I got the idea to create this blog from a coworker (thanks, Megan).  So far, we have had two "dry runs" to Seattle, we call them false alarms.  Whatever you call them, the truth is, it certainly seems real when we are rushing to Seattle in the middle of the night!

I am about 4 months late in starting this blog.  It seems like it would have been a nice way to keep in touch, and let people know what's happening.  I will try to write often.  You never know, maybe it will help me in some way too.  I do have some catching up to do, this could be a long entry.

We have known for several years that there could come the day when Lonye might need to consider a lung transplant.  We traveled to Stanford in January 2004 for a transplant evaluation.  At that time the team said he was years away from even considering the possibility of transplant.  They also said that we needed to come up with money to cover the gap between what our insurance covers and the cost of the transplant.  That translated to several hundred thousand dollars!!!  

His health has remained relatively stable for the almost 17 years that we have been married.  About 9 months ago I began to notice that things seemed to be getting more difficult.  Walking for a long distance or up a hill, carrying heavy objects.  To make a long story short(er), he had a doctor appointment in the spring.  I went along because I was concerned.  After a standard breathing test, his doctor told us that he thinks it's time to start thinking about transplant.  The funny thing is, we both knew it's time.

We know that God has a plan for all of this.  And He is in control of the outcome.  There are so many issues that we had been concerned about since our initial evaluation in 2004.  All of those concerns have been eliminated or resolved, and not by us.

The transplant team at UW is amazing.  Every person that we have talked to and/or met with up there has been extremely professional, caring and helpful.  Exactly what you would want in a stressful situation.

And then there are our friends, family and even our community who have been willing to help us every step of the way.