On Thursday night November 20, 2003 Jill and I went out with her friends from work for a little going away party. We had decided she would stop working at the end of November because the weather would be getting colder and the flu season would be starting. Waiting for a transplant means don't get sick. If you are sick you will be sent home because all the anti-rejection will suppress your immune system and you will be starting out with an infection that could possibly kill you. Not wanting to risk that we felt it was best for her to stop working. She was also getting more fatigued and so she felt the time to stop had come. Around 7:30 we started saying our good-byes so we could leave. We left about 7:45. I followed Jill's 4Runner in my car since we had both come from work. We had gone just one stop light down the road when her turn signal came on and she pulled into a parking lot. I pulled up and asked what was wrong.

Jill told me her mom had called her and said Cleveland Clinic had called and needed to get in touch. Our hearts raced as we checked her beeper. It had a message but it didn't show a number just a bunch of 8's across the screen. Jill was trying to find a pen so she could get the number written from her mom when she realized she had the Transplant Coordinators card in her wallet. She called and was told to get home and call when we got there. We started hone and I called my work and my mom on the way to let them know what was happening. I had already put in more hours than was necessary for the week but I was intending to go to a meeting in the morning. Arriving home we found Jill's sister Laura in the driveway waiting. Laura started explaining how the calls went. As I listened to the answering machine. The first call was my dentist reminding me I had an appointment on Monday to get set up for a crown on one of my molars. Well I guess I may not make that. The next was 7:32 PM from Cleveland Clinic saying call them and that they would try the rest of our call list. This was followed by about 3 minutes later a call from Jill's mom sounding frantic, then Laura etc. Laura was saying they tried our cell phones but they weren't in service. I know Jill had left hers in the hands free unit I had installed the month before in her car. When the car was turned off it would turn off unless you were in the middle of a call, but mine was in the back bedroom in the desktop hands free unit so it should have at least listed a call in, and would not have said it was out of service. I went to check it but it showed nothing. I tried to call out to test it and NOTHING, it said calling but the sound was real weird. I then remembered that on the previous Saturday the power had flicked on and off in the house about 20 times over a 15 minute period. Working for our electric company I had known it had to be a substation of switching problem to do that but after that was over, I had found the kitchen TV had been effected. It had come on and had somehow had the clock reset to turn on at 12:08 AM or at least the time it thought was 12:08 AM, which was actually after 3:15 PM. I had finally figured it out after Jill told me it seemed possessed. I turned of my cell and when I turned it back on it started working properly. So another of the glitches was fixed. The Coordinator was also confused because when she called Jill’s Aunt who lived in near Cleveland she got her but she was in Florida. Since her phone is for her business and she and Jill's mom were in Florida the phone was forwarded to there. Jill talked to the Clinic and was told to get there by midnight. It was about 8:30 by now. The drive to Cleveland would take about 2 hours and 15 minutes so we started getting ready.

Jill's little bag was already packed but mine was empty since I had gabbed it and used it when my Dad had been in the hospital about 2 months before. I grabbed several pairs of jeans and polo’s and t-shifts along with a bunch of underwear. I grabbed all of Jill's medications and our toothbrushes. I grabbed some books and magazines but I knew they wouldn't help when I was waiting during the surgery. We were excited. Jill talked to her brother John and sister Gerri as we got ready to leave. Both of them wanted her to wait while they came over to see her. As it was now about 845 she had to tell them no since they couldn't get to our house until about 930. I went in the garage and checked all the tire pressures, oil level washer fluid etc on Jill's 4Runner. It was our designated vehicle for her transplant since we knew with its 4-wheel drive we could always get there. No need for 4 wheel drive tonight though because it was 50 degrees out which is rare for late November in northern Ohio/southern Michigan. Jill finished briefing Laura on how to take care of our kids (the dogs and cat). I loaded the car as Jill sat and petted each dog saying she would see them as soon as she could. As I put our bags in the back of the 4Runner the door to the house opened and three dogs came running out acting like they were coming to I left the rear hatch open as I herded them back inside. Finally around 9 PM we were ready to go. Jill was standing in the driveway hugging Laura who was quite emotional at this

As Jill stood about six feet from the rear of the 4Runner I looked and saw the rear hatch open. I grabbed it and started closing it just as Jill turned away from Laura and started to her side of the car. The hatch came down and caught her on the head. Jill was standing there with a dazed look rubbing her head. I was mortified! "Are you OK?" She responded by giving me "The Look" as Tim Allen would call it, sort of like I had planned all this. She got in the call rubbing her head and I put her oxygen tank in the back behind her seat. We pulled out and got on the road. One I got going she called Gerri, "If you want we can get off the turnpike at I 280 and see you for a minute. I noticed that instead of using the hands free mike she was holding the phone on the attached phone cord. I could hear Gerri saying she was hard to hear but she would meet us. As Jill called through to everyone she could thin it was the same story they could hardly hear her. My brother in law David said heard me real clear but Jill was muffled. I then realized since she was holding the phone to her ear it was muffling her voice. She said, "you know this system is really junk, since you put it in no one can hear me" Boy now I was starting to feel like Tim the Toolman from Home Improvement since all my work wasn't working, but I asked, "Do you always take the phone out of the hang up cup?" Jill replies, "What’s the hang up cup" I pointed out it was the cradle that the phone sit in. She said "Oh that." I told her since it was a hands free set to just leave it sitting and talk. After this everyone heard her fine. I pointed out the mike next OT the sun visor and she said "Boy I wish you had explained that because I just thought you messed the phone all up" After meeting Gerri, who said she would come to the hospital in the morning we got back on the Ohio turnpike.

It's now almost 10 PM and we are about an hour and 40 minutes away, no problem. As I drive I find most the traffic is moving about 72-75 miles an hour. I set the cruise at 72 since I don't want to be pulled over for speeding. But even 72 is speeding so I figure if I get pulled over I will tell the cop, write out whatever size ticket you want but please escort us to Cleveland Clinic so she gets there in time for the transplant. Luckily I don't have to use that ploy, though I probably could have sent it in to Car and Drivers 10 best ways to get out of a ticket. As we get closer to Cleveland I point out that if the organs aren't any good, which is always a possibility, we will pre-plan better for the next time. Jill agrees. As we get into Cleveland my sister Susan calls since she just got home and David said we were going in for the transplant. We get done talking to her as we approach the exits for the Cleveland Clinic. Jill says to get off on Chester Ave so I do. We go one light and get a red. It's now 1130. The car in the left turn lane starts hitting his horn and we try to figure out whets happening. We then notice a car going down the wrong side of Chester Ave heading east in the west bound lane. The driver eventually gets into the correct side of the road but we give him a wide berth. I'm not sure if he just turned at the wrong spot and couldn't get over because of the center berm or if he was drunk, but being so close to our goal I didn't want any problem. We turn onto 101 street but it's very dark and as we try to get to the main entrance we hit construction. We can see signs saying main entrance but then the next thing you know we are back away near the Crille building. On our third lap, I see a person in a hard hat. I say "We can't find the main entrance, where is it?" She points to the light just ahead, turn right there. We do and realize the construction has totally obscured the sign. It's now 1154 and I drop Jill at the front and I pull in the parking garage. I run down the stairs and into the Main Entrance where Jill is standing. I get her in a wheelchair, hang her oxygen on the back, and start pushing her to building G. We're not sure what be there by midnight means but it's 1157 PM. We shoot into Cardiac ICU ward G50 at 1159 PM, made it.

The nurse says, "You must be our transplant patient Jill right? We reply "Yes" She gives Jill a hospital gown and says remove all clothes and put this on while she lets the transplant team know we are here. With the curtain closed Jill gets into the gown and I place her clothes in a bag. We put her jewelry in a bag and Jill asks what it did with the emerald pendant and earrings she got at her party. I said I put them in her jewelry box a home. Don't loose these as she gives me all the rings. Just 5 hours earlier she had explained all the rings to her friend Diane. Her wedding band of emeralds and diamonds, The emerald and diamond ring I got her for sweetest day the first year we were married, the emerald and diamond ring I got her for her birthday the year after we were married etc. I look at them now in my hand and think how much they mean to her and how much she means to me. The nurse comes back and explains that one the team sent to get the organs has verified they are good she will go down to be OR, but the actual surgery will start when they get back. For now she will be prepped and have IV tubes and a tube installed in her arm so they can monitor pressure heartbeat, and draw installed by the anesthesiologist. As they are starting to get her ready a woman in scrubs comes in. She asks for the transplant patient and is brought to Jill. "Your Creatnin levels are high so they want you to have dialysis before the transplant" 'Wow" I think, about a month before her numbers had gone up a little because the had her on a little too much diuretic, but it had supposedly gotten better after correcting the dosage. Jill says, "I've never had dialysis." The woman looks a little confused, "How can you not of had Dialysis if your getting a kidney transplant?" The nurse quickly explains Jill is a heart/lung transplant patient and the Kidney patient is next door. I begin to think this night is just too surreal.