Janet and Laurie's Surgery Day 3: Let the Healing Begin

Well day 3 has been a bit of a doozie for Laurie...But let's start with Janet. :) Janet was taken straight out of the operating room to a step down room where they have a nurse on duty 24-7. And boy are they sticklers! They do not let people come in unless it's visiting hours! Not even Chuck! But luckily today they moved Janet down to the room right beside Laurie. Good thing because as you can see from yesterday's blog, well we like to party in our rooms! :) But Janet actually WALKED THE WHOLE WAY TO THE ROOM! She looks so GREAT and is doing so incredibly good! I am so proud of her and she totally deserves to have a light pain load after the last year she has endured! So now Janet is resting in her room after staying awake all day and visiting with everyone! I am just so happy for her. She has really been such a trooper and she makes my faith stronger ever day.

Now on to Laurie....I cannot tell you how much I look up to Laurie and admire her tender and selfless attitude. We are family so of course we see each others faults but man it's hard to think of them when I see her in here enduring this. She has been so incredibly strong and positive through all this. Let me go back to last night.....everyone was very worried about me getting sleep but I was NOT going to let anyone else stay in this room with out me in here too! So about 9:30 mom, dad, and Louise headed back to the hotel and left Seth and I in the room with Laurie. Well Seth kept telling me to tell him when I was ready to leave, and finally I said to him "Seth I don't care if you leave at all...you can stay the whole night if you want too!". And he did just that. He let me sleep most the night and he stayed up with Laurie feeding her ice chips and reminding her about her medicine. It was GREAT to get some sleep and I cannot express my gratitude for him doing that. It is hard to find good friends like that who would stay up with your sister so you can sleep. He is probably the closest thing we have ever had to a brother (besides having Dirt now of course!). He is just great! But anyways, about 5 AM Seth and Laurie started talking about Laurie getting up and walking. The dr's told us that the sooner she felt like walking the better off she would be. Well the first walk was very hard. And on top of that they took her off her medicine pump and didn't have the other medicine for pain in her system. So immediately she was nauseated and in a lot of pain. To shorten this....we got put back on the pump. :) About 9:30 AM Dr. Hannaway, who preformed her surgery, came by to check on her and broke this news to her.....That today would inevitably be her worst day. It would hurt more to do anything today but that by tomorrow it would be a faint memory. Well so far he has proved right but Laurie being the trooper she is has pushed through and gotten up and walked 5 TIMES!! Which is great, and by the 4th time she was saying it was getting easier to get in and out of bed and it wasn't hurting as bad!!! That is such a blessing!!

As you can tell I didn't have the chance to take lots of pictures below but I wanted everyone to be able to see some pictures! :) And I think for the most part they are in order too!

This is the 2nd time Laurie got up to walk....on her way to have her and Janet's first time seeing and talking since pre-op the morning before the surgery.

Rachel and Julianna watching Laurie and Janet as they talk.

Janet and Laurie talking :) It was a GREAT moment and I was so glad they got to visit.

This is Nana, Papa, and Aunt Betty. They found out tonight that they might be related somewhere down the line....crazy how things happen. :)

Below are the pictures of all of Laurie's flowers.....

These are from Janet and Chuck and man they are absolutely beautiful!!!

These Orange Roses are from Janet's brother, David. He got orange roses for Tennessee :)

These are from the Young Professionals Class. :) They came yesterday and they were a sweet surprise! Have I mentioned that we have the best church family?!?! :)

These gorgeous Gerber daisies are from Aunt Betty. She has really gone above and beyond for all of us during this surgery.

These are from Mom, Dad, Louise, Dirt, Me, and Nate :)

Leslie and James came by for a visit and it was so nice to get to visit with them. It is nice to have good friends. :)

This is Janet and some of the youth group from University....they are in Birmingham for SEC church thing at Decatur Highway Church of Christ and they decided to stop by and see Laurie and Janet and Rachel, since she is in the youth group at University. It was so sweet of all of them!

Rachel came in later tonight and gave Laurie a present....she had told Louise and I what she was getting Laurie and we were so excited! I love Laurie's face right here. She is genuinely so excited about her orange watch! :)

As you can tell this made her "down" day a TON better. I love that really happy smile. That's my sister. :) I love her.

Well it's now later than last night's post, but it has been a bit busier tonight with the walking. But all in all I am glad it's about to be the start of a new day. Seth and Louise are still in the room with me for now and I am again so thankful for all the calls, text, emails, cards, and messages! We are so blessed with the best friends, family and church in the world!! Hopefully tomorrow's post will be all good news and exciting! Continue to pray for Janet and Laurie's recovery! Goodnight all! :)

Janet and Laurie's Surgery Day 2: Going from 2 kidneys to 1 and 2 kidneys to 3!

Well here we are at the close of day 2: Surgery Day, Friday the 13th. I don't think any of us would have ever said it but I think we were all a little nervous today. I didn't sleep a wink last night and i know Laurie was tossing and turning too. Luckily she has exhaustion on her side so even though she may have been nervous she couldn't hold her eyes open. The nurses came in about every 3 hours to take her vitals and the last time at 3:30 am they took blood. I cannot explain what a trooper Laurie has been through all of this. She has been strong when all the rest of us could do was cry. i was beginning to worry about her. :) But about 4:30 am my alarm clock went off and Laurie and I called Mom, Dad, and Louise so we could all go over together. Louise, Mom and Dad were all dressed and in a hurry I just ran out the room without even changing....or putting on things that are necessary when going out in public if you get my drift. :) So after we saw where we were going to be Dad and I came back and let me change and get fresh for the day. Boy I wasn't prepared for the emotional roller coaster that we were all about to experience.

Before we left the room Janet came down to tell Laurie bye....there are pictures below to show the beginning of our emotional day. Laurie got back into surgery about 8:00 am....and was back there for about 3 hours. Dr. Hannaway came out about 11:00 am and told us she was in recovery now and doing great. She has done great through the surgery and now they wanted to get her pain level down so they could get her medicines regulated. About 1:00 pm Janet's Dr. came out and told Chuck that Janet had done great through the surgery and the kidney was actually already working. So as Janet was heading into recovery, Laurie was heading to her room. We got back and Laurie was in a good amount of pain but that was to be expected. So after a couple of hours they got Laurie's pain level regulated and she has been in and out of sleep and visiting with all of the visitors. I know there are alot of pictures but just bear with me. :)

This is the signature pose for them! Both still have 2 kidneys!! This the beginning of an emotional day!

Me, Laurie and Louise before surgery!
All the family before surgery!

All the family plus part of our new addition! The Roberts! Janet! :)

It was an emotional goodbye! Janet has such an amazing heart!

Laurie's last picture with both kidneys!!! :)

Janet was so grateful to Laurie....what an amazing story for all of us to tell! :) They both are amazing people!!

Laurie getting ready to head back! :)

Laurie and Joanna fist-bumping! Joanna is GREAT!! We have loved her! Really all the staff here at UAB has been amazing!

And here is the parade to to the pre-op waiting area! :)

This was an emotional mother/daughter goodbye!! :) Mom has been a little on edge about everything and well we had to say goodbye!

Laurie looks great here!! This is where they are in the holding area before surgery and we got to go back and see her til they took her back....and well when they took her back I just broke down...as did everyone else in my family. This is the perfect picture of an amazing strong beautiful Christian woman!

What faith and courage this woman has had over the past year!! She has been amazingly strong and boy how she has changed our lives forever!

Laurie saying bye to Ellie before they took her back!

This was part of our "little" waiting room group! We are so blessed with such an amazing support group! (From Left to right: Andrea Best, David Alvarez, and
Tiffany Johnson)

More waiting room friends..... Jamie Horn, Chuck Roberts, and Aunt Betty Jones.

Susanne Pope, Betty (Chuck's mom), and Adrienne Bell.

They were all so great!!! :)

Michelle and Morgan showed up and surprised us!!! We absolutely love them! They have been amazing to us and we are so grateful for such amazing friends!!

Morgan was learning the "good stuff" at an early age. Aurie's morphine pump!! (Aurie is what Morgan calls Laurie :))

This girl absolutely makes my heart smile. She makes me happy and is just great!! She really makes my whole family so happy. She is like one of our own!

Michelle, Morgan and Laurie. Have I mentioned what great friends we have?!?!?

Brint and Shanon also showed up and Laurie was moved to tears by them showing up! They have been such good friends to Laurie and just such a blessing!! They came bearing lots of goodies for us to snack on! :) We love them!

Gracie Kate, Karen and Laurie. Gracie Kate and Karen Clifton showed up to see us too! They are such amazing people! We are so incredibly blessed with an amazing church family and people that love us so much! And this family is one of them! And we love them to pieces!

Gracie Kate giving Laurie some loving! :)

Seth came with Michelle and Morgan!! We love him too lots! Seth, Louise and I decided to walk Michelle and Morgan down to their car because well UAB is pretty big and trying to navigate with an 18 month old is pretty hard! Se we went along to help! :)

Seth having fun while pushing Louise and Morgan is just a sipping away on her ice water! :)

Me and Little Mo before they left. I. Love. This. Child. She. Makes. My. Heart. Happy. :)

Well Laurie is sleeping and finally getting settled down. Janet is doing great and the kidney is still working amazingly!!! What a testament of faith this whole process has been and I know it has changed the lives of so many people! Please keep Janet and Laurie in your prayers still and pray for their rest and re cooperation! We are so thankful for all the prayers, thoughts, text, cards, food, and just caring! We are so thankful for all the kind words and encouragement. What an amazing story this and I want to personally thank everyone for their kindness. God is so good! Thanks again! And I will report again tomorrow!!

Janet and Laurie's Surgery Day One: Check-in and Check-ups

Well today started out amazing! I got up and started getting ready about 5:15 am, Laurie had just walked in and we started getting ready for the day ahead. Our first part of the day was getting breakfast, and Laurie wanted to go eat at the Farmer's Market downtown. So we met Louise and Nathan there for breakfast at 7:00 am. It was soooo good and Phil and JoAnn Norton, who own it, also go to church with us and have been so good to us throughout this whole process, sat down at the table with us and just talked. It was a nice relaxing way to start the day!! They are some of the nicest people I know. I am so thankful for people like them. Down home just all around nice caring Christian people. We are blessed.

Leaving from a high of being there Laurie and I get on the road, Nate went to work and Louise was heading to Birmingham after work. I get about 2 miles out of Montgomery and blue lights come flashing behind me....in the midst of Laurie and I talking I had missed that the speed dropped from 70 mph to 50 mph.....needless to say I was speeding. The state trooper was a complete JERK....let me insert here that I don't like to give cops a hard time, I was speeding and I know that but you do NOT have to show your tail just because you are a trooper. So after about a 15 minute cry session we decided that wasn't going to start our day off bad. So we kept on trucking it to Birmingham.

We got here and checked in and got Laurie and Janet both admitted and settled into rooms. To our surprise we already had one visitor waiting on us. Brother Barry Buford was here ready to pray with Laurie and Janet and it was so very nice. That was just the beginning. From then on out we had people in Laurie's room checking all of Laurie's vitals and taking blood and giving IV's. Laurie was a champ she did amazing through all of it and all the nurses and Dr.s just love her and think she is amazing....just like the rest of us. I know tomorrow is going to be great. Laurie and Janet both have already impacted this hospital and I know it's just the start of whats going to happen. God is so good and he has blessed us so much with this surgery.

Below are some snapshots I took of Laurie and Janet...since I got my new camera I VOWED I would definitely be documenting everything from here on out! So far I have stayed true to that. Hope you all enjoy! Sorry they all aren't in order! (Also Louise got here later and we didn't get one picture with her or Ellie :) But we will get many more tomorrow!)

Chuck, Janet and Rachel before going to bed :)

Janet and Rachel :) How cute are they??
Me and Laurie looking at the afghan that Aunt Shirley sent and made for Laurie :)

Me and Laurie enjoying our show....didn't work out so well for us...we will be re-watching Rookie Blue on Monday :)

Janet and all her visitors...from Left to right: Aunt Betty, David, her brother, Janet, Chuck, and Chuck's mom.

Mom and Dad got here about 6:45 pm and this is her and mom enjoying her down time. :)

Laurie and her music therapist.....Laurie REALLY enjoyed her!!!! :) She sang us some Beatles songs and she was REALLY good!!

Laurie and Cora....Cora.....she is a character. She sang and danced around and said the Holy Spirit was moving her and she was praying for Laurie! :) It brought tears to Laurie's eyes when she started singing to her.

Laurie and Janet first thing this morning!! :)

Chuck trying to help out a friend! :) He is a great supporter!

Janet resting right after she got to her room!! It is FREEZING in this hospital....but don't worry I can prepared! Blankets and sweatshirts :)

Laurie and MaryAnn....she is amazing and I am so glad we got her for Laurie's transplant coordinator! I am going to send her a card with this picture in it! :)

Well that is all for tonight. I will update more tomorrow night! :) Goodnight blog world!! Keep Laurie and Janet in your prayers!

Update on my life.....

SO I know it's been almost a month since I blogged so I am just going to give a brief summary of everything that has been going on in my life over the past month!

• Well my last post was about braces.....I have officially had them now for almost a month and I have already made my first payment.....I have a LONG 23 more months a head of me with those payments! The following 2 pictures have been my lifesaver over the past 2 weeks. I absolutely love them!!!

Phillips Sonicare Toothbrush.......LOVE IT!

The Water Pik :) It is like the "water flosser" and I love it!

• We have had 4 Showers for Louise and Baby Ellie and boy she is spoiled rotten already! I am so excited about her coming and it's hard to believe that it is almost JUST ONE MONTH AWAY!!!! I just can't wait to hold her and love on her! But the showers aren't done yet....we still have 3 more!
• I celebrated my birthday :) Got the most amazing gifts this year.....A Nikon D3000 camera (from Mom and Dad, Laurie, Nate, and Nate's parents), my very own pair of Costa's (From Nate :)), a trip to Atlanta (Louise and Dirt, Justin and Michelle), and a Coach purse (Taylor and Blake :)! Talk about doing it BIG for my 25th! I have the best family and friends ever! I really do! They outdid themselves this year!
• We have also celebrated Laurie's birthday too! We all went to Atlanta and had the best time, with the exception of Louise getting a little over heated....but it was so good and so much fun!
• I got a new boss at work! Keith, my old boss had been Director of Admissions for 17 years and got a promotion so we got Mr. Tim Stickel from Fairbanks, AK.....You read that right......ALASKA! :) He has been great so far kinda excited to see what the future holds with him.
• All of my freshman have moved in for the year.....THANK GOODNESS! This has been one of the roughest years yet....I think for the whole office....the economy has taken a toll on us this year.
• We, (me, Laurie, and Louise) got to take Morgan on her first pedicure!!! It was so much fun! We got to witness all her expressive faces and I just love it! She is absolutely one of the funniest children I have ever been around! And I think she actually liked getting it done! I will post pictures of that later!
• The biggest news is that Laurie and Janet have a set surgery date! It is this Friday, the 13th. I know Friday the 13th....But I am just positive that it is going to be great! I know that the surgery will be successful and Laurie and Janet both will do great! (For those of you that may not know, Laurie is donating her Kidney to Janet, a woman that works with Louise. It has been a long hard road to get to this surgery date but we are so thankful it is finally here! :)) Laurie and Janet both check in Thursday at 10:00 AM. Janet will have to stay at UAB for 3 weeks but hopefully Laurie should be able to come home on Monday. I covet your prayers during this time as we all are travelling and just for everything to go smooth. Laurie would never admit it but I think she is getting nervous and I know Janet is nervous and anxious all in one! So please please remember Laurie and my family, and Janet and her family in your prayers!!

Well I guess that pretty much sums it up! I hope everyone has a great rest of the week and I will post updates from the hospital on Laurie and Janet. I will staying in the hospital room with Laurie so I will probably have some time on my hands to update! :)