Jim's New Lungs!

Jim received The Call last night to get his transplant.

We rushed to Detroit, family members in tow, ready to hunker down for the long haul.

He went into surgery about 6:30 this morning, and the lot of us (nine in total), settled in for what we were told would be a 6 to ten hour procedure.

After only four hours, the surgeon appeared in the waiting room. The transplant was a HUGE success! He said that the donor lungs were "perfect" and that the procedure went better than anticipated.

What a relief!

I was told I could go into Recovery after 45 minutes, so I set the timer on my phone. I checked it every five minutes. I couldn't wait to see Jim.

When I was finally able to go back to see him, I walked the long hallway from the surgical lounge to the other end of the building where he was in ICU. So many thoughts ran through my head, but first and foremost I kept thinking how grateful I was that the transplant had gone so well.

The moment I walked into his room, I was overcome with joy. He looked so good! The color in his face was no longer a pale gray, but had turned a healthy pink already. Those new lungs were already giving my husband a better life and they'd only been with him a few hours.

I said a prayer then, standing over my husband, for the donor and their family who had to make the excruciating decision to give us this miracle of life.

One by one, our family filed in to visit Jim. Every one of them remarked at the improvement in the color of his skin. Yes, it was that dramatic.

We have a long road of recovery ahead of us, and I'm sure there will be bumps along the way, but we can do this together.