Five Years

It's been five years.  Five years that we will never take for granted.  Five years ago at this exact moment I was getting settled in for a long night, awaiting the word that Tricia's double lung transplant surgery had been successful.  Hundreds, maybe thousands of people, mostly strangers stayed awake with me, reading my blog updates every few hours, holding their collective breath, praying for Tricia's second first breath.

I know it's been frustrating for you who care so much for Tricia for the past several months as the blog has been quiet.  For reasons I won't share, we felt it best to use only Twitter and Facebook to update about Tricia's health, and we deeply appreciate your patience.

Tricia's health has very slowly continued to decline since arriving in Durham in mid-October.  She is down to 100 lbs, her breathing numbers are severely low, and she is very, very weak.  She has had several different kinds of setbacks which have kept her from being re-listed...signs that her body is shutting down.  Tricia has been working incredibly hard, participating in physical therapy as much as her body will allow.  This journey has been incredibly difficult and frustrating for her.

We believe that the end is coming soon.  Either she will be relisted because she become a "now or never" case, or the transplant team decides she cannot be re-transplanted and sends us home.  We are not ready to be told "no"...as I've explained before, very few people get this second chance to begin with, and we are thankful that Tricia was given this opportunity, for which we are thankful.  It is amazing that Tricia has survived this long, through the winter, and until the team sends us home, we have some hope.  But, as I said, all the signs are pointing to the fact that a decision will need to be made very soon.

Tricia is not ready to end this.  Although ultimately I believe we will both be able to accept God's will for this situation, Tricia doesn't want to leave her family, and I certainly don't want to continue this life without her.  We need your prayer and encouragement that the next few weeks will provide us with the clarity to see things as God sees them.  We are praying that Tricia will hit her weight and strength goals and that the setbacks will cease so that she can be listed and transplanted as soon as possible, and if not that God will give us peace.

Thank you so much for your support over the years and now.  I will update the blog again when I can.

Nate