The 8th and final call for a liver

Lee has finally gotten a call for a liver.  For real and true this time. It is a Sunday night and I am at work Lee is home alone when he received the call This time he was able to get hold of me sooner then later, my awesome co-workers sent me out the door as soon as I was done charting and I headed home to pick Lee up and head to Murray Utah where he would be getting his transplant. We arrived at 9:30 PM with an expected OR time of 2 a.m., this time was changed multiple times to 5 a.m. 10:30 a.m 12 p.m. ,2 pm, 5 pm, 6:30 p.m then finally 7:30 p.m. He finally went on the 8th scheduled OR time.  While the team was going over the surgery with us they explained it could take 6-12 hours in total for surgery, they explained he would have a internal jugular central line a foley catheter, and they would place a feeding tube in his nose for nutritional support. 

These are all things that I expected but the one I did not was the dialysis port.  it was explained to us that preforming dialysis during the procedure helps keep the kidneys from failing, Lee already had some renal insufficiency coming in.  He only has one kidney they other one is atrophied we do not know why he was told most likely from a childhood injury.    They did tell us just a little about the donor, they were 70 years old but that is not an issue with the liver not having a real chronological  age with the liver that regenerates itself in someone that is otherwise healthy. Lee's surgery start time was 8:08,  I started to see a trend with 8's so I determined that it was his lucky number.  Jessie, Joetta, Dee and Jeri all came to sit with me during Lee's surgery. We all walked out to get jackets there was a pretty sunset that we could see while waiting the picture does not do it justice. 

The OR crew were super awesome to keep me up to date on how everything was progressing and how Lee was doing.  Dr. Gagnon was the primary surgeon, with Dr. Alonzo assisting.  Everything went super well for surgery he ended with a smaller incision and only one drain in place compared to the 3 that we were expecting.  Lee arrived to the ICU about 3:30 AM he was gone from me for 8 hours he went to the OR at 7:30 pm.  He was still intubated when he arrived to the ICU.  Everyone went home after the surgeon came out to let us know how things went.  I went up to the ICU and waited to be able to see him.  He was sedated so I just tried to rest but only got a couple hours of sleep. 

Lee was able to be extubated the following day (Tuesday 27th) around 11:30 in the morning, Lee did really well but he still had some confusion which is normal for liver transplant and he came to the hospital quite confused.  I spoke with the doctors and they say it will clear out over time.  Just one funny thing Lee said, he asked me who punched him in the gut while holding his right side where his incision is, I answered you got your new liver, he looked at me with a puzzled look and said "I ate a liver" I started laughing and he just gave me a dirty look.  That night Jessie and Joetta came to stay the night with him while I went home with my sister for some much needed sleep.  When I arrived on Wednesday (28th) I was told that Lee would be moving to T-10 this is the transplant floor that Lee had stayed on several times. 

I was just shocked that he was ready to leave ICU so soon.  My sister and I sat with him while they removed his foley catheter and his internal Jugular central line.  This only left his dialysis port in this left neck, the small bowel feeding tube and two IV's one in each arm. I sat and stayed with him that night and he was really confused and impulsive it reminded me of times he would get severely encephalopathy he would just get really stubborn and you could not tell him anything he was doing what he wanted.  I got very little sleep again that night.  on Thursday the 29th Dee and Jerri along with Jessie and Ron and Dilon came over to see him I left that afternoon to head home for some sleep I have learned that I cannot go days without sleep like I did when I was younger.  The staff felt that he needed a care attendant to sit with him so I could go home to sleep. Lee did not know what to think of that idea.  When I arrived Friday (30th) morning they decided that his kidney function was doing great so they removed his dialysis port he was still quite confused and was getting grumpy, I told him I needed to go home that night because Dilon was not going to be home with Sadie.He kicked me out of his room earlier then I expected to leave but I was not staying with the grumpy man.  Today Saturday (31st) Lee is much more awake today and less grumpy but feeling more pain.  He has worked with PT every day to get stronger and with OT to help with daily activities.  He also worked with speech he was cleared for thick liquids and a soft diet.  He even thinks thick
water is great.  We are waiting for his meal and he is a much happier.
 A little more about all the 8's
Lee was born the 8th child
He has 8 siblings
Lees surgery was in August the 8th
on the 26th (2+6=8)
the 8th phone call for a liver
with 8 different surgery times
it was 8 hours from the time he left to when I was able to see him again.
I am sure there are many more 8's in his life and now I will be looking for them this is why I say 8 is now his lucky number.
 I am adding screen shots of the multitude of facebook messages.