Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Happy St. Patricks








Thinking of that day makes me nervous, scared, excited, sad, happy…….but yet a feeling of calming love overwhelms me from my Father Above. He’s letting me know all will be well with Mason as we will have to send him off to a very risky surgery, and with the sweet donor family as they will mourn the loss of their child. My emotions are like a roller coaster, my eyes filled with tears, but with faith we go forward with this journey to give our Miracle Mason a new chance at life.



Instead of that exciting phone call we await in the middle of the night……Mason was really sick the night before last. He threw up and dry heaved ALL night. I didn’t get him to sleep that night (or morning I should say) until 6am. I was afraid he was getting the flu or something, but I think it was just a bad heart night. After being rather lethargic and not himself yesterday by last night he seemed to be feeling better and today he is back to his happy self. Hopefully he won’t have many more of those episodes before he becomes our “new healthy little boy” with a new heart!



I did a little research on optn.transplant.hrsa.gov which is The Organ Procurement and Transplant Network. This site has numbers of all organ candidates (those listed for a transplant) in the United States. Mason is listed in Region 5 for heart transplant, which includes California, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Nevada. So here is what I found: Mason has a blood type of A+ (I guess – or + doesn’t matter though, just the A type) and he is the only one listed right now in the 1-5 year old category with blood type A at Lucille Packard (Stanford Children’s). There are a total of 4 candidates with his blood type and age category in our region, which all happen to be in California. (There are, I think, 4 pediatric heart transplant centers in Southern California.)



Although, I have no way of knowing at what priority the other kiddos are listed, 4 kiddos waiting for the same heart that can come from 5 different states sounds like a lot to me! Wow! But on the brighter side at least it’s not 14 or 44! At least I do know that some special night soon ‘the stars and moon will all line up’ and Mason will be gifted his special heart……..just how soon that is and what “soon” really is I have left in the Lord’s hands.



And a special THANK YOU to a special friend whom donated enough sky miles to our family for probably two plane tickets! We are soooo grateful!!!!



We hope your St Patty’s Day was filled with many golden coins (chocolate ones will work) and beautiful rainbows…….With Love, Summer and Mason



Here's a few picture sent to me from home:


9 comments:

Unknown said...

My prayers are with you and your darling family and extras for Mason. I wish I could do something to help but I hope you know what an inspiration you are to so many people!

Stay strong!

Libbis grammy :)

Becca said...

We are cheering for you!!! Hoping for the stars to allign and he can get the perfect heart.

Becca-Ellie's mom

Kimmie said...

so great for you two that daddy could come! still cheering over here. GO MASON!!!

Allison said...

I am so glad you guys got to have Mark come and join you over the weekend!! What a welcome relief for you...I can't imagine having to try and stay strong while just playing the waiting game. Enjoy the Spring sunshine and we will continue to pray that Mason's big call is just around the corner!

Jamie said...

I can't wait for your sweet baby to get his new heart! We just keep praying for him...it WILL happen soon, I feel it!

The Simmons Family said...

Hey Summer! I was just playing on OPTN... there is only 1 kiddo as a 1B with his blood type/age range/region. The other three are status 2 kiddos. One of them is actually Gabriella Vega (her and Mason have the same blood type). She is our friend from AZ, waiting for her sparkly new heart too. I sure am praying that they will both get their hearts SOON.

Thanks for all the updates!! We'll be there May 2 and 3rd. I'll be in touch closer to the date, but I think Mason and Owen would have a great time together!

Unknown said...

summer--

I've been gone from the internet for about 11 days!!! I just caught up on Mason. I'm so happy to hear your news!! I have been praying for your sweet family!

xoxoxo
Jess

Mimi said...

Hi there-

When my daughter was waiting I watched the lists non stop. We actually roomed with another baby who was waiting for her heart and was the same blood type as my daughter. We were all a big support to each other, but it is difficult knowing that in order for your call to come... theirs would come first. It actually didn't work out that way, but when you live in a hospital you are there just waiting and waiting- and all you have are those thoughts... good and bad.

I will be praying for Mason and for your family!! I have know plenty of families who have gotten the call pretty soon after being listed! I hope this is the case for Mr. Mason!!

If you have any questions at all- I would be happy to answer any of them. I emailed other transplant mommies like crazy when we were waiting. They were a huge help to me.

Kristi said...

Gabriella is one of the other 3 kiddos! Wouldn't it be crazy if we could find the other 2?? We pray for Mason every day! I wish Loma Linda were closer so we could wait together!!!