Memorable Days . The day we were married , the birth of our children and the adoption days of our daughters are all memorable days filled with joy , love and happiness . I can remember every moment of each one of these days. The day Teresa receives her new heart will also be one of the most memorable days in our life .
Thursday night at 10pm. the phone rang . All the girls were asleep except for Grace and Lucy ( they are my night owls ) . Ed had answered the phone and came running upstairs to tell me that the transplant coordinator was on the phone and Teresa had a heart . The preliminary ultrasound looked good and it seemed to be a good match . She wanted us there as soon as possible because Teresa would need to have a procedure (plasma phoresis ) to remove her blood and filter it through a machine to remove any antibodies she may have that could reject the new heart .
Luckily everyone was home . This would save us a lot of time . Our bags were already packed so Ed loaded them into the car . We called our two sons and daughter in Law and they were at our house within 20 minutes to stay with the girls. Everything was moving along as planned. The only thing we did not factor into this was the reaction Grace and Lucy would have at this moment . We thought we had prepared all of the girls for what was about to occur but the fear of this moment really upset them and we needed to spend extra time reassuring them that everything would be all right .
As we drove to Philly , Teresa was asleep totally unaware of the enormous change about to occur in her Life. We luckily did not run into any traffic and arrived at the hospital shortly after 12 am. . We awoke Teresa and explained to her that tonight she would receive her new heart . She was very excited because to her receiving her new heart means she will be able to ride her bike with out wearing her oxygen .( she wants a new bike for Christmas so she was VERY excited ).
As we entered the CICU things moved very quickly . She was prepped and intubated for the plasma phoresis. We were told the transplant would happen after the phoresis was complete early in the morning . Shortly after 3 am. Doctor Rossano asked to speak to us in the conference room . He appeared very disappointed. He said he was very sorry but after the Doctors had examined the donor heart it appeared not to be a good match for Teresa. At that moment I don't think Ed or I knew exactly how to react . I could not imagine having to go through all of this again but at the same time we did not want to take any chances with a heart that was not strong enough for Teresa.
The plan was to stop the phoresis and slowly wake Teresa up .
The next morning after Teresa woke up she looked down at her chest and asked where her new heart was . With suggestions from child life on how to explain this to her she slowly understood and said "OK.. , I'll wait for my new heart to be strong ".
This experience is something that is so very difficult to go through and now we will have to do it all again very soon . We did not want Teresa or the girls to see or feel any fear from Ed or I so we were very calm . I just pray that the next time it will be a little bit easier emotionally .
Teresa has done very well the past 3 days . She is back to being " The Boss". Ed and I on the other hand feel as if we have been run over by a truck .
Thank you to all Teresa's prayer warriors for continuing to pray ! You all mean so much to us !
