From Bradley

Laura, Mom and I cam in this morning to check on dad.  We were surprised to see his bed empty as we were walking down the hall, as they have him sitting in a chair.  He is doing well and is more talkative than he was yesterday.  (Not sure if this is a good thing given his typical jokes, just kidding...) He is currently sleeping but we talked to him for a while.  Laura and I had fun picking out some balloons to bring to him.  We were not quite sure what to get someone who had just had a transplant.  (We had thought about a bottle of pop, regular syrup, or a bag of sugar, since those were all things that he previously, was supposed to avoid.  We decided though that we should still be encouraging healthy choices)  Since there is not a traditional, "Happy Pancreas Transplant!", we had to customize some for him with a sharpie.  Sayings on them include "My dad has more kidneys than your dad..." "Is it pancreass, pancrei, pancrio, pancreases,..."  "Congratulations on your new kidney and pancreas" and "Its good morning time!"  The balloons brought a smile to his face.
Yesterday it was great to hear the Dr. say, "Congratulations you are no longer a diabetic."  Even though he was extremely tired and in pain I am sure that he was very happy to hear that after dealing with the disease for so long.  It has been a great couple of days with everything going smoothly.
Laura and I will be heading back home today.  Since he seems to be recovering well, we feel alright going home and getting caught up at our house.  With mom getting the call suddenly, we had to leave suddenly.  Thankfully our schools were very supportive and taking the day off yesterday was not a problem. 
Please continue to keep us in your prayers.  Dad's recovery will be slow.  Please also keep the rest of the family in your prayers as well.  Thankfully last night, everyone got a much needed night of sleep. 

Friday, April 12

Quick update before I go to bed.  We all decided it was best that we all leave and go home to sleep.  Gary is doing great considering all he's been through in the past 24 hours, the new organs seem to be working quite well so far -- Thank you Lord!  His blood glucose levels are more stable then I ever remember them being -- you have to remember, at the time he became a diabetic early May 1982, they didn't have home blood testing machines.  Reality is starting to set in on how our lives will be changed and I'm sure we'll be learning or become aware of many other ways t will be changing.  For now though, it's time for me to try to get some sleep.

Love you all and thank you for your prayers.

Love,
Nelly

Surgery day - Friday, April 12

Gary is now in the surgical area. We met one of the surgeons and he said the organs look good. Surgery will be long. We have been told different lengths of time.Anywhere from 4to8 hours. Please continue to pray. Bradley, Laura, Andrew, and Stephanie have all left to get some sleep and Andrew and Stephanie want to go to school, or at least think they want to. I said it was ok if they change their mind. More later.

Love, Nelly

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Surgery went well. Gary is in a lot of pain. His Kidney and pancreas are functioning! Doctor congratulated Gary -- he is no longer a diabetic! His sugar levels have remained steady.

Praising the Lord for His blessings and healing. Thanks again for your continued prayers.

Love, Bradley
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Thanks for all your prayers.

To clarify how many Kidneys and Pancreases Dad has:

He has his two original Kidneys + one new Kidney. He has his original Pancreas + the new Pancreas. They keep all of the old organs in and just add the new ones under them.

Right now Dad is being given lots of fluids because once a Kidney is out of the body it starts to get dehydrated, this process is normal and the dehydration can be reversed. Dad will be in the hospital for at least another week as we wait to see if his body accepts the organs. We will continue to keep you updated.

Love, Stephanie

Thursday afternoon April 11 - the call...

We received a call this afternoon about 3:30PM that there might be a kidney and a pancreas for Gary for a transplant tonight.  The first call was to make sure he was feeling ok and also to make sure we would be available for a transplant.  The nurse also told us a bit of what to expect.  Gary was napping at the time so the nurse said to let him sleep since he would be needing his sleep if the transplant goes as hoped.  The next call was about an hour later letting us know that the donor surgery to harvest the organs was scheduled for 8PM and sounds like it will take about 2 hours.

Our next call will probably come somewhere around 10PM after they've decided whether the organs are good enough for transplant, and then will probably tell us when to come to the hospital and where to go.  They will be flown to UIC where Gary will have the transplant.  Right now it looks like surgery may happen during the night -- approx 2AM or so but nothing definite yet on time.  Even if the donor hospital feels the organs are good, there's a chance UIC doctors will look at them and say they aren't good.  

So, it's a night of "hurry up" and "wait".  It's also a night of prayer -- Pray for the donor family since we know that someone has had to die for this to be possible.  Also pray for all of us as we try to prepare and be patient and for Bradley and Laura (not 100% sure yet if they are both coming tonight or just Bradley) as they travel here.  Especially pray that if the transplant does happen, that the surgery will go smoothly and that Gary's body will accept the new organs and that his body won't reject them.  Also for all the doctors and nurses and any other staff involved in this whole process.