A Day In the Life::Meet The Golden's
Hello!! We are the Golden’s; a family of four living in Austin, TX. Billy and I have been married for 6.5 years. I am Registered Nurse working part-time every weekend, so I can stay home full-time with the babies. I currently work in Surgery at a Trauma Center. When I am not trying to keep the house at a livable level of messy, I enjoy crocheting. Actually, I am slightly obsessed with it. Weston received a few blankets from Project Linus while in the hospital, and I was so touched by the kindness and generosity of the “blanketeers”. I taught myself how to crochet via YouTube and have been able to make a few blankets to donate to our local chapter.
Billy is the Technology Coordinator for a middle school campus and also teaches a couple of technology based electives. He is a former high school and middle school coach. Billy is a “good-ole Texas boy” at heart. He loves sports, mainly Texas Longhorn and Dallas Cowboy football. When he actually has free time, he enjoys playing golf.
Our schedule is a necessary evil and a blessing in disguise all at once. Billy works Monday thru Friday and I work all day Saturday and Sunday…leaving us very little time together and as a family. Our closest family member is an hour and a half away; so we often feel isolated. But, being “free” all week has been instrumental in getting Weston the care he needs. When you have a sick child, the doctors tell you when they want to see you next; they don’t ask what works with your schedule. When Weston was in the hospital, our opposite schedules allowed one of us to be with him at all times without having to be excessively absent from work.
Emily, 3 years, is our oldest. She goes to pre-school part-time. You’ve never seen a kid love school as much as this one! When she is home with Mama and Weston, we try to keep her active booty busy with swimming and cheer/tumbling lessons. Emily is the best big sister you could ask for. Even at such a young age, she is very sensitive to the fact that her brother was sick. She’s made many trips to the hospital to visit and was a super-star during the two months that our family was torn between Houston and home. She is definitely a handful at this age, but we can’t imagine life without her.
Weston, 13 months, is our Little Man. He had his Kasai at 6 weeks of age. It stabilized his liver disease for about 2 months. By the time he was 5 months old, he was in full blown liver failure. He was admitted to Dell Children’s Medical Center (Austin) and then to Texas Children’s Hospital (Houston) to receive TPN and Albumin in January until he received his transplant. The morning of January 28th, 2011 will forever be burned into my memory. I remember it, like I remember the day I was married and the days my babies were born. It was the morning that we got “the call”. We were still inpatient, so it was more like a surgical visit. That evening, Weston received a whole liver from a donor on the East Coast. He is B+, rare. Not only that, but the donor was in an outside region. SO many things had to line up correctly…and they did.
His post-transplant recovery was a little bumpy. Due to pre-transplant fluid imbalances (from liver failure) and the size of his new liver, it took about a week for him to come off of the ventilator and out of PICU. He’s had temporary feeding tube issues, wound dehiscence, and a myriad of contagious illnesses since, but he is HOME. To look at him, you would never know this Little Man has been through so much. His eyes are bright, cheeks are plump and rosy and has a roly-poly tummy to go with it. He is so happy and his smile will just melt your heart. He just celebrated his first birthday and is learning to walk. He loves to snuggle, play and throw food on the floor. He is obsessed with Shrek and Yo Gabba Gabba; we watch them almost every day. Little Man loves to eat! Milk and veggies are his favorite things. He is very cautious of his actions…but Billy and I still think there is a future Texas Longhorn Football player lurking inside of there.
I often think about our Donor Angel and their family. What they must be feeling… Weston’s donor has become part of our family. We celebrate their life and gift every chance we get. We gave him life, but they gave him a second chance.
Until next time,
Ashley
