When the Phone Rings.....It Can Change Everything

Sometimes I am jumpy when the phone rings. I know all too well, that a phone call can change everything..........I still am on edge with the phone all these years later. I don't turn it off at night, though the feeling of waiting for that call has long passed.

A balmy May evening, a Wednesday evening to be exact we got a phone call that turned our lives into upheaval. Marty had see the doctor the day before and his blood work wasn't good. They wanted us to come in the next day. The next day, they diagnosed him with End Stage Renal disease, kidney failure.  He was thirty one and felt his life was over.

The next call was to tell us that Marty was listed for a dual organ transplant at Stanford University. The told us the wait would be one year. We thought it may come that fall and told everyone we couldn't do anything. I remember everyday past that one year mark felt like torture.

Once Stanford called on New Year's eve  to check in...........I remember my heart was racing and we thought this was it. They just wanted to check over everything and let us know they remembered us.

Then on my birthday weekend in 2010, Stanford called to tell us they were removing Marty from the transplant list for being "non complaint" because his doctor had a bad day and wrote that in his chart. It was a short battle to get him re-listed but horrifying none the less. Marty felt he had been handed a death sentence.

Two months later, the first glimmer of hope came when Stanford called to tell us Marty was second on the list and a backup for the transplant happening that day. It wasn't his turn that day  but he was next in line.

Twenty two days later,Two years ago today,  the phone rang at 4:45 p.m. on 1/1/11 and it was "The Call" and our lives were turned upside down. I shoved the kids out the door to Heather, called my friend Di to have her update Facebook and Twitter. Took the 99 to the 152 praying the whole way. It was a clear January night, we headed in the pitch black to the unknown.

Here we sit two years later, our lives have changed for the better. We were given a second chance at life that so many don't get. We had a positive outcome and now can live our dreams, take chances and embrace that second chance. Three months ago, we got another phone call of the very best kind and now are headed to TN to chase our dreams.

Bad phone calls can bring your worst nightmares alive. Good phone calls can turn that all around and bring glorious things you never imagined to reality.