David is officially 3 weeks post transplant! He’s been off pain medication, making it through the day without napping, and walking a lot more. We are thankful for the forward progress! He has lost about 25 pounds since surgery, so he’s working hard to gain weight, especially now that he’s off the low fat diet! His heart rate is still high, about double his normal heart rate. The team isn’t entirely sure what is causing this, but possibly a side effect of some of the medications, so we are keeping a close eye on it.

Unfortunately, the new portal vein they created is a bit narrow because the connection options were so difficult with his anatomy. The team thinks it will be best to stent the portal vein before we head home. This will be done in interventional radiology, a direct stick through his liver and then up into the portal system to place the stent. The plan is to keep him overnight in the hospital for monitoring and hopefully he will be discharged the next day. This will be a permanent stent in his portal vein (unlike the stents in his bile ducts that were temporary). It is super important that David doesn’t have any signs of infection before they place the stent, and for a couple weeks after until the  lining of the vein grows over the stent to protect it from bacteria. So, we are being as careful as possible right now to make sure none of us get sick, especially since David is on a lot of immunosuppressant medication for the new liver. David’s making steady progress and we are hoping to go home within a week after the stenting if that goes smoothly!

Thank you for all the continued love and prayers!