What a week! I think I can say that this week has been one of the toughest weeks we've had. Thankfully, we ended the week with more hope than when it began. After finding out that we were back where we started with Daniel's liver, they did a lot of tests and we met with a number of liver specialists. Long story short, while the portal hypertension in and around his liver does increase the risk of a lung transplant a little bit, it's not enough to prevent a lung transplant, and the problems in his liver are not enough to make the risk of adding a liver transplant into the mix reasonable. A gastro scope on Wednesday found some veins with higher blood pressure, which they put bands on to decrease the pressure and hopefully the risk. Now, we wait.
All of my calls did make a difference though, we have the appointment we need to get Daniel officially active on the lung transplant list this upcoming Thursday! It's still not guaranteed that he'll be active on the list after that meeting, we're still waiting for the official decision from Edmonton's liver team about whether they believe he should have a liver transplant as well. Let's hope they come to the same conclusion and this time next week, we'll just be waiting. Not waiting to wait.
I couldn't end this post without thanking all of you. This past week, we've received so many messages and offers of support, it's been phenomenal. To my friends who buy me milkshakes and watch scary movies under blanket forts with me, who come to spend an hour or two with me when they've had a long day and an early morning the next, thank you. To our friends who reach out and offer to come and bring us food and play games with us, thank you. To friends who take me out for breakfast, come and spend time with our cat during the day and send us all the love and encouragement they can, thank you. To family - near and far, who come to sit with us, laugh with us and cry with us, thank you. We wouldn't be able to do any of this without all of you around us, lifting us up.
Daniel will still be in the hospital for at least another week, but the crisis (for now) has subsided. Our goal moving forwards is to keep him healthy and infection free as much as possible while we wait for the transplant.
Laura
