The Back-Up

My phone wrang and I wish I could have seen the expression on my face. When I answered, it was my transplant coordinator, explaining I was the back-up for a transplant. During the transplant process they call a couple of people at the same time, one being the primary and at least one as the back-up. After I hung up, my day went on as normal, after all I was the back-up. Later that evening during date night with Torre the phone wrang and it was a number I did not recognize, and it was a different transplant coordinator explaining that for some reason the primary person did not work out and they were calling me in for transplant. The moment was surreal and I was calm, probably one of the most calm moments I have ever had in my life and there was a flurry of notifying people of what was going on. After Sara got to our house to be with Mari and Tuck, Torre and I headed out to pick up her mom Carol. We got to the hospital in a leisurely manner and things were underway. For my last transplant things seemed to move much faster so my expectation was the same for this one. Things started to pick-up around 8 am when the Doctor came in to place my central line and all of a sudden my surgery time was moved up from 2:30 pm to 9:00 am. The only problem with that was I didn't get to see Torre before heading to the OR. I remember getting on the operating table and that was about it for the rest of the day. The prayers and support I have received have been very humbling not only for me but for my wife and children too. Torre and I always talk about "it takes a village" and to see and feel the love from my village is overwhelmingly AWESOME!!