"But Mommy, where do the doctors GET the liver?"

That is the question Joenick posed to me this morning. Up until now, he was perfectly fine with the simple explanation that "The doctors are going to give Gavin a new liver" and he accepted it without questions. Then last week I overhead him say "The doctors are growing him a new liver" and I responded without thinking "They don't grow it." Which of course led him to ask "Then where do they get it?" Ummmm. ::changed the subject:: It caught me totally off guard and I didn't have a proper reply thought out.

I'm sure my lack of response sparked his curiosity, and this morning while we were sitting at the kitchen table he asked again "so where do they GET the new liver?". I replied "The doctors get it." and hoped my little play of words would satisfy him, but nope, he persisted "But WHERE?". I looked at Andre, who shrugged, then I figured the gig was up and slowly said "Well...sometimes people get in a car accident, or are very sick and have to go to the hospital. The doctors try to save them, but sometimes they die. Then the doctors ask the person's family if they would give their liver to someone else who needs it, like Gavin, and they say yes. Does that make sense to you?" His eyes bugged out a little bit and he incredulously asked "Someone KILLS themself to give their liver?!" and I quickly corrected him "No, no...they are already dead." And he seemed to accept that and went on to the next subject.

I hope I didn't scar my child for life! So tonight I searched the internet for books written for siblings of sick children. There weren't a whole lot of options out there, but I thought these ones looked the best, so I ordered all three:

What About Me? When Brothers and Sisters get Sick
by Allan Peterkin

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0945354495

When Molly Was in the Hospital: A Book for Brothers and Sisters of Hospitalized Children by Debbie Duncan

(the artwork on this one makes my eyes well up with tears)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1877810444

Henry Goes for Surgery by Renita De Challis

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401057217

Hopefully these books will give us a little more guidance on the correct phrases and age-appropriate material to use, as I'm sure there will be other difficult questions that pop up in the future. But after skimming some of the passages in one, I think what I said was okay. I also found a few websites with helpful information on them:

TransplantLiving.org

Siblings of Children with Chronic Illness and Disability

Compassion Books

Donate Life 4GAVN!

This will be our new license plate soon!

Thanks to my cousin Kylie for sending me the link! I'm so excited to have this on our car!!!

Cuteness

I bought these really cute t-shirts for Andre, Gavin and I to wear to fundraisers and for when we get "the call", etc. They were a tad more $$ than I would normally spend on a t-shirt, but aren't they fun?! (at least...as fun as transplants go anyway...). I bought Andre an orange one, me a red one, and Gavin a baby blue one. I think I'm going to try and get his website printed on the back of them, too.
Oh ya, and I also bought him a new liver! I think this one is much more cute than the one he'll be getting at UCLA:

I think he'll enjoy cuddling with Gavin while we're in the hospital, and I'm sure the nurses will get a kick out of it. (even in turmoil, I aim to please!)