Transplant Update # 2

Sorry for the long delay between updates, we were trying to catch a few Zs. Connie & Dale are now in St. Louis, as well as Phillip and Sarah. They've been here all night with us, trying, mostly unsuccessfully, to catch some Zs of their own. When we first got here to the OR Waiting Room, which is probably 2-3k square feet with several cubicles of couches and a couple private waiting rooms, no one else was here, so everyone took a cube and tried to sleep. Over the last hour or so, as the employees have come in, we've all gotten booted out, back into our little waiting room designated for us and there are 4-5 other families up here now sprinkled throughout the room.

We've had three updates from the OR thus far. The first update was sometime around 3am and was that they were having trouble getting an arterial line in. This is no surprise because they've always had trouble accessing an arterial line with Oakes. The second update, around 4:40am, was that Dr. Huddleston had just started the surgery which means he was making the incision and was about to get Oakes chest cavity ready to remove his lungs (THIS IS SURREAL...I CANNOT BELIEVE I AM LIVING THIS!!). Just got another update about 6am that they were getting ready to put Oakes on the heart-lung machine, which he's all too familiar with. This machine does the work for him while they work on his lungs. Also, the lungs were "almost here". Please lungs, please, please be the right ones for Oakes. God, you can help us out here too. We need some good news from here until, oh, about 50 years from now!

Beck is asleep on a very uncomfortable couch, but at least it's dark in our tiny waiting room. We're all very tired. More later.

Love,
G,B,I,O