July 29th 2009

Wow!! What a whirlwind day yesterday. We drove to Auburn Mass on Monday afternoon to my girlfriend Michelle's house, where she was the greatest hostess, with an 11 month old I might add. My mother-in-law flew in from Virginia Beach, so it was the the 5 of us including my girlfriend who knows the city of Boston very well that went to Children's. The hospital is amazing. It looks like a hands on children's musuem. It really is beautiful and exceptionally clean. Everyone we encontered from the door man to the front desk people, to the cafertia staff and especially all the members involved with the transplant program were all so nice!! We were all very impressed, it was almost like it wasn't real, but it was. The day started off with the ususal check, height, weight, urine and a quick physical exam. We then had a 45 minute break before we sat down with the whole team and spoke about how this whole process works. It looks like Bridgette will not be put on a transplant list only because we have 9 possible donors including Mark and I. They state that a live transplant is beter than a deceased donor, so they will explore the possibilities of these donors first. If none of us are a match then they would put her on the list which they state is fast tracked. They told us a story of a child who left the hospital only to be called back in 12 hours due to a kidney match. This is an unusual case they said but usually once on the list it could go fairly quickly, like 2-5 months. Bridgette needs a series of evaluations before being able to receive a kidney. She needs to have a hearing and eye test which will be done in Albany. They both have been scheduled already for the 7th of August. Bridgette has had a xray already of her chest and spine so they are being faxed over from SVMC in Bennington to Boston for a pediatric ortho doctor to read. Bridgette will need the rest of her testing done in Boston, she will have a full urology work-up which will be checking her kidneys and bladder and all the parts that connect each other to make sure that there is no structural damage. They stated that usually with transplant they leave the old kidneys in the body but if they have some structural damage then she would need surgery 3 weeks prior to having her transplant to remove the old kidneys. They stated the length of stay in the hospital would probably be 2-3 days depending if there were any complications. Bridgette also needs an infectious disease consult to make sure she is up to date on all immunizations as well as any needed shots to be given before transplant. All dental records of the last 3 years were also sent to Boston, they are extremely thorough. Today the 29th she had a MRI of her brain before dialysis to check her pituary gland for a possible tumor, keep your fingers crossed!! One thing that I can't believe through all of this or maybe I should actually say I can believe it, what an amazing child Bridgette is. She breaks down everyone once in a while but it lasts about 1 minute and then composses herself and states "I"m sorry mom, how are you and daddy feeling?" Is Matthew going to be alright with all of this? What an amazing child. Bridge found out that she would miss some school and this sent her into a tizzy, not the fact that she will be going through all this testing and surgery, but that she will be missing school. I assured her that I would have Matthew send her all her school work home to her, and this made her feel better and that was that. Thank you everyone for all the love and support, I really can't say this enough. Mark and I really are so appreciative that words cannot express it. I will keep this updated as much as possible, love to everyone
Megan and Mark