That is the one statement we hear time after time. And while it’s mostly true, it’s proving harder to say with his skin color, energy level and sunken eyes. This is a picture from January. Not that long ago.

Dr. Caring called this morning and told us that it’s time. Not in a "it’s time!" happy kind of way, but more in a "it’s we-knew-it-was-coming time" kind of way. We’re not surprised.

I will say, it doesn’t take my breath away like it did in December when she told us it could happen within a year and a half. My how time flies. We’re not shocked, stunned or surprised. It came faster than we thought. But we’ve been trained well to keep expectations low. We’ve learned that in the world of progressive diseases, the name means exactly that. We get it.

We discussed the two city options for transplant and it sounds like we would stay here to have it. We need to set an appointment for Gage to be seen by her, then the referral is sent. We’d go for basic orientation to meet the transplant team and start the process. It’s my understanding that we’d test a few people with Gage’s blood type (0 neg) and then choose from those people the best match to go for two day testing. We’d probably shoot for 6 months out and see how his kidneys hold out. Because wouldn’t it be great if this happened next summer and school wasn’t an issue (I demand that you think it with me now: low expectation). The main goal? To keep him off of dialysis.

We discussed the number of pediatric transplants in our city. How many kids were Gage’s age? Good question. Not sure. We talked about this being a good age developmentally to have a transplant. You know, before puberty sets in and teenage rebellion (non-compliance issues with meds) hits. And well, isn’t that a fun time anyway.

Okay. So there. Out to dinner tonight. Drinks on me.