Second Cincinnati Visit | Love For Linden

Linden's second appointment at Cincinnati Childrens was scheduled for this Wednesday, so Tuesday night we packed up the car and the kiddos and set out for the land of the Buckeyes. We arrived about 8:30 PM after watching Frozen three times in a row and eating lots of snacks to distract Graham and Linden.

Our greeting party consisted of two grandparents, a sister, and three rambunctious boy cousins... Graham couldn't have been happier to see them! We spent most of the evening in our room pretending to be John Cena from WWE and doing choke slams and suplexes on the beds in the hotel. The boy cousins LOVE wrestling so this has become the regular routine whenever we see them :)

The Day Begins

During our visits to Cincinnati the days start pretty early, and this time was no different. We were up and out the doors of the hotel at 6:30 (our time) having packed up the whole room we tore apart the night before. Our first appointment was with cardiology and that went super well other than having to wait an hour in the waiting room to be seen. This seriously wasn't a problem though for two reasons.

Cincinnati Childrens is beautiful! They decorate so nice and do eveyrthing they can to make you feel at home.
The guy from the desk who checked us in gave us $10 to the cafeteria and apologized for the wait... Cha-Ching

Anyway, the appointment went really well. The cardiologist explained that many kids with Linden's condition develop heart issues (long story short) and she hadn't. Praise God! Who needs another problem to worry about right?

Anesthesia

Next we had a consult with the anesthesiologist. We were reassured by her incredibly calm demeanor when explaining the entire process of the transplant. It occurred to us that while for us this is a massive deal, to the anesthesiologist on the team, doing a liver transplant is just another day on the job. Being North Americas no. 1 Pediatric liver transplant hospital, they do quite a few of these. What a blessing to be a half day drive from this type of care. There are people around the world who would gladly sacrifice everything to give their child the chance to see the doctors we get to. Thank you Jesus!

Just before meeting the anesthesiologist we also had a chance to check out the waiting room where we will be spending about several hours during Linden's transplant. It. Was. A. Zoo! Seriously though, I love the hospital, but anyone who is coming in for any surgery at all, from heart transplants to removing a mole stays in this waiting room. Crazy! Maybe it will help keep our minds off things though, who knows.

Gastro

Our last stop was to the peds GI floor where we met our doctors and nurses that we have been in contact with since our last visit and who will be in charge of Linden's care during her stay. They were all incredibly kind as always, and made us feel like family.

They drew labs, ran numbers, asked us some questions, then they told us that Linden would be listed for transplant the next day! Exciting and surreal at the same time. While it is great news that we have taken the next step towards Linden becoming a healthy normal baby girl, the weight of a transplant surgery, the weeks of recovery, and the years of anti-rejection medicine and an immuno-suppresed child is now a large reality looming in the back of our minds.

At any moment we could get a phone call to grab our things, stuff the kids into their car seats, and head back to Cincinnati to have our lives changed forever. Whew!

Blessings

Wanted to share a few pieces of awesome news and also some cool things that the Lord has done since the last update.

Linden is a universal recipient which means that she can get any liver from any blood type. This of course increases the pool of livers that are available to her!
I can't even tell you how many people have sent us cards of encouragement and offered to help with kids or go get us groceries or bring us meals, etc. It has been hugely encouraging to have our church family and friends be so supportive during these trying times. What an awesome testimony.

By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. — John 13: 35

Prayers

Linden is currently healthy, and we would like for it to stay that way if possible. unfortunately in order to gain rank on the listing charts, she will likely need to get more sick. It would be awesome if Linden could get transplanted while she was still doing well. It's a long shot but it could happen.

There are a million other things I could probably put in here, but I'm tired and ready to hit the hay :) Until next time, thanks everyone for your prayers! We love you all!