Transplant Day 1
02/07/2011
After an a very sleepless night last night we arrived at the hospital to register Noah on the Stanford side. I don't know how to explain the sheer panic Noah and I both had. We waited for Noah to be called back in a room full of other patients waiting to be called back for their surgeries. The nurse came to get Noah and the proceeded to tell us that Dylan would not be allowed in the holding room in the back. What? How could they expect Noah to wait alone for almost two hours? Needless to say I was visibly upset. I tried so hard to hold it back. I did not want Dylan to see me upset, but it was impossible. We were already going to be apart for days after and they were taking away, for me, extremely important time together. We had a few moments in the hallway together and then they took Noah back. Dylan and I found a chair to cuddle in and he drifted off for a little bit. About fourty five minutes later I got a phone call from the pre op nurse. She was going to break the rules and allow us back. It was so wonderful to know that we had such a caring person taking care of Noah. We waited with Noah until anesthesia came. Leaving Noah was the hardest thing I had ever done. I wanted so badly to be in two places at once.
When we went downstairs my sister and dad were in the cafe. We sat down and talked for awhile. Dylan was feeling the nerves, but doing really good. More family poured in… It was so wonderful being surrounded by ten Dylan and I went down to the surgery center. We waited for about thrity minutes before I went up to ask when he would be going back. As I sat back down to wait again the fellow, Dr. Kim came in to say they were ready NOW. Dylan got instantly upset. Crying and saying he didn't want to do it. Our anesthesiologist was amazing. He treated Dylan with respect and helped him feel as comfortable as he could. It made it so much easier for both of us. Dylan got oral versed and then the IV was started. He then gave dylan even more versed. He was pretty snuckered out and didn't even realize they took him away from me. It was about this time I lost it again. It is terrifiying...leaving your baby. I was then alone and I felt just that. A volunteer showed me to the cafe to my family.
I got word that they stared Noah at nine and that they were just now removing his portion for Dylan. Everything looked great. Noah was doing well. We waited for what felt like forever and then Dr. Bonham came to tell me Noah was done and in ICU. I was told I could go see him at three, just an hour and a half away. While waiting I got word that Dylan's liver was out and Noah's was in...Dylan was BA free. When I got to the room I could tell Noah was in a lot of pain. It was hard for them to manage. After a bunch of back and forth they gave him fentanyl instead of dilaudid and it seemed to help more. It is so hard seeing him in that much pain. I just wanted to fix it. I did get to tell Noah that Dylan was doing good and that everything was going perfect. I went downstairs so his family could go up. Then I waited for Dr. Esquivel to come down to talk to us.
"His liver was a lot sicker than we thought"...I can't say I was surprised. I had a feeling. He said it was "hard as a rock" and "very shrunken". I am so happy it is out. After 3 more hours we were allowed to go back. He looked great. We are having minor blood pressure iissues and he keeps trying to pull his breathing tube out. Right now we are trying to keep his blood thin to avoid a clot in his new liver. There is a lot of fine tuning to do, but that is why we are here in ICU. I will post more after a much needed rest. Thank you for all the prayers and good thoughts...and please keep them coming.
-Amber
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