John 15:13: Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend--his wife

10 years ago today in the early morning, Chris and I were in a small hospital room being prepped for surgery.  Our vitals were checked and IV’s were placed.  

Then it was time for Chris to go.  He leaned down to my hospital bed and gave me a big hug.  I didn’t want to let go.  I cried, and we said how much we loved each other.  Then he got into his bed.  My heart sank as I watched him being wheeled away to the operating room.  I have never been so sad or scared as I was at that moment.  I prayed that all would go well and that we would be reunited again.   

Four hours later, I woke up in ICU and saw two nurses at the end of my bed.  One of them said “Your kidney is working, Nanette."

Chris called me the next day and sounded so awful!  The surgery was much worse for him than it was for me.  Later, he convinced his nurse that he was well enough to sit in a wheelchair and visit me.  When he came, he looked as bad as he had sounded on the phone.  He tried to talk to me, but he kept falling asleep!

Eventually, I was released from the ICU and Chris and I shared a room.   He wasn’t much of a roommate though because he slept the whole time, poor guy.  He was in so much pain.  (If you look closely you can tell that he’s not all there)

We were delighted when at last we could have our most important visitor of the week

It has been a long and bumpy ride, but  10 years later we are still a happy, healthy family!

Thank you Chris, for saving my life, and thank you Elle, for being our ray of sunshine.

Happy 10th, Kidney*!

*not actual kidney. Enlarged to show detail