What a difference a day makes....

Thursday at shortly after noon, we go the church call. My friend, Stephanie Goodall, who suffers from Cystic Fibrosis received the call she has been waiting on. Vanderbilt University Medical Center contacted Stephanie. They had her a set of lungs. She headed right out for Nashville for her double lung transplant.

First was the wait in admissions while she got checked in to get her room. She arrived before the lungs. Hubby and his Dad sitting patiently. 

She finally got in her room and the lungs had arrived. Now began the wait for the doctors to check them out to give the final okay. There was still that chance that for one reason or not they would not be accepted by the doctors. But she is a lady of remarkable faith and felt 100% sure they would be just right. 

A little later, they got the word that they were perfect and it was time to prep for the surgery.

Once she got hooked up, they came to get her. Surgery was started around 10:30 CST last night. She has shown no fear through the entire process. You can see the thumbs up and wide, infectious smile in every picture.

Time for a Mommy-Daughter kiss before heading out for the big moment.

Stephanie's Mom, my dear friend Charlene, kept us posted throughout the night.

The biggest fear from the doctors were the removal of the old lungs. Cystic Fibrosis can damage them to the point that they are hard to remove and many things are happening during the process that can cause complications. Here were the updates throughout the night....  

 A little after 1:00 a.m. - Just got a call from Operating Room. Surgery hasn't started yet still checking out lungs to make sure they are good and will work.

A little after 2:00 a.m. - Just got the call from surgery. Lungs good; it's a go.

A little after 3:00 a.m. - Old right lung out, just starting to put new one in.

Around 5:30 a.m. - New right lung is in, inflated, pink and functioning. Praise God

Around 7:30 a.m. - They are done. Both lungs are in and looking good. She is on a ventilator hopefully for only a short time. Should be a couple of hours then back to her room. They are going to do a bronch before bringing her back. Less than 24 hours since getting the call and she has her new lungs!!

Stephanie was put on the transplant list on the 14th of July. She was warned it could take months or even a year or more. But she and her unshakable faith kept telling us God wouldn't make her wait that long because He knew how bad she needed them. Here we are 5 weeks later to the day and she has her new lungs. Her fundraisers have all been under the name of New Breath for Steph. Her friends and family are now declaring August 18th as Happy Breath Day for Stephanie.

She will have a long way to go yet and there will be some bumps and curves for sure. But for today, it is total celebration because now she has something that we take for granted. The ability to just breathe. No struggle, no focusing on making her lungs work, no oxygen tanks everywhere she goes. Just breathing in and out like we all do. And she also has HOPE. She will continue to cling to one of her favorite bible versus.

She still has to live in Nashville for a few months to make sure there is no rejecting or complications. Continue to keep her in your prayers. If you would like to donate to her medical expenses, please visit her Go Fund Me page at https://www.gofundme.com/q4-stephanie-goodall-lung-transplant