April 16th - July 2nd

6 airbnbs

3 rental cars before we had our friends drive our car out.

3 hospitalizations with 2 major abdominal surgeries (shunt surgery, ERCP, venogram, transplant surgery, fevers).

About a million lab draws, IVs, 2 massive vertical abdominal incisions for each surgery and hours of doctor appointments multiple times a week.

We did NOT plan to spend the last 2.5 months in Utah, what a roller coaster! Today, I flew home with the kids and my mom. David and my dad left at 4:30am this morning to make the drive back home! We are happy to say that we are officially HOME, and we’ve never been more excited and grateful! 🏡♥️🙌🏼

As many of you remember, the end of 2023 was marked with hospitalizations nearly every month for David. We worked quickly to be worked up by multiple centers for transplant, trying to figure out the next best steps. On April 11, David had a failed stent removal at UCSD. The stents migrated too far up in his bile ducts for them to remove them safely. A few days later, he was admitted to UCSD with fevers and infected stents from all the poking around in his bile ducts trying to remove them. Between lots of communication among the doctors and teams at UCSD and Utah, we convinced UCSD to discharged David 4/16 and go straight to the airport to be taken care of by the team in Utah. On 4/17, David had an open shunt surgery to reduce the pressure in the liver system to hopefully make the removal of the stents easier and safer (less risk of bleeding). This was a 7 day hospitalization for the surgery (large vertical abdominal incision). They did another ERCP during this stay to remove the stents, and they were still unsuccessful despite the shunt reducing pressure in the portal (liver) system. David was listed for deceased donor liver transplant on 4/22 and discharged from the hospital 4/24 with IV antibiotics for the infected stents.

We waited for a call day or night with an offer for a new liver. In the time of waiting, we decided to bring our kids out to Utah indefinitely since it was becoming more clear this was going to be long term and it was unrealistic to be apart for so long. I flew home for a couple days to pack our car to be driven out here and fly the kids back out. David never left. Once he was listed it would have taken too long to get back to Utah if he would get an offer for a new liver and we had no control on the timing of anything. We finally got the call 5/28 with the offer of a new liver! 5/29 marks the transplant surgery with a new liver in David. There were so many prayers answered as it was a very complicated surgery. His explanted liver showed end stage liver disease, so we are so thankful for a new healthy liver!!

It’s been a difficult road of recovery, David is truly the strongest person I know and he has been through more than what most people will go through in a lifetime. He seems to be on an uphill trajectory now, which we are so grateful for!

The team in Utah will continue to manage David’s care for a minimum of a year. We will follow up virtually, at their satellite clinic in Vegas, and come back to Utah for various follow up appointments over the next year. David will continue to get weekly labs here to check medication levels and liver function. As time goes on, labs will be less frequent.

The team recommends staying out of large gatherings for 6 months because of the immunosuppression. We’re taking it one day at a time right now and finding a sweet spot of what we feel comfortable doing. We look forward to seeing all of our family and friends now that we are home!! Please also wait to see us if you are sick, we’d like to keep David healthy for as long as possible!

Since leaving Utah, we are reflecting on all of the blessings that have helped us get through this very uncertain and challenging time in our lives. There are so many things we are grateful for!!! First, his new liver!!! We don’t take the new life for granted and we are so thankful for the donor liver and their family! Second, my cousin Grace is the reason we came to Utah. She works in medical device sales with the transplant team here, and she is the reason we got connected with these talented surgeons. She is literally the only person we know in Salt Lake and has saved the day SOO many times for us. Whether it’s bringing food to the hospital, taking the day off work to sit with me while David was in surgery, watching our kids, helping us move airbnbs… literally all the things, so many I didn’t even mention! She’s been such a blessing and gift to us… we are SO thankful for you Grace and we miss you already!! The surgical team here has also given us the VIP treatment. Truly they have gone above and beyond with care, answering all our questions, and checking in often to make sure David is getting the best care! David’s surgeon has done over 10,000 liver transplants and David is at the top of the list with the most challenging surgery. We love the team here so much and we are genuinely so grateful they were willing to take on David’s challenging anatomy! Also, my parents have really saved the day in dropping everything at a moments notice to help us the last several months. They’ve watch the kids at home, flown back and forth multiple times at a moments notice, and came out when we got the call for transplant to watch the kids. My mom has stayed with us since the transplant surgery and has watched the kids during all the appointments every week. We truly could not have done this without them!!! Our friends Sienna and Harrison drove out our car filled with so many things that were  sooo helpful since we have been here for so long! They came out a second time with our dog, and more things we needed from home! ♥️ So many people at home have helped with things as well: our neighbors getting our mail, watching our dog, taking out our trash. David’s parents keeping our lawn nicer than we even keep it and helping with things at the house! Friends filling our fridge with food for when we got home!! So many of you have sent books and legos for David, grocery gift cards and more! Some of you have sent gifts for our kids as well! All this to say… THANK YOU!! Each prayer, comment written, note mailed, and care package sent has brightened some really rough days and we truly could not have done this without all your support!! ♥️

Our life has been 100% out of control, and if you know us, that’s our very least favorite thing (to put it mildly 😅). Even still, God has clearly provided and we are thankful for all that He has taught us through this process. Thank you for journeying with us and praying, we are so very thankful for so many prayers that have been answered!

It’s been a longggg 2.5 months, and to say we are excited to sleep in our own bed tonight is a very big understatement! Home has never felt sweeter! ♥️