Surgeon came down in his scrubs to talk to us

The head transplant surgeon, Dr. Stock, just came down and spoke with us. We will possibly be able to see Mom in about half an hour. The breathing tube is out and she is coming back to consciousness.

Surgery went well. The new liver seems to be functioning fine. Mother lost 400 cc of blood, which is very good. Her own blood is being returned to her.

The doctor said he "heparinized" her. Not sure what that means, but I guess is to help with coagulation of blood. Apparently, it comes with a slight risk of bleeding, which means they will monitor her closely for the next 24 hours.

Going forward, the antirejection drugs may really impact the remaining kidney function she still has, but Dr. Stock said that it will be days, weeks and months before they "see if we can nurse her kidneys back."

The domino operation is a couple of hours behind. It is really touchy to ask about the recipient of the liver because the hospital enforces strict privacy rules, but the doctor disclosed that the recipient was a 62-year-old female. That operation is going very well. It is a separate surgical team.

We will update the blog when we see her.

A new dawn. . .

The sun is rising in San Francisco. Dad and I slept about four hours in the waiting room. We got a voicemail about an hour ago saying that things were going well. We anticipate she will be in the ICU within an hour or so. It's likely she will be very groggy and possible that she will not even remember being admitted last night. I will post another report when we have more information.

Cathy is currently in surgery.

This is Alan. I arrived about 45 minutes ago. I went upstairs and Mother was in the rolling bed in her gown talking to Dad. We reminisced about the time Dad was in the hospital with his shattered ankle. We met the anesthesiologist, Dr. John Taylor. He seems really nice.

At 11:05 Pacific Daylight Time, they wheeled mother into the operating room. Dad and I came downstairs. We were told this operation could take five to ten hours.

Normally the surgeons just throw the recipient's liver away, but in this case, Mom's liver is being donated to someone else, so extra care is required in removing her liver.

We learned about the donor: From Central Valley, female, 35 years old, died of head trauma. What a tragedy! A daughter and granddaughter and a sister and very possibly someone's wife. Someone's mother. Surely that family needs our prayers right now. We are grateful for their decision to go forward with the donation. We think the organ network will allow us to reach out to the family to convey our gratitude.

Will post more when we have new information. Could be a long wait.

Order One of These Please

Mom's telling the doctors she wants her scar/stomach to look like this one when they're done. Hopefully they can deliver. That would be a definite win-win.

I love that even on her way to the hospital for this major surgery she still has the sense of humor to joke about this picture with me. Love you Mom.

Karen

Go!

UCSF called and we're on our way. Yes, we are both terrified. Just this week I made a decision that this disease would NOT be my identity. I will get better, and this will be a blip in the road. I hope to be home within the week ready to rock n' roll. Prayers for our family, the family of the donor, and the family of the person who will receive my liver.
Alan and the kids will keep the blog updated.

A good daughter

Waiting for this transplant is the pits. Karen visited me a few weeks ago, then went to Utah for her sisters-in law double wedding (how fun!). She wanted to leave her boys with her mother in law and bring baby Claire and come and help me. She waited and waited and waited and it was time to think about going back to Virginia. Then she had a great idea! Rent a car and drive with the four kids and come to visit. She left bright and early. Lon and Alan met her in Reno and helped her drive the rest of the way. We had so much fun together.

It's hard to do anything together because we have to take two cars to do anything together. We are lucky that Grandpa is such a willing babysitter. He watched the boys while Karen and I and baby Claire went to Half Moon Bay. Why Half Moon Bay? Fresh peas!! There is nothing better to sit and eat than fresh peas. We got to the pea stand and tried a couple. They were divine! I asked the guy if he had any crates of peas for sale. He did. I asked when they were picked (yes, I am turning into my mother), and he said just that morning. Karen and I looked at each other and said we'll take a crate. A crate weighs about 28 pounds. He opened the lid and crammed more in. I guess he recognized desperation and adoration in our eyes. He put it in the trunk for us. We got two grocery sacks and stuffed one with peas (we used the other one for the pods) and drove back home. We finished the bag before we got home. The remainder of the week we carefully monitored each other's pea consumption. Heaven forbid one of us gets a few peas more than the other one. She became very solicitous of my potassium consumption. I couldn't find any definitive information, other than dried peas were high in potassium. Since raisins are high in potassium and grapes are low, I thought the same must be true with dried peas and fresh peas. She fired back that eighteen or so servings of anything has to be bad. It was an uneasy truce.

On Friday we got home from the Temple and she was eating peas and putting the empty pods behind her. She claimed that the boys were helping her blah blah blah. I found it highly suspect. Lon called it the "Wall of Shame." I got a lot of good mileage teasing her about it. Soon all the peas were gone. Mother and daughter remained friends.

She also made cinnamon rolls. She can make some good cinnamon rolls. The only bad thing is that they never last 24 hours.

We also went shopping to the outlets, and made several trips to In 'N Out Burger. We had a couple picnics with the family and picked a ton of wild blackberries. It wasn't quite a repeat of the pea adventure, but close. While we were shopping Grandpa and the boys caught a lizard. It wasn't Gizzard (the lizard they caught last time). I don't think this lizard was very sociable--he bit Cameron when he let him go the day they left.

Sadly it soon became time to go home. Her husband has an internship back east and has to work a ton of hours this summer so she was pretty much on her own with Mrs. Right Hand and Mrs. Left Hand for helpers. She left from SFO with the four kids, three giant suitcases, three backpacks, two carseats, a stroller, and had to change planes in Minneapolis then fly to Virginia. After she got to Virginia it was about an hour and a half drive to her home. She bribed the big boys (five and three years old) with any toy from Toys R Us. Four month old Claire is a good baby, but still needs a lot of care. Two year old Tyler was the wild card. He has a mind of his own and could melt down for just about anything. They were all smiles when they left. They got home lately and word on the street says they won't be needing to go to Toys R Us. She wasn't ready to talk about it yet. I think all five of them should go to Toys R Us and get whatever they want. Thanks for coming, Karen. I sure love my little girl!

New meds again

At my last appointment with the kidney doctor I was having a bad day--just felt crummier than I usually did. My anemia was worse. The kidneys produce a hormone that regulates the utilization of iron in your blood. He prescribed an artificial substitution for it. The bad news is that it must be injected every week. We picked up the prescription and went to the injection clinic so Lon could learn how to do it. Right. My squeamish husband is going to keep his eyes open long enough to give me a shot. I will admit I was in a bitter and perhaps less than cooperative mood when we went. I sort of wanted to be in the other room, but since I was getting the injection, I had to be there. The nurse taught Lon how to do it. He was very attentive, bless his heart. We both wanted her to give it to me--you know, for complete instructions. She went ahead and did it. The anticipation was much worse, and I think Lon kept his eyes open. Sadly, I got quite an impressive bruise. When it was time for the next shot, we again went to the injection clinic. Lon said he didn't want to hurt me (thank you) and wanted a nurse to give it to me to see if I bruised again. I didn't. Time comes for the third injection. Karen was visiting and she was hot to trot to give me my shot. I remember visiting her when she learned how to give shots in the BYU nursing program. We got there and she had a syringe and was squirting saline all over the place and in general was pretty maniacal about the whole new skill thing. She had the same maniacal glee when she gave me my shot. She did a great job and I didn't bruise.

I don't know who will give me my shot next week. She went home. The absolutely great news is that I do have more energy. It is great to have a little sass back!