like we just can t be normal for once. we don t know what we re doing. we re just winging it. let s be honest here. we re just winging it. jason and stacy have been warned that gage could come out of surgery with two artificial heart pumps, one to support each side of his failing heart. the surgeons will make the call when they see the condition of his heart during the operation. stacy finds some comfort in the memories of their all too brief time at home together between the surgeries. even though we got to go home for maybe two months, it was just two months we could just treasure every day, and i guarantee we treasured every day. surgeons implant the device called heartware to support the left side of gage s heart. this is the part that s going inside the heart, and then basically there is a rotor inside this device. and then basically this device suck the blood from inside of
want to get his feeding tube pulled out or anything. so we still have to be a little safe around him but not really. and then it s time for homework. an interview with his grandfather. one of the questions? what did he like to do when he was gage s age? because i was 8 i could go hunting deer. so put hunt deer. some days i wished i can go hunting. you can. out in the mountains. you will. we missed you this year. you will. when are you going to do it again? next year. so it will be just right because you ll get your heart and you ll be all out of the hospital and everything will be good and you ll be going hunting with us next year. and now that we did thanksgiving, we ll see what christmas brings. and four more months pass. early this past april gage continues to thrive. jason and stacy convince the doctors to let them go home once
of pushing, okay? she s been fighting rejection for several years now. pediatric cardiologist seth hollander goes to stacy. compared to 2008 to now we re starting to see kind of a slow progression of the coronary problem. and that s not really something that s reversible. right. the real question to be perfectly honest, i don t mean to sort of jump on you, is whether or not it s time to start thinking about transplant number 2. stacy s gut feeling was right. your pressure number s a little bit up again. did they tell you? yeah. and i think oh, my goodness, how many kids, how many times? you get that feeling of impending doom like it s never going to end, it s just on repeat. yeah. transplanted hearts for reasons we don t fully understand don t last forever. so if you re an older person who s getting a transplant, you may be able to live out the natural duration of your life before your transplanted heart gives out. but fwe didn t transplant sierra at age of 7 years
and i look forward to that probably the most. it s just watching them be kids. two years have gone by, years during which they managed to stay here in rural oregon, far from the hospital in the home they love so much. lindsey is now off anti-rejection steroids that caused her face to swell. sierra is in high school, learning to drive. and gage? gage is doing well. he s a little rambunctious 6-year-old. it s going to tickle your forehead. they make the trek to palo alto every few months for checkups and biopsies, which lindsey actually looks forward to. i like seeing the doctors and stuff. biopsies have become so routine the girls bring homework to pass the time. oh, she does have a pencil. look at that. stacy is the kids most loyal cheerleader, but on this trip to the hospital, january 2015, she s uneasy. i have a lot of anxiety over this one. is it just going to be something simple or is it going to be
lindsey is happy to see the doctors and nurses who took care of her when she was on an artificial heart five years before. gage, his big brother hunter, and jason have all been letting their hair grow until he gets his transplant. an all for one sort of gesture. but this long? they never imagined. it was crazy hair day. hunter did ponytails right here, right here. all over. hunter had the craziest hair. when stacy can t be here, dad s got to pick up the slack. back at home in eastern oregon megan struggles with the reality of it all. hardest part is worrying all the time. every time i get a text or a phone call i just always like jump to conclusions and think of the worst. for now sierra, lindsey, and gage are all doing well. in fact, gage is doing so well jason and stacy beg his doctors to let him go home for just a