I LOVE IT WHEN A PLAN COMES TOGETHER

Each day that passes, we get a better idea of what’s in front of us.  Yesterday’s meeting among the doctors concluded with a plan to remove Piper’s kidneys the week of September 15th, with a likely transplant date in late November or early December.

I’m with Hannibal.  I’m much more settled now knowing exactly what is in store and I’m excited for it all to get underway.

There are still plenty of unknowns, but many fewer than before.  I still have to get the official word that I will be the donor.  Thomas Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia is doing a tissue analysis of my blood and Piper’s blood to determine compatibility.  There’s no reason to believe I would be less than a 50% match, but we need to make sure there aren’t any antibody mismatches.  From what I can tell, it’s a possibility but not likely.  We’ll keep our fingers crossed.

Piper is also still in the hospital and we don’t know when she’ll be released.  We hope that she will be able to come home before her removal surgery, but that’s not clear yet.  She is getting hemodialysis on a daily basis at this point and the hope is that the frequency of dialysis will decrease over time.  Her blood pressure is still very high, but that should be remedied with the removal of her kidneys.  That’s the amazing thing about kidneys.  They regulate blood pressure which means that faulty kidneys lead to bad blood pressure.

We’re happy that Piper is finally out of the PICU and has been moved back up to the 3rd Floor, which is basically “the floor” at A.I. duPont.  Her sisters will finally be able to visit her which will be wonderful to see.  I’ve been trying to talk with Sophia about her sister as much as I can so she has some idea of what’s going on.  She understands now that Piper is in the hospital because she doesn’t feel good and the doctors are trying to fix her.  It’s been difficult for Erin and I having to alternate between being at home with Sophia and Harper and being at the hospital with Piper.  I’m sure Piper would be fine for a night without us, but I’m not sure that Erin or I have the heart to leave her there.  It just doesn’t seem right and I don’t expect it will happen so in the meantime, we’ll just have to keep doing the best we can to make sure Sophia and Harper feel loved and get the attention they need from us.

On another note, I’ve had a lot of time to ponder my faith in God and my belief in the Christian religion through all of this.  I spent a lot of my teenage years and early 20s questioning the existence of God.  I’m sure my father will never forget the visit we made together to Pastor Andrews at the Vienna Presbyterian Church when I was 14 or so.  Let’s just say that we both left with more questions than answers and I believe the plan backfired a bit!

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve concluded that God exists, because I just cannot find any other explanation for human conscience.  How does science explain why you and I know inherently what is “right” and what is “wrong”?  It can’t.  In my view, science is simply humanity’s labeling of our observations. As technology has gotten better, so has the spectrum of our observations.  Therefore, we continue to create labels for those observations and many people, mostly atheists, claim that those labels nullify the existence of God.  I disagree, and if I felt the need to explain my disagreement to an atheist, I’d tell them that God allows us to understand science; science doesn’t allow us to understand God.

My acceptance of the existence of God has in turn lead to many questions regarding whether the Christian view of religion is the “right” view.  I was raised in the protestant church and was simply expected (by the church, not my parents) to accept that Jesus was the son of God while actually also being God, and that he died for our sins, and we should praise him for that, and that it’s okay to sin if we repent, etc. etc. etc.  Well, because I’m stubborn (and born with free thought), I’ve never simply accepted such a thing.  I believe that God challenges us to think, and accepting a story someone else tells us as the truth without independent consideration would let God down as we wouldn’t use the gifts He bestowed upon us.

There’s nothing I want more than to come to accept the story of the New Testament.  I want to believe in my heart and soul that Jesus was the son of God and that he died for our sins so that we may sin and still enter Heaven so long as we accept him as our Lord and Savior.  This experience with Piper has made me think much more deeply about my own faith and although I cannot say that I have found the acceptance that I seek, I am certainly closer than I’ve ever been.  It finally dawned on me that if I want to believe the Christian story, which I do, the place to begin is the Bible.  It’s amazing to me how many people claim to be Christian and claim to follow the teachings of Jesus yet have never read the Bible.  So, I’m starting there.  I began with the King James version but it took me way too long to read and understand each sentence so I’ve moved to the “dumbed down” New American version.  As you’d expect, it’s much more readable!

It seems strange that watching your child go through the horrible things Piper is going through would make it more likely that you would believe in God or want to believe in God, but people find faith in many unique ways.

Sorry for the proselytizing, but it’s been on my mind quite a bit.  Feel free to add your thoughts in a comment on the subject.  I’m open to any and all input.

As always, we are thankful for all of your thoughts and prayers and for all of the wonderful things our friends are doing for us during this difficult time.

Love, Chris and Erin

(EDIT: I didn’t realize Erin had posted this morning as well, so sorry for rehashing some of the same stuff!)

Please follow and like us: