Wow. The last 48ish hours have been wild. On Monday morning, we were informed of a potential donor match. It wasn't until several hours later that we were able to talk more to our Transplant doctor about it, to learn if it was indeed a match, how good of a match, etc. From then, we had an hour to decide whether to move forward with the transplant, as the donor was headed to the OR around 8pm, and the surgeons would need to know if they were flying out to retrieve the liver (the donor was out of state).
The hour was spent having some really tough conversations, as we tried to figure out what was best for our son. We had been praying and hoping so furiously that the steroids would work, and we could avoid the transplant altogether. But we didn't have enough data to indicate that they would work, as he still had at least 2 days before we would see any improvements. It came down to what information we had available at the time: Joey's liver was failing and wasn't going to get better on its own, we didn't have enough data about the steroids and whether they would even work, we weren't sure we would get a better donor offer or another one at all, he was in great health to receive a donor organ and we weren't sure that would be the case even the next day. As much as we wanted to avoid the transplant, because of the risks and the life-altering nature of it, we felt that it was the safest way to ensure Joey's survival. So we told them to move forward with the transplant.
A note on the donor and receiving their organ:
As much as we wanted to avoid the transplant, we are EXTREMELY grateful that a perfect donor organ was identified as quickly as it was. We know this isn't always the case, and that is not lost on us whatsoever. The donor was a 17 year old man who passed away tragically in a car accident. When we were told this, I sobbed. I grieve heavily, HEAVILY, for this young man's family and friends, and yet I feel so so thankful at the same time. I have so many conflicting feelings on how this works. But I look forward to the day where we can reach out to his family and thank them for saving our son's life, and tell them how we will honor their son's life though Joey. It is a tragic, and yet beautiful story.
We spent the next several hours waiting to hear from the surgeons about whether the donor liver was viable (they do assessments when they go to pick it up, and once it is back at Georgetown). We never heard anything about the viability, but were told no news is good news. Finally, around midnight on Tuesday morning, we were told that they would be taking Joey to the OR around 1:30am. For the next hour and a half we held him tight, prayed for him and the surgeons, told him how strong he was and to be brave. As we walked him to the OR, I felt sick to my stomach, questioning whether we had made the right choice to go forward with the surgery.
We spent the next few hours talking to our nurse, Leah (she has been amazing). She kept our minds off of things for a while by answering all of our questions about the surgery and recovery. From about 5am to 7am Chris and I somehow managed to snuggle on the tiny loveseat/couch in Joey's room and get a little bit of sleep.
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