The Next Chapter
We have had quite the roller coaster the last few days, and unfortunately I think our ride is just beginning. We were fortunate enough to enjoy our first weekend away and after four days without Afton, we were both pretty excited to get home and squeeze those big cheeks. To our surprise as we were driving away from the Creamery, we got a call that a good liver was available for Afton. This was at 11:30 on Sunday.
We hurried home and picked her up and were at the hospital getting tests started by 1:30. Everything seemed to go very well. Afton is big for her age, which was is so important with transplants. She was also very healthy. Timing seemed somewhat perfect, but we were both very scared.
They took her into surgery at 8:00 PM on Sunday and she didn’t come out until 7 AM the next day. Everything went smoothly with the removal of her liver, but once the new liver was attached the main artery would not work. They did multiple procedures to try and get it flowing but it would always just slow down and eventually stop.
For us this is frustrating because we waited over a year for the perfect liver and they really did think that this liver was text book perfect. We never expected that it wouldn’t work. Now this is Afton’s liver so we have some issues to work through. The best thing for Afton right now is to get another new liver in her. She was relisted at 11 AM today as a national priority. This means that she has priority over every liver that becomes available in the entire United States.
While this is all very hard, there are some bright spots. For one, if we know this liver has issues, it is best for us to replace it now rather than later. Right now, she is still very healthy and doesn’t have any scar tissue. To us this means that if they give her another liver, it’s really the same as if she was given that liver to begin with. Meaning, there are no major setbacks as of yet because the current liver is in her. Now, she does need a new liver within days to maintain this status. The surgeons seem to think that this is highly likely.
Afton is stable and in the PICU. We are not allowing any visitors because her immune system is suppressed and we don’t want her exposed to anything before she goes back into surgery.
This week is going to be very hard for all of us, but we are just praying that everything will fall into place. The surgeons are relatively optimistic as they have seen all sorts of unique issues and to them its just part of the bumpy road that we have been warned life can be like after transplant. All your thoughts and prayers are welcome. We’ll write an update once we know more. This may take a couple of days.
