF in those troublesome sinuses and there is no transplant as of yet for that)...anyway...if he gets the green light...it's HOME TIME!!!

The plan is for Laurier and Donny to go to their regular Friday gym/physio and Doctor appointments, and then pack up in the afternoon and leave on Saturday. We will be on the front porch, scanning the horizon...can't wait.

This really takes me back to the start of our transplant journey. Here's a little synopsis....

August 31, it was a Sunday. None of us, least of all Donovan, thought on that day, that we would drive out of town and not return for months.

Donovan was supposed to be baptized at the lake that day, but instead we loaded Donovan into the car and left for the hospital in s'toon, because his IV antibiotics did not seem to be clearing an infection. I'll never forget that day. It was the first time I had seen Donovan in such respiratory distress, I felt so helpless as he struggled for breath in the back seat, opening a window to lessen what must have been a terrifying feeling of suffocation. Laurier drove like a demon, and to distract Donovan a little I read aloud from Sue Grafton's "T is for Tresspass". I have no idea of what the book is about, or what I read, but it gave us all something to focus on between PA and S'toon. We read, prayed and made it to University hospital, where they gave Donovan lots of oxygen, IV meds and steroids in the emergency room while I paced the halls and phoned friends and family requesting prayer for Donovan. By that evening he was breathing easier, and so was I.

Laurier and I stayed that night at Donovan's rental house, and the next morning he was still in a bed in the emergency room. Later Monday he was moved upstairs, to the observation unit. Donovan was fairly stable all day Monday, and we left the hospital that night wondering if we just might make it to Edmonton the next day, where Donovan had an appointment which was made weeks before, to be assessed for transplant...at some point...perhaps to be listed within the next year.

Early Sept 2 the hospital phoned Laurier and I. Donovan was coughing up blood. We always dreaded these episodes, but never had it been this bad. Donovan lost about a litre of blood, and even though the bleeding stopped on its own, an emergency bronchoscopy was performed in the ICU. For the first time Donovan was put on a respirator. We were devastated. Much pacing, much praying. What would happen next? What about Edmonton? I would look at my son's pale face, a tube taped to his mouth. His respirations so rapid. The sympathetic nurse's quiet reassurances. It was a nightmare. My stomach felt sick constantly.

Sept 3, things looked better. Donovan was extubated in the afternoon. We held his hands. He spoke of the lung bleed, wondered what the findings of the scope were. Said he had nightmares of it. Breathing at this point, so difficult for him. By the late afternoon a new system of oxygen delivery with a bigger hose is needed, as he cannot slow his breathing and is using so much energy to try to get air into his lungs.

Sept 4...Donovan was unable to fall asleep all night, and is in so much respiratory distress. He still wants to be baptized, says God is speaking to him about it. Our friends and pastor arrive, and he is baptized in his ICU bed, struggling for each breath...as am I. I cannot bear to see him like this, yet want so badly to hold him and take his pain away. Each hour seems endless. Laurier sees a vivid tripple rainbow in the sky after a light rain. He feels God is promising us Donovan will be all right. Me of little faith!

Sept 5...We are once again called to the hospital during the night. Donovan is once again put on the respirator. He developed a fever and his failing lungs could not oxygenate his body well enough on their own. I cannot stop crying. Yet, I am comforted in the fact that he will be sedated, and have some kind of sleep. He is exhausted from distress. So am I!

Sept 6 &7....the weekend goes by in a blur of prayer, tears, hall-walking, trying to force food into my body...trying to sleep...cannot concentrate on anything but my sick, sick boy, breathing via a machine. He is fevered, restless, trying at brief points of semi-consciousness to tell us things. His siblings come and go, we try to draw strength from each other.

Sept 8...We meet with the transplant coordinator for the hospital, the liason to Edmonton's transplant unit. Donovan needs lungs badly, the doctor tells us...yeah, tell us something we don't already know!!! In a whirlwind, a decision is made to airlift Donovan to Edmonton. We drive there and he flies. His departure is delayed, and he only beats us by 45 mins. We meet the ICU team, and are once again told our boy is critical and needs lungs. They will do all they can to get him off the respirator and get listed!

Sept 9 & 10 .... Up and down..still on the respirator...still fevered and choking. Bronched to remove secretions which cannot be coughed up. Transplant docs say "it's time" for lungs to arrive as it's been a couple of weeks since they got donor lungs for transplant. Historically they do the surgery every 2 weeks or so. We pray....

Sept 10...Donovan is listed! It' official! I stare at the punks hanging out at the corner store, wondering what blood type they are...I know, I'm twisted, but maybe that's what this kind of stress does to a mom...

Sept 11-12...Donovan deteriorates to the point the respirator is not helping much to get oxygen into his blood and remove the waste gases. The only thing left is the heart-lung bypass machine. Life support. Time is running out. we cannot believe we are losing our beloved son.

Sept 13...Lungs arrive as if from the hand of God. Surgery begins in the morning at 8:30 and lasts 8 hours. We are ecstatic...and feel as if we are living in a dream!

Sept 20...out of ICU and 23 days post-transplant,...out of hospital....And now...perhaps home on Dec 5th!!!

I still have to pinch myself, try to make myself believe we lived all of this out and didn't just dream it. Did it really happen? Does Donovan have new lungs and a chance at living? I cannot believe God's goodness to us, his perfect, perfect timing.

Check out Prince Albert this weekend...our's will be the house with the Happy Homecoming Donovan fireworks! How many hugs and kisses before a sarcastic "mom, lay off will you?" My Christmas present is coming home, 2 working, breathing, pink squishy lungs all wrapped up in the bony ribs of my 20 yr. old boy!!! And what are you getting this year?

and to all a good night!

love,
Beth