The Day Has Come - New Liver for Ethan!!
Well, after having what everyone said was the longest list of people signed up to be a living donor, they found Ethan a deceased donor!
What happened is that Ethan was going into the hospital on a regular basis for blood transfusions, antibiotics, and procedures to clean out his liver ducts. The great liver team at UT-Southwestern used this to request Ethan be moved up on the deceased donor list, so they could work on both sources at once. We were told this rarely happens, but the international board approved increasing his MELD score, qualifying him to receive a suitable liver from a deceased donor.
Well, there were several false alarms, livers that turned out bad or donors families backed out at the last minute, etc. The very suddenly they called Ethan and said to get to the hospital, that a new donor was found and looked good from imaging. He and Bridget went in, but were told this could fall through at any time. The liver could be damaged during transport, or the implanting surgeon could decline the liver for various reasons.
Ann and I went to the hospital, and were told IF everything worked out, they would do surgery Saturday morning, but things could still be cancelled and this end up being a ‘practice run’. We were not convinced it would actually happen until we were with him and Bridget in the preop room, and the anesthesiologist came in.
Ethan was in surgery for like six hours. Seemed like forever for us, but of course, it seemed like no time for Ethan. We got to visit him pretty quickly after he went to the Surgical ICU, it was such a relief to see him after such a large operation.
Today (Sunday), Ethan is going great. He has already taken a quick walk around the floor, but is still in quiet a bit of pain, as expected. Sometime today they might send him back to his regular room on the liver transplant floor, where he will stay till released for home care.
It is still going to be a long road to recovery, and there are still dangers of infection, liver rejection, etc. Please keep Ethan and Bridget in your prayers.
Thank everyone so much for their love, support, and prayers. they are truly appreciated.
I’ll try and post a follow-up once he transitions to home care.
Love and Blessings,
The Howell Family
