Kyndall's 4th Birthday Party

I'M BACKKKK!! 

 It's been almost a entire month since my long awaited liver transplant and I am finally getting around to updating my poor, neglected little blog!  As much as it has bugged me to let myself get so behind with my posts, I obviously had much bigger priorities to tend to.  I'll be back with a full recap of my entire experience from beginning to end but for now I am getting a little out of order with my entries in hopes of just catching up.  

My transplant took place on Tuesday, September 16th, 2014.  On Saturday, September 20th, my sweet girl turned the big FOUR years old!  For several months I had been planning the most perfect My Little Pony / Rainbow Dash birthday party I could come up with, which would take place at the Fun Zone on the morning of the 20th.  Thankfully, I had prepared as much of the party as I could in advance and I had almost all of the details accounted for.  There were just a few loose ends that needed to be finished up and my sweet sister made sure all of these things were taken care of for me.  She knew I would be stressing out worrying over these tiny details so she took it upon herself to complete them just the way that I would have.  Thank you, Kelly for stepping up in my absence and helping to make the big day run smoothly!  It couldn't have happened without you!

I was pretty bummed when I realized that my transplant would overlap the birthday party but I knew in my heart there would be many more parties to come and that life would go on just fine without me there.  Still, I was sad to think of missing the big day.  On the morning of Friday, September 19th, my transplant team made their morning rounds in the surgical ICU and Dr. Gorden gave me the wonderful news that after just THREE DAYS, I was being released!  I couldn't believe it!  Three days??  He told me I was a "star patient" and that I now held the record for the fastest post transplant release.  I was beyond myself with excitement!  Then, he did something I never imagined he would do----He gave me permission to temporarily leave Nashville and attend Kyndall's birthday party.  He said "so what's this I hear about a pony party happening tomorrow?"  I told him it was my daughter's 4th birthday but that I had resolved to miss it and I was ok with that. "Well would you like to go?" I looked around the room at the nurses and said "is he kidding?"  They said "nope, he's the boss and whatever he says goes!"  Apparently the nurses and residents had told Dr. Gorden about my disappointment in missing the party and  he took it upon himself to see that I was there for it.  When I realized that he was serious, I started sobbing and just kept saying "thank you, thank you".  He told me that I could only go for the day and that I had to promise him I would take it easy and not over do it.  I vowed to wash my hands, wear a mask and just be extremely careful.  

I didn't tell anyone other than my immediate family about my big news to return to Jackson.  I wanted to just show up at the party and shock the pants off everyone.....most of all, Kyndall herself!  So, Friday afternoon I left the hospital and checked into my new temporary home across the street at the Village at Vanderbilt.  Mom and I would be living in an apartment for the weeks following my transplant, until the doctors felt it was safe for me to return home to Jackson for good.  

Saturday morning finally arrived and I was SO EXCITED!  Mom and I made the two hour drive to Jackson and arrived at the party about halfway through it.  

Here are a few pictures my sister took leading up to the point at which I arrived.......

How is she already 4 years old??

Micah came over to our house and caught a ride to the birthday party since her Mommy and Daddy were both tied up that morning.  She even dressed for the occasion!

Her favorite place!

My sweet nephew, Wyatt

Getting her socks on so she can JUMP!

Time for the party to start!

Oh Addison!!  This makes me laugh every time I see it!

Sweet "Baby Emma" as Kyndall calls her, was still too little to jump but she had a good time anyway!

Little beauty, Isabella

I have no idea what was taking place in this picture but it sure makes me laugh!

My Dad and Matthew's Mom.....G-Daddy and Nonie

G-Daddy, Nonie and Poppie (Grammy was transporting me from Nashville to Jackson)

Micah and Riley.....sweet friends

Nonie is fun!

Kyndall LOVES her Aunt Kelly!!

We ran into our neighbor Levi while we were there!

Shhhhhhh!!!  It's a surprise!

They stood Kyndall in front of the door and told her they had a surprise for her.......

And boy was she surprised!!!  I was crying in all of these pictures and I don't even remember what I was saying to her but the look on her face says it all!  (I also love watching Pam's expressions in the background! )  

I think everyone was crying at this point!

Her reaction could not have been better!  She was truly surprised to see me!  

I wanted to pick her up and squeeze her SO bad!

Lots of hugs and kisses......

Here's the video of me surprising Kyndall---Thanks to my sweet friend Stephanie for catching it for me!!

Anna was just as surprised to see me as Kyndall was!  I think they thought they were seeing a ghost!

A little emotionally overwhelmed!!  

She walked around on a "high" for the next hour!  She was so happy to have me there and there was nowhere in the entire would I would have rather been!

Everyone fussed over me the entire time---Bringing me water, a chair, telling me to sit down, wear my mask.......  You'd think I had just had major surgery or something!

Another big thanks to my sister for setting up the party room just the way I wanted it!

Jump time is over---Heading into the party room for cupcakes and presents

I had SO many rainbow ideas for this party---Here are the rainbow goldfish and rainbow skittles 

And of course rainbow cupcakes (Originally were going to be home made but desperate times call for KROGER!)

Rainbow twizzlers for treat bags

Addison

They're practically twins.......Travis and Haiden

Sweet Micah

Jackson

Jackson and Cam

Tyler

Drystan

Ben and Brecken

Kyndall received SO many wonderful gifts!!

Beautiful Isabella

Best attempt at a group picture!

Addison, Micah, Drystan, Kyndall, Isabella, Tyler, Jackson, Riley, Haiden, Emma 

Just missing Cam and Garrett

Baby Wyatt

The party ended at noon and we said goodbye to all of the guests.  By this time I was starting to feel a little worn down so we headed straight back to our house.  It was weird being in my own house but knowing I couldn't stay.  I had a little bit of a meltdown and shed a few tears of frustration but I quickly got over it and we moved on to opening even MORE gifts with the birthday girl.....

New backpack from Mommy and Daddy

New Rainbow Dash PJs

Pink camo PJs from G-Daddy

Pink camo snow suit from G-Daddy

New undies from Aunt Kelly!

Aunt Kelly bought Kyndall her Halloween costume!  You guessed it---Rainbow Dash!

New earrings from Nonie and Poppie

Fall shirt from Nonie and Poppie with monogrammed hairbow!

Even Mrs. Syble and Mrs. April sent gifts!

From Mrs. Staffie

Her first "Equestria Girl" doll from Grammy

A favorite was this Fluttershy pony jacket from Grammy

She found it hilarious that when she put on the hood, she looked just like Fluttershy!

"I'm like a real pony", she said......

Ponies EVERYWHERE!!

Grammy bought her two new Origami Owl charms for her necklace.  These are supposed to look just like Rainbow Dash's cutie mark!  Very creative, Grammy!

Great Grandma sent her a very sweet card.......

With a very generous gift inside!!

She thought it was ONE dollar.....then I explained......

Rainbow Dash earrings from Nonie and Poppie

Later that afternoon my friend Jay and his wife Mary Beth and their kiddos dropped by to say hello.  Jay is my liver transplant buddy who lives in Jackson and walked in my shoes just a few short years ago.  We share the same rare liver condition (PSC) and we even ended up with the very same surgeon at Vanderbilt.  Jay and Mary Beth have been such a source of encouragement and such a wealth of knowledge in these months leading up to my transplant.  It was so good to see Jay just three days after my surgery and ask him all of the questions that were burning my mind!  They were also sweet enough to bring Kyndall this stuffed liver!

Even though it was probably pushing it a little, I decided I wanted to stay through dinner time and have a family birthday dinner with Kyndall.  We ended up at Rhodes Diner where we finished up a great day of celebrating with a giant ice cream sundae and one last rendition of "Happy Birthday".  It was a surreal feeling to be sitting next to my daughter celebrating another year of her life when just three days prior I was in the midst of a major, life-changing surgery.  More than once that night I just sat back, looked around, took it all in and said THANK YOU, LORD!

I returned to Nashville very late that night, a little (well....a LOT) worn out but ever-so-grateful for the opportunity I had been given to share in such a special day.  I cannot thank Dr. Gorden enough for allowing me to have those few hours with my family.  I think it was just the jump start that I needed to face the weeks ahead.  Goodness knows, that was the easy time when things were still simple.  I had no idea what a raging storm was headed my way.  There was no way I could have imagined the turn of events that was about to take place.  Things were going so well......too well, I suppose.