In a Good Place

That's where we are right now, thanks be to God!

We spent the majority of the day with Duncan today (dear Nancy filled in the gaps early in the morning and later in the afternoon; dear Ricci and Diane filled in later in the evening). Although there were moments when Duncan had to experience unpleasant pokes and prods (drawing blood from the heal, administering an IV, etc), he was largely in dream land...the poor little guy is just tuckered out. But I find no troubles in rocking a peaceful, tuckered out little guy for several hours straight!

The experience that brought us most peace was our conversation with Dr. G, the surgeon himself. The man has a way of offering instant serenity to a room when he enters it. He spent a long period of time expressing his thoughts about the events leading up to now in Duncan's health, reassuring that our observations from home were right on, and painting a picture for how tomorrow will go so we are prepared. We have both the utmost respect and the utmost confidence in him both as a surgeon and as a caring, loving, faithful spirit. Get what he had to say when Scott asked curiously, "So I am intrigued by what goes through your head tonight, the night before an 8-9 hour surgery. What are you thinking?" :

To which Dr. G responded (paraphrased): "When I was younger, I dreamed of being a downhill ski racer. In my experience in those days, when you were preparing for the race itself you were not permitted to test run the course. But they let you explore on the perimeter to get an idea of what the course was like. Then, I trained the night before by visualizing every detail of how the race would go on that course. That's what helped me train for what will happen tomorrow with Duncan. Tonight I will run the surgery through my mind 10 or 15 times, going down every scenerio's path, good and bad, and visualizing what I will do in each case. I visualize down to the detail of him being rolled in the operating room to him being rolled out."

I tear up just by giving this account. How humbling to think that this man is at this very moment probably in deep concentration over my son's heart and that the time he is spending right now will result in the success of Duncan's wellbeing. I want to meet his family, give them all big hugs and say, (to his children) "Thanks for being patient when you needed help with your homework tonight so Dad could be our hero." (to his wife) "Thanks for doing the dishes alone and watching the Indians game alone tonight so your husband could be our hero." It is hard to explain how it feels to have our family benefiting from the drive, dedication, and care of an individual we met 7 months ago.

So in your prayers, include one of special thanks that we are blessed enough to have Dr. G in our court.

Meanwhile, Jackson, has been in the caring and competent hands of Lynette and Henry all day. He will continue to be in those hands all evening and all day tomorrow as well. What saints they are!

Thanks to everyone for everything. We think we are ready to go. A good night's rest is ahead and a full day tomorrow. We will send news as soon as we know it.