Late Wednesday, November 14, 2018 (well, technically it was after midnight my time, so super early Thursday morning!), only about 4 months since dad entered the hospital, I get a call and I see it’s dad. I know it must be important since it’s the middle of the night, but I don’t freak out...I have this complete sense of peace and answer the phone. He’s calm too and says that they’ve got a donor! Well, they think this might be it. But, I can tell that he feels this is it...I felt it too...We all did! I already had a flight booked for a visit with him that I was literally leaving for that Friday! Almost immediately I worry that maybe I shouldn’t go...He insisted that I should still come and to storm the place if they didn’t let me in to see him...Haha! I was nervous because I didn’t really know what to expect when I got to the hospital. Would he be ok? How would he look? Would they restrict my time with him? I knew my original plan for the visit would look very different, but I also knew that this whole journey has been held by God’s mighty hand, and His plans seem to go differently than mine pretty often...Haha! I was just so thankful to be able to go there to be with him...To just sit with him while he rested, hold his hand, talk to him and let him know that we’re there. As I boarded the plane, he lay in recovery after being in surgery for hours...I was so very overwhelmed!
Surgery was very long! The heart transplant was first. The dr’s said that the heart was beautiful and strong! The transplant went fantastically and with no complications. As soon as they did the transplant, his new heart began pumping all on its own! We were all ecstatic! Now on to the liver! The liver team also said that the liver was strong...pristine even! They were very excited about this liver for dad! As they began working on removing the old liver, they noticed that a previous infection caused a significant amount of scar tissue on and surrounding his liver. The scarring made it very difficult to remove and ended up being a very intense removal...it was as if they had to chisel the old liver out being very cautious as to not damage any surrounding blood vessels, etc. The removal added unexpected time, and unfortunately stress to the overall surgery. His beautiful new heart was under a significant amount of stress. They needed to make a decision...Do they continue with the kidney transplant, placing even further stress on his already very stressed new heart? Do they instead let the kidney go, in hopes to regain the health and strength of the new organs? They chose the latter. This was hard to hear at first, but I knew that God has been with dad so miraculously the whole way...and He isn’t going anywhere now! He has a plan for this and I trust Him! Dad will need to be on regular weekly dialysis for about a year. BUT, since he was going into surgery expecting and being promised a kidney, and did not receive one, he will be placed at the top of the list for a new kidney!
Because of the stress on the new heart, he was put on a heart assist machine (ECMO). The new heart is still pumping and doing the work, but this is to help take some of the stress off so that it can rest. He was still “open” because they do the transplant surgery of the liver in two steps. They let the body rest and then go back to connect the bile ducts. They didn’t have a surgery date right away because it was imperative that the condition and stability of his new heart improved beforehand.
I finally get to see him the next morning (Saturday, November 15, 2018)...He looks like he’s been through so much, but also really good...pale, but good. I was overwhelmed with emotion, as you can imagine! He just received a second chance at life! What an amazing time we live, where surgeries like these are even possible!
Dad's nurse tells me that he’s doing really well...They are going to do the second half of the surgery to connect the bile ducts! I was so relieved, excited, nervous! They said we could walk down with to the operating room...up until the “red line”. That whole walk I held his hand, encouraged him, prayed with him...and even though I tried to be brave for him, I couldn’t help but cry. I was thankful, yet nervous! We were so close to the finish line!
Surgery was about 4 hours...His liver was working beautifully! Unfortunately they discovered that during the removal of the old liver, there was an area of the bowels underneath the stomach that was damaged. The dr. said that it may have been fine and wasn’t going to do much about it, but because he felt that there was even a small possibility of it leading to any further complications, he just couldn’t let it go. The dr. was able to patch the area up so it won’t be an issue. They did place a feeding tube in to allow the area to completely heal. Even so, I could tell that the liver was doing its job, because his color was looking great! He already looked like he was healing! We said goodnight and told dad, we’d be back in the morning...He definitely needed his rest! The nurse told us that they would try to wake him as they lowered his sedation sometime throughout the night. They would call us and let us know.
Sleep was awful! I kept waking up thinking I missed their call! But morning came and no call. I have to admit I was disappointed, I think we all were. But, I reminded myself he’s been through sooo much...He needs this rest!
Later that morning we discovered that during the night they did try to wake him, but his blood pressure dropped and he became very agitated with the breathing tube (ventilator) and just the fact that this is scary for him to wake up from, and so they needed to increase the sedation. They also needed to add more blood pressure medicine. BUT, here’s some good news...Dad’s brother (Uncle Jimmy) heard the nursing staff during rounds and was told that dad was already off the new blood pressure medicine! He also learned that his kidneys produced some urine, not enough to eliminate dialysis, but this was great news! This shows that even though his kidneys are still so very badly damaged, there’s still some life in them...Praise God!
Dad’s chest tubes are still draining blood, but the amount has decreased everyday. This is perfect! They have been turning down the level of support from the heart assist machine (ECMO) a little at a time and seeing improvements! His new heart is doing a lot of the work on its own! They also discussed continuing the reduction of the sedatives, trying again to awake him and possibly even removing the ventilator!
The biggest news is from this afternoon (Sunday, November 17, 2018)!
Dad opened his eyes!!! He is responding to our voices and is even squeezing our hands! He’s not really fighting against the breathing tube, he is though very groggy still, but is responsive...he’s got lots to say, we can tell by the way he looks into our eyes! They tell us that he’s doing great and his heart is doing more and more work on its own! He is trying to talk and breathe on his own! He’s just got one more procedure to take him off the heart assist machine (ECMO) and then to remove the ventilator. He’s doing so great! God is so incredibly good! This whole thing just seems so surreal! We’ve been talking about the “List”...and we’re here! What a miraculous blessed gift of life! What an amazing journey!
Please continue to pray for our dad...brother, son, friend to so many! Each new day brings even better news and more improvements!
Please join us in prayers of thankfulness for his amazing team of dr’s, nurses, technicians, all the medical professionals over his care...May God continue to guide them.
Please pray for the life giving generosity of the donor and for their loved ones. May our God of peace and comfort hold them closely during this time.
Thank you so very much for your prayers!
Surgery was about 4 hours...His liver was working beautifully! Unfortunately they discovered that during the removal of the old liver, there was an area of the bowels underneath the stomach that was damaged. The dr. said that it may have been fine and wasn’t going to do much about it, but because he felt that there was even a small possibility of it leading to any further complications, he just couldn’t let it go. The dr. was able to patch the area up so it won’t be an issue. They did place a feeding tube in to allow the area to completely heal. Even so, I could tell that the liver was doing its job, because his color was looking great! He already looked like he was healing! We said goodnight and told dad, we’d be back in the morning...He definitely needed his rest! The nurse told us that they would try to wake him as they lowered his sedation sometime throughout the night. They would call us and let us know.
Sleep was awful! I kept waking up thinking I missed their call! But morning came and no call. I have to admit I was disappointed, I think we all were. But, I reminded myself he’s been through sooo much...He needs this rest!
Later that morning we discovered that during the night they did try to wake him, but his blood pressure dropped and he became very agitated with the breathing tube (ventilator) and just the fact that this is scary for him to wake up from, and so they needed to increase the sedation. They also needed to add more blood pressure medicine. BUT, here’s some good news...Dad’s brother (Uncle Jimmy) heard the nursing staff during rounds and was told that dad was already off the new blood pressure medicine! He also learned that his kidneys produced some urine, not enough to eliminate dialysis, but this was great news! This shows that even though his kidneys are still so very badly damaged, there’s still some life in them...Praise God!
Dad’s chest tubes are still draining blood, but the amount has decreased everyday. This is perfect! They have been turning down the level of support from the heart assist machine (ECMO) a little at a time and seeing improvements! His new heart is doing a lot of the work on its own! They also discussed continuing the reduction of the sedatives, trying again to awake him and possibly even removing the ventilator!
The biggest news is from this afternoon (Sunday, November 17, 2018)!
Dad opened his eyes!!! He is responding to our voices and is even squeezing our hands! He’s not really fighting against the breathing tube, he is though very groggy still, but is responsive...he’s got lots to say, we can tell by the way he looks into our eyes! They tell us that he’s doing great and his heart is doing more and more work on its own! He is trying to talk and breathe on his own! He’s just got one more procedure to take him off the heart assist machine (ECMO) and then to remove the ventilator. He’s doing so great! God is so incredibly good! This whole thing just seems so surreal! We’ve been talking about the “List”...and we’re here! What a miraculous blessed gift of life! What an amazing journey!
Please continue to pray for our dad...brother, son, friend to so many! Each new day brings even better news and more improvements!
Please join us in prayers of thankfulness for his amazing team of dr’s, nurses, technicians, all the medical professionals over his care...May God continue to guide them.
Please pray for the life giving generosity of the donor and for their loved ones. May our God of peace and comfort hold them closely during this time.
Thank you so very much for your prayers!
Holding dad's hand...What a blessing! I'm so thankful!
