Amazing Family

I've had a particularly long day. I'm not sure why. It seems as if the kids have been extremely whiny and needy today. Our house is a disaster. Seriously. I don't even have a clean corner somewhere to escape to. How in the world does it get this messy this fast? Why can't I be one of those people who are so organized and have a clean beautiful house?

8 pm finally rolled around and I was rejoicing inside because it was time to start the bedtime ritual. For some reason getting them ready for bed was also extremely tedious and drawn out so by the time they were both down I was beyond ready to sit down and relax.

I decided to first check my e-mail. I have one message. It's from my Mom letting us know that Heather, my older sister, has updated Quincy's (their oldest son) care page. Quincy just turned 12 this week. (He's a deacon now. So weird.)

Here is the short version of what is happening with Quincy that Kelly (My brother-in-law) wrote to everyone back in July:

"A couple of weeks ago while visiting family in Idaho falls, we took Quincy in for some stomach pains that he had and the doctor thought that it was an onset of ulcers. As a routine, she drew a blood test and sent us on our way with some medication. We we contacted by the doctor a few days later telling us that we needed to go in for some more extensive testing due to the unexpected results of his blood test that showed some kidney problems. We went in and drew some more blood and he went through an Ultra Sound to see if they could tell what was happening to his kidneys. A kidney specialist reviewed the results and wanted us to get to a specialist in Alabama ASAP to go through more extensive testing since he could only find one kidney and the constituents in the blood that indicated kidney function was very abnormal. We came to Alabama and took him in this last Thursday for a consult and they drew another blood sample which showed that he only had 13% kidney function. They sent us over to Baptist Medical Center immediately where they soon realized that they were in over their heads. They sent all the results up to the Children's Miracle Hospital in Birmingham AL which has a wing that is dedicated to kidneys. They came back and had him life-flighted up there because they did not know how long they had since they normally get ready for a transplant at 25% kidney function. Up in Birmingham, he went through extensive testing and they determined that he truly only has one kidney from birth and that it is dying. They subsequently performed a myriad of other tests that led them to the conclusion that he is stable enough at home with multiple medications that simulate what the kidneys do for a short time and monitoring gear until they can fully determine why his kidney died (they can't perform the transplant until they know why first so they don't waste another kidney). Additionally, they are giving him a hormone that replaces what the kidneys do to work with the bone marrow to create the red blood cells. We will go up to Birmingham every couple of days for testing and to meet with the transplant team to start the process of donor matching. We will start with our immediate family first and then move out to our extended family until we find a match. There is a high probability that it will come from myself, Heather or the kids."

Well, as it turns out they just got the news today that my sister, Heather, will be the kidney donor for Quincy.

All of a sudden my "bad day" seems so trivial.

I don't know if it is like this for everyone but as I was growing up my older sister was pretty much perfect as far as I could tell. Yeah, there were times that she made me so mad I could have punched her out but all in all, in my eyes, she was perfect. Well, time hasn't change much. Except that I don't ever feel like punching her out. In my eyes, she is still perfect. She married the perfect guy for her, she has the perfect kids, her house is always clean and most important she always does what's right. Heather, thanks for always being a shining example to me. I will always look up to you.

Here's the Perkes family. This was the best picture we could get while we were all together this summer. We spent the entire day at Cherry Hills in Kaysville, UT and then took our family picture. Do I think I look my best after swimming all day? No. But this this will have to do! :)

P.S Lyndon no longer eats broccoli. How dare he trick me like that.