A lot of this post is a recap of the updates I've given over Instagram and Facebook, but I want to make sure everyone knows what's going on. Tuesday night/Wednesday morning was a long night and Daniel's parents and I took shifts sleeping in order to try and stay as rested as possible as well as help Daniel prepare for the surgery. At 5am, they wheeled Daniel down into surgery. I think I was in such a state of disbelief that the transplant was actually happening that I wasn't as stressed or anxious as I thought I would be. I managed to sleep for a few hours, and by the time I was ready to head over to the waiting room (10:30am), the CVICU had already called me to say that Daniel would be out of surgery in about an hour. I'm grateful to have our family around us at this time, my dad to support me so that I can better support Daniel, Marilyn to help tag-team the hours with Daniel. Tym, Bridgette and John have also gathered with us this week and it's such a comfort to both Daniel and me to have them all around us through these first few days of recovery.
Once we all got to the waiting room, the doctor came and told us that the surgery had gone as well as he could have expected. Daniel had remained stable, everything went smoothly and he was soon beginning his recovery in the CVICU. I had prepared myself to see Daniel in the ICU. I remember seeing my grandma a year and a half ago, so small in her hospital bed, she hardly looked like herself. And Daniel would have chest tubes, numerous IVs and a ventilator all sticking out of him. But I was surprised how good he looked, considering. Maybe it's because I've seen his deterioration first hand over the last few months and even just the past few days and weeks. He's looked so small in his wheelchair the past few months, hunched over, so thin and frail you could almost count all the bones in his back. His breathing yesterday already sounded so different from what I have grown used to hearing over the past three years.
I enjoyed spending the afternoon sitting in the room with him, watching the doctors and nurses come and go, each one reassuring me that he was doing remarkably well only hours after such a major operation. I watched him almost relearn how to breathe and start to wake up, nodding that he could hear me and the nurse. By yesterday evening, he could open his eyes, squeeze our hands, nod his head and even attempt to mouth some words through the ventilator. All of these moments broke my heart and stitched it back together again numerous times yesterday. I'm so proud of Daniel, of his strength and determination that carried him through the transplant and has him doing so well so quickly. This is only the beginning of a long recovery, but I'm looking forward to helping him through it. I'm grateful to have our family around us at this time, my dad to support me so that I can better support Daniel, Marilyn to help tag-team the hours with Daniel. Tym, Bridgette and John have also gathered with us this week and it's such a comfort to both Daniel and me to have them all around us through these first few days of recovery.
Also, I need to thank everyone who took time out of their day to pray for us, send us good thoughts, write messages of support and continue to share our story and grow our community. We are so lucky to be surrounded by such warm, generous and loving souls. I truly believe that we couldn't have made it this far without your support for us, you have carried us when our strength was spent and given us the courage to stand back up and continue our journey. We love you all and cherish all of your kind words. You've made it so worthwhile to share our story and I get so excited to share updates and milestones with you. Thank you for keeping vigil with us and lighting our path even in the darkest of nights.
Laura
