Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Life Saving Measures

I know it has been awhile since I last posted, life just truly got in the way.  Part of that will be explained below, part of it is just life. I am going to try and post more often, I miss writing.  So, if you have been gone too, welcome back!  I've missed you!

This past Monday, I contributed an article to my local MOPS newsletter (The MOPS Bucket).  Our meeting focused on women's health and I felt this was extremely important.  I decided I wanted to post it on the Blog.  After receiving permission from my Mother-In-Law, I am sharing it with you.  I hope it is informative and encouraging.  God is SO Good!!!

LIFE SAVING MEASURES
BY: Theresa Crowell

I remember the day my dad took me to the DMV to get my Driver’s License.  I remember I was wearing a black shirt from Disney World.  Nerves worried through me as I took the written test and the eye test.  Thankfully, I passed them both and was answering the questions to get that valuable piece of plastic card.  I remember the DMV lady asking me if I would like to be an organ donor.  I was so excited and really only paying about half attention, so I told her yes, because she was looking at me expectantly.  I hadn’t really thought through what that little red heart on a license meant and what it would mean to my family 18 years later.

The beginning of November 2012 found my Mother-In-Law, Mary, at the hospital preparing to have what we thought was a routine partial-hysterectomy (if you can EVER call such a procedure routine!).  What happened afterwards was something NONE of our family was prepared for.  It turned out that the doctor had to perform a full-hysterectomy as well as remove many cysts from different organs in her abdomen.  She came home from the hospital a day early though, thinking everything was okay.

A couple of days later, Mary was rushed back to the hospital as she was so weak her legs would barely hold her and she was completely loopy and out of her mind (it is okay to joke about this as we all do now).  It turned out that her ammonia level was INSANELY high (190, when it should be about 20!) because her body was not processing the anesthesia from her surgery.  The day before Thanksgiving, after many tests, the doctors found that not only did Mary have cirrhosis of the liver, but also a tumor in the middle of said liver.

To make a long story at least a little shorter, Mary had a localized kind of chemotherapy which was successful in shrinking the size of the tumor.  Unfortunately, she still had to worry about the cirrhosis.  After much discussion with doctors, hospital administrators and insurance people, it was decided that Mary would be put on the Organ Donor list.

None of us in the Crowell family had any experience with Organ Donation.  We all did our own research, found out none of us could do a living donation for her, and then there was nothing to do, but sit back, wait and pray.  We were all very prepared every day to get the call.  Every beep of a phone was a potential trip to Indianapolis to save her life.

After 3 months on the Donor List, Mary went back in for more tests.  We found out then that she was not sick enough to get a liver and hadn’t really been on the list the whole time.  The doctors did more tests.  Mary was told that organ donation in Indiana is combined with donations from Ohio and Michigan.  When a person is in need of a donated organ, the other 2 states have the responsibility of deciding if the person is sick enough and if s/he will get the organ when one is available.  After about 2 weeks of waiting, the results came back.  Mary was just not sick enough and the likelihood of her getting a liver was extremely small.  None of us knew what to think or even what to pray for.  Did we even want to consider praying that she would get SICKER?  What kind of prayer is that?  We just decided to pray that God knew better than we did and that this was all HIS plan.  This was the Friday before Labor Day.

We all relaxed and let our guard down.  I stopped leaving my phone on at night.  We told our baby-sitters (my parents) that they didn’t have to be on call right now.  We just figured that was it.  We were SO wrong!!

Four days later, at 3:00am on Tuesday morning after Labor Day, Mary got a phone call from Indianapolis.  The nurse on the line told her she had until 5:30am to get to the hospital in Indy.  She was holding Mary’s new liver in her hand.  After a frantic call to my Sister-In-Law to go with them and a call to us to let us know what is going on (talk about a heart attack when the phone rings at 3:30 in the morning!!), they very speedily drove to Indy and pulled into the parking garage at 5:15am!

The docs took her back to test if the liver would be a fit for her.  There was a gentleman on the list ahead of her that was a match for the liver as well and they had to determine which a better match was.  It turned out that the gentleman was too large for this particular liver (we found out later that he received his own liver the very next day!!).  So, God’s plan was showing itself to be very real.  Mary was taken back for surgery.  We were told that it would be a 4-8 hour surgery.  Two hours after being taken back, Mary was headed to recovery.  Eric and I did not even have time to make it to the hospital before she was out of surgery.  We could not believe it when we got there and Eric’s Dad said she was in recovery.  The doctor said the surgery went incredibly smooth and it was almost as if the new liver was made just for her.  Praise God!
Almost everything from that moment on went smooth.  We found out that the tumor in the liver had started growing again.  She would be getting sicker.  But, thankfully, that was NOT God’s plan!  Obviously, there have been a few hiccups along the way, but Mary has done amazing!  Every doctor has been astounded at her progress.  She has an entirely new lease on life, has more energy that she has had in as long as she can remember, and she looks fantastic!  She is enjoying the chance to really spend time with her grandchildren, her children, and her wonderful husband.  It has been incredibly amazing to watch God’s Hand in everything that has happened the past year. 

So, where is this story going?  Well, wait no further.  We know that this was God’s Plan.  But, do you know what the biggest part of His Plan in the saving of Mary’s life was?  It was someone making the decision to be an ORGAN DONOR.  It was someone that simply said “YES!” to the simple question, “Do you want to be an organ donor?” when they applied for their Driver’s License.  It was someone realizing that they couldn’t take it with them. 

I have been an organ donor since the day I received my Driver’s License at 16, but did I really know what that meant?  No, I didn’t.  I now know that if something were to happen to me, then someone else’s life could be saved.  I could give someone else’s family the joy and blessings that our family has received this year.  What a better way to honor God’s plan than to be a part of His plan for someone else?!?!
I encourage EVERYONE to be an Organ Donor!  If you have the little RED heart on your driver’s license, that is GREAT!  I do make the suggestion that you make sure your loved ones know your desires.  Another way is to register online at a site such as Donate Life (www.donatelifeindiana.org).  Another extremely important thing to consider in Organ Donation is would you have your children be donors if something happened to them?  I know that this is something NO ONE wants to even think about, but you should.  Children’s organs are very difficult to come by, but are greatly needed.  There is a sweet young boy named Caleb that was just in the news in Indiana that received a brand new heart.  This young child will now be able to live out his life and it is all thanks to a family that was willing to make a sacrifice.  It is not a pleasant conversation to have with your spouse or loved ones, but I promise it would be better to have it when it is not necessary than it would be in the middle of having to make a decision.

One more thing I would like you to consider is giving blood.  Many people do donate blood and sell their plasma and that is FANTASTIC!  However, do you know that you can donate specific parts of your blood depending on your blood type?  I have O-Negative blood.  That means that ANYONE can have my blood!  Anyone!!  I also have extremely rare O-Negative blood in that I have an extra anti-gen or something (the blood donor people were less than explanative about it!) and my blood is very much in demand.  So, now, I no longer donate WHOLE blood, but instead, they take 2 pints of Red Blood Cells.  It takes a little bit more time, but it is exactly what they need from my blood, so I am happy to donate it!
My point of this article is to make you think and to hopefully open up a dialogue about Organ Donation.  If you are not an organ donor, I am NOT trying to shame you.  I just want you to see how important Organ Donation is and to maybe make you ask yourself if this is something you should do.  Please feel free to ask questions, do your research, and most importantly Do Not Be Afraid. 
Remember that when you die, you are gone.  You will not need your organs after death.  According to the Bible,

“And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” Ecclesiastes 12:7
And
“All go to one place.  All are from the dust, and to dust all return.” Ecclesiastes 3:20.

Finally, just remember that becoming an organ donor is a decision that will save another person’s life.  That person could be a stranger, the mom of 5 down the street, or your co-worker’s child who is struggling with every breath.  The most important thing to remember is to hold true to God’s greatest commandments.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all you soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”  Matthew 22:37-40

FACTS ABOUT ORGAN DONATION
  • ·         The Indiana Organ Procurement Organization has helped with nearly 3000 organ and tissue transplants in Indiana since it started as a nonprofit health service in 1988.
  • ·         More than 3 million Hoosiers are registered organ donors.
  • ·         Anyone can register to be a donor, regardless of age, race, or medical history.
  • ·         Organ donation is not managed by hospital staff and happens after all life-saving options are attempted.  It does NOT change a patient’s care.
  • ·         Donation doesn’t change the body’s appearance and is done surgically, similar to gallbladder or appendix surgery.
  • ·         Donor families do not pay for the donation process.
  • ·         Donor and recipient are confidential.  Communication is possible only with consent from both and is facilitated through the IOPO.
  • ·         Every 10 minutes, someone in the U.S. is added to a transplant waiting list; an average of 18 people die each day waiting for a transplant.


§   Sources: Indiana Organ Procurement Organization and Donate Life Indiana