Waiting Patiently

 


      It's been a week of emotional ups and downs as we all wait expectantly, yet as patiently as possible, for a liver to become available for Cordelia. This morning was probably one of the most heightened mornings of expectation as the Doctors told Cliff and Dani that a liver had become available, but that there was at least one family ahead of them.

     My mom told me at 9:15. I called my sister at 9:17 and then Cliff called me at 9:35. He told me that there was a liver available, but that thus far they had been unable to reach the other family that was ahead of them on the waiting list...this other family had until 10 a.m. to get back to the doctors to "claim" the liver (they are not in the hospital, but further away somewhere).

     I got off the phone with Cliff and got down on my knees right in the middle of the scattered toys in our playroom and prayed that God would make this happen. I reminded God how badly Cordelia needed a liver (as if He needed to be reminded!) and then I sat waiting and hoping that this would be the moment we had all been waiting for.

     My mom called at 10:02.

    "No," was the answer. "Not yet. Not this one."

     "No?! No? But everything seemed to be lining up just right?!" 


     After my loudly expressed sigh of disappointment my mom said, "Lisa, God loves that other little baby too (the one who will be getting the liver today) and we need to pray for the doctors and that that operation goes well."

    She is absolutely right of course. God does love that other little baby and we pray today that his or her surgery goes incredibly well...from the sounds of it he/she is actually struggling even more than Cordelia right now.

     And so...we wait. And in the process we learn about perseverance, and seeking God's help for extra measures of patience. Peaceful patience. The kind that comes when you step back and say, "Ok, this wasn't the day for Cordelia to have surgery and God in all of your sovereignty you know that...AND you know which liver will be best suited for her little body and which day will be the best day for the Doctors to do this incredibly miraculous surgery on her...we trust, hope and believe that YOU have it all figured out."

      So today wasn't Cordelia's day for surgery, but we're o.k. with that.  And we are praying for this other surgery, even though we don't even know the family. And we are praying for the family who lost a little baby and donated the liver in the first place....This is all so complex, and leaves us realizing that we live in SUCH a fallen world where things are not as they were supposed to be. But we are grateful for a God that doesn't leave us here to do this all on our own...We know that He is walking side by side with Cliff, Dani and Cordelia on their journey.

     A note of "good" news is that Cordelia's score was raised from a 29 to a 40 this week-- after this situation this morning I believe she is now almost at the top of the list for her size/category/blood type, which means hopefully the next one will be for her.

     We are praying that God sustain her body as we wait. She was tapped 3 times this week because her belly has expanded just about as far as it can go and now extra food and extra fluids are causing too much pressure, which must continually be released. Between that and the fact that her sodium levels keep dropping to potentially dangerous levels, the nurses and doctors are keeping a VERY close eye on her and actually prepared Cliff and Dani for the idea that she might need to be moved to the ICU if a liver doesn't become available soon so that they can keep an even closer eye on her.

     So, we're asking for big prayers this week-- for another liver to become available (one PERFECT for her), that God would sustain her body, nourish her and keep her healthy while we wait and that great wisdom would be given to the doctors in the midst of all of this.

     After all of this Dani sent us this picture with a note that said..."I wanted to play today anyway!"