August 12, 2021

Hey friends! I hope you are enjoying your summer. I have news to share -- I have a date for my transplant!

My transplant is scheduled at UCLA on October 27th. I have my pre-op appointment on October 4th.

I will head down to UCLA on October 26th and check into an AIRBNB we found that is only half a mile from UCLA. We have the AIRBNB through November as it's a 3+ hour drive from my house, and post-surgery, I will be doing labs 2-3x a week at 6 am and then checking in with the nephrologists to make sure everything is going well.

Once my labs are only necessary 1x a week, I will head home and drive down weekly.

The plan for the family is that Chris will be with me the 4-6 days I am in the hospital, and then my mom will come and be with me so he can head home and help with the boys. (I must have a caretaker with me 24/7 for the first four weeks, and I'm not allowed to drive for 4-6 weeks.)

My parents and Chris's parents will help with the boys while I'm in LA. We scheduled for October because school will be settled (hopefully not shut down), and they will have sports to keep them busy. I'm sure they will be making some trips to see me while also needing to be wise with potential Covid exposure post-surgery.

I am very thankful for all of your support through this process. To say we feel loved is an understatement.

With love and gratitude,

Sarah and the family

May 2, 2021

Hey friends! It’s been a while since I’ve updated here. Life through the pandemic with 3 boys keeps my days full. We are moving forward with scheduling for my transplant this fall. I’ll keep you posted when I know the date.

Update from March 26, 2021:

Transplant update: whirlwind day.

Last night around 10pm I was notified that I had what they call a ‘zero miss match’ kidney match. It would be harvested today and if all went well I could have the transplant tonight or tomorrow.

Basically be ready to head to UCLA by 8am if it’s a go.

This was quite out of no where as I have a donor and we’ve been monitoring my labs to know when to go for it.

Basically a ‘zero miss match’ is the closest match you will get. It’s as if I had a twin giving a kidney.

Chris was finishing up work he was doing with Lifewater and still in Arkansas. We had several contingency plans to get him to me (right to LA- etc).

So I packed everything to head to LA for 4 weeks, had friends ready to juggle kids, parents an in-laws ready to book flights.

Wait. But be ready to go. Wait.

In all of it I just said I was going forward and God shut the door if it’s not ideal.

So at 3 the team called to let me know they were going to ‘pass’ on the kidney. And it let it go. There was something found in this persons lung that by the time it could be tested and cleared it wouldn’t be ideal for the kidney and not safe for me without knowing. Also- there was another potential concern due to behaviors this person engaged in. (I know nothing of age, location, activity, etc. )

And that was my day. Many emotions. Many tears. Much love. Much support.

This was a ‘fire drill’ as one friend said.

The gift in today (there were many) was that it shifted me from ‘I’m fine’ place to the reality that this does need to happen sooner than later.

You all know I’m tough- so it I’m not sure without this ‘drill’ how long I would just keep waiting.

I’ll keep you posted.