The Liver

So the Weirdo's dad, my father in law, finally got a liver transplant.

The call came in very early Thursday morning around 4 AM. The Weirdo woke me up as she was excitedly talking to her mom on the phone. I gained just enough consciousness to figure out if I needed to get out of bed. My brain heard that my in-laws were going to go up to the hospital first, and that we wouldn't meet them up there until a more reasonable hour - like 7:30 or 8 AM. The Weirdo then proceeded to call what seemed like 15 other people to tell them the good news about the available liver. I kicked her out of the bedroom so I could go back to sleep. I was beyond thrilled about the liver, but if I can get two more hours of sleep then seriously, GTFO.

So a few hours later we made our way up to the hospital and began the long wait. The Monkey was surprisingly well behaved, when considering the fact that hospitals are probably among the worst places to be waiting with a toddler for a long period of time. So I drove the Monkey to my mom's house. That day was also her birthday. The transplant team at the hospital said the day you get a transplant is like your second birthday, so in that sense my mom and my father in law now share a birthday, which is kinda cool.

Back to the hospital. Waited and waited, playing cards and eating hospital cafeteria food and doing anything to pass the time. Finally he was out of surgery and everything was looking OK. The Weirdo and I got home feeling exhausted. We went to sleep, only to wake up a bit later to horrifying news that there was some kind of complication. The Weirdo rushed back to the hospital, leaving me home with the Monkey.

Thankfully there was nothing seriously wrong. So after a few days my father in law is talking, sitting up, and even cracking jokes. I've commented to several friends and family about how amazing medical technology is. Really think about this: someone died, so they took an organ out of that person, cut open my father in law's abdomen, put the organ in... and it WORKS.

There was a time when people no doubt said something like that was impossible. Makes you wonder what things that are impossible to us will be routine in the future.