Happy re-birthday!

[Guest guest]

To Quantell (and Pam!)

POSTED MAY 25, 2001

Quantell has a new liver.

I got the call for transplant at 9 am Tuesday, May 15 -- I was at work,

Quantell was at school. We were at the hospital by 10:30. There was a flurry

of paperwork and exams and tests. They started surgery around 3:30 pm and

finished around 5 am Wednesday. It was a difficult procedure.

Recovery has also been difficult. He developed cardiac problems. They wanted

to insert a pacemaker but couldn't. They took Quantell off the ventilator

that Saturday, but after a horrible 12 hours put him back on again Sunday.

He developed a massive infection from a bowel leak. They did a second,

3-hour surgery to repair it.

He is heavily sedated but still winces occasionally. The ventilator is still

breathing for him. He's being pumped full of antibiotics, antirejection

drugs, cardiac drugs, respiratory drugs. The control panels and pumps and

bedside computerized charting system are impressive -- when Q wakes up he'll

be fascinated by this.

The new liver is doing great. Pink and healthy. I am very grateful to the

donor family.

I'm home -- stepping outside the hospital for the first time since arriving.

I arranged for Q's favorite sitter to come to the hospital and stay with him

while I ran home for a LONG shower, and a bag full of clean clothes. I'm not

going to even nap -- if I lay down in my own bed I'll never get up. I told

the sitter her job was to watch him, and at the first sign of movement get

the nurse for more pain meds. And to call me if there was any change.

I'll go back around 10 pm and sleep there. I try to get back to the bedside

between 4-4:30 am, which is when they start bathing and weighing and x-rays

and ultrasounds and ekgs and rounds. It's generally painful. They're also

doing blood draws, but Q doesn't care because they're taking it from a

special IV.

He had several deep lines inserted during surgery, and went back to

quick-surgery later for a new one.

I'll e-mail again the next time I'm home.

We're at Children's Memorial.