Success!

She did it! They were in and out in 20 min, home before Matt's virtual ALS clinic started at 8:30 and we got to spend the afternoon #paintingcats with the incomparable @amanda_evanston. What a treat!

Venturing out

Today Elizabeth had to venture out from our quarantine cocoon to get her blood drawn. Matt took her into the hospital and without touching any surfaces, whisked her in and out so later today her transplant team can make the necessary adjustments to her immunosuppression based on the results. Will you pray for her protection, and specifically for her Tacro levels to be optimal so we can space out her blood draws and limit her COVID19 exposure?

God has sustained her life for 15 years now, and we know he will be faithful to continue.

Coming up for air

Hello! I’m finally coming up for air! 😅 Quarantine has been for us, like it has been for so many. We’ve relished in even more together time with Matt working mostly from home.  We’ve played games, worked some puzzles, read some books, taken a few walks at a safe distance from friendly neighbors. We’ve FaceTimed or Marco polo’d, or zoomed to stay in touch with friends, our church family and our family-family also sheltering in place around the world.  I’ve taken up stress-baking & stress-eating...just to keep balance. 😉

We’ve also struggled to find a rhythm for our new normal...just when I thought I’d found my footing, Ruby spiked a fever on Wednesday night and we found we had to separate her from Elizabeth both for the risk of COVID19 and honestly the risk of ANY exposure to ANYthing now that she’s so immunosuppressed. 

Mercifully, a neighbor on our floor is out of town for the next month, and we were able to schlep ourselves to their apartment! 🙏🏼🙌🏼 Such grace. 

Now we wait. E needs to be away from Ruby for 14 days...so we’re counting down to a week from this Saturday...until then, we FaceTime and zoom and I get coffee delivered to my door every morning by a handsome delivery man. 💗

Social-distancing & an update

It’s been so long since I’ve posted any updates about our family or Elizabeth’s transplant recovery. Honestly, I’ve been battling with low-grade depression since E’s surgery & it’s been easier just put my head down & deal with the urgent needs in front of me.  With COVID-19 in the forefront of all our minds, some of you have been checking in & I wanted to let you know how we’re doing. 

Social distancing has been our middle name since November! After two glorious weeks in February when we got to visit colonial Williamsburg mostly mask-less & attend a class for school IN PERSON...we’re back to our old routine of self-quarantining & keeping Amazon & Instacart in business. 😷. The GREAT news is, Elizabeth is doing brilliantly from a transplant recovery perspective. Following months of tinkering with her meds on a weekly basis, her labs all look  great, & she’s once again gaining weight, & is fully off the additional immunosuppression required for the first 3 months post-transplant.  She got a mild cold and handled it like a champ, so that bodes well! She’s been having a mysteriously high heart rate for a few months now, so we’re investigating that, but all-in-all, she is doing so well. 

Many of you have asked...Matt’s still working in the hospital, but they are pushing off any non-urgent patient visits they can & utilizing tele-medicine whenever possible.  He had his first “possible exposure” experience last week and it really drove home the reality that for him, and us, if feels like it’s only a matter of time. 

I’m not exaggerating when I say this only feels a *bit* different than how we’ve been living for the last 15 years.  So much of our future has been uncertain for so long. “Through many dangers, toils and snares” we have seen God’s daily bread provided so faithfully that we know he will continue to meet us where & when we need him.  We have learned, even without certainty of our future, we have deep & abiding hope & it is our prayer that we can share that peace & toilet paper 🤗 we have with our neighbors during this scary & uncertain time. 

Please pray for our protection & for joy to abound in our home.  How can we pray for you?? 💗