Transplant Flight Update

What a night! As my previous post said, Patrick received a call from a doctor saying, “Mr. Holland, we have your heart.”

First and foremost, this is not Patrick’s heart. It’s borrowed. Perhaps in time it will become “his”. But for now it belongs to a 30 year old man who at this moment is laying in a hospital bed at UW, on life support. This man, who we don’t know at all, is now named Steve. We may never know his true name. We may never know his family.

But he needed a name because he might become the most important person to play a part in Patrick’s life, and he deserved more than “the patient.”

As I am writing this we are not even 100% certain Steve’s family has decided to take him off life support. They had said noon on the 23rd. I can’t imagine naming a time and sticking to that type of schedule. I wouldn’t blame them one bit if they needed more time, or if they decided not to do it at all. That is a horrible position to be put in. The potential goodbyes must be tearing Steve’s family apart.

If they do, though… And if the potential connections between Patrick and Steve’s heart prove perfectly compatible…

Patrick may be receiving a new heart later today.

I wanted to be there. I made plans to be there. At one point this evening I even thought it would be possible to be there before the surgery. That Steve was still on life support gave Patrick a little bit of extra time to get to the hospital, and for me to get a ticket following him there.

But the only viable flight for our family was at 4:25pm. Patrick’s surgery would be well underway by then.

It didn’t matter. I bought the ticket.

And two minutes later I was notified the flight had been canceled.

As of right now I have been on hold with Alaska Air for three hours and eleven minutes. It is nearly 1:30am. I refuse to hang up.

All seemed well with Patrick’s ticket so we proceeded as planned, picking up his brother and heading to the airport at 11:00pm with all four kids. What followed was nearly an hour of desperation wherein we believed his flight was canceled and we would miss out on this opportunity.

I posted to Facebook. I prayed. I asked for prayer. I messaged furiously with various people. One friend graciously attempted a different avenue to buy a ticket for me, only to be thwarted at every turn.

The 3 year old had fallen asleep so I bought myself and the other three kids Taco Bell. Mine sat cold as I messaged and researched and switched tabs on my phone with lightning speed.

I had my credit card information put in for two refundable one-way tickets on a Delta flight, $1,600 worth, when Patrick called and said, “She got us on a flight but we’re boarding now. I love you.”

Was that… our dreams coming true? Or a nightmare?

I’m trying to wrap my brain around the impending logistical shitshow. All the pieces are falling into place, so I suppose the shitshow is just in my mind. The kids want to know how long I’ll be gone. When I’ll be coming home. When Dad will be coming home. I want to know all of those things, too.

I will likely be updating fairly often if things play out the way we hope they will. Please, PLEASE keep Steve’s family and him in your thoughts and prayers.

The Transplant Is A Go!

Patrick got the call at 8:15p.

Patrick will leave with his brother at 1:30am tonight. I will follow whenever the heck I can get my hands on a ticket. I bought one for the 4:25p flight and it was immediately cancelled, and the waiting time to talk to someone is 3 hours. I guess Alaska Airlines hold music will be my lullaby tonight.

So... as of right now surgery prep is at 7a, and surgery time will be about 12p Seattle time.

Please pray!

On The List!

Yesterday morning Patrick finally got what we have been waiting for all year - a number on the transplant list.

Yes, he is ON THE LIST!

The patients on the list have priority numbers from 1 to 6, 1 being the highest priority. Patrick is a 6 and has been advised to stay in Alaska unless he has a serious heart event. In the event he needs to go to Seattle immediately, he has a prepaid one-way ticket to Seattle ready to cash in.

We didn’t want him to stay here as a 6, both of us figuring a donor heart should be given as little time as possible outside a human body. But under the advice of his heart failure specialist and with the reassurance that as a 6 Patrick will be given an 8-hour window to get to Seattle, it is what it is.

Does this mean Patrick will have to wait years to get a heart? No. The last patient they had from Alaska who was a 6 actually got their heart in two months.

The process of determining which heart goes to which patient is complex and I don’t know all the details. But other than his current heart, Patrick’s body checks every box on their list of qualifications for a perfect candidate. And if a “perfect” heart comes around that they deem is a match for Patrick, they will call him.

Imagine all of the determining factors that go into that process - blood type; gender and age of the donor; the direct medical needs of the possible recipients; location of the recipient - and so many more that the transplant team has to take into account. I can’t wrap my mind around it.

So Patrick might be called in a week, or a month, or several months. He has been told it's likely the heart will come available within a year. But if his health deteriorates further he will be moved up the list, and will use that one-way ticket to move to the University of Washington transplant house.

I am both hopeful and terrified. I suppose it will take some time to come to terms with this new development.

And in the meantime life goes on. Yesterday we had a doctor's appointment and errands. Today is Art Club and arguing with the 11-year-old about grades. Every day I drive the homeschooled 15-year-old to choir class at the high school. We have a backlog of custom orders for both the knife store and the woodshop. Patrick sits at the shop, making small talk with customers.

On the outside I believe it appears we have our sh*t together. We take one step at a time. One day at a time. Insert other idioms here - we roll with the punches; we go with the flow; we see where the wind takes us.

But on the inside we’re as messy as the next family. Our deck furniture never made it to the shed for the winter. The bird feeder is empty. We never got around this summer to reorganizing our garage into more than a knife mess, a wood mess, and a path in between the two messes to the front door.

We don’t often do so badly at this balancing act we call life. But I like to believe this last year we prioritized what's important.

We supported our church family, and flourished under their love and prayers.

We focused on what each child needed and planned our family life around those requirements.

We loved on our customers and happily started our 12th year in business in the Co-Op Plaza.

We put our marriage at the top of our priorities.

Patrick and I are coming up on our 17th wedding anniversary. We don’t mess around with “In sickness and in health.” I said those vows as a 21-year-old and still mean them with every ounce of my being today. There is no one else on this earth with whom I would rather do life. He is my priority.

Our next update will either be that Patrick got the call that a heart is available, or that his health has declined. Or perhaps it won’t be as exciting as those. Either way, thank you for reading and keeping up with his journey!