Quick Update

Peanut's doing just fine. We were hoping to leave the ICU today but she's got a little bit of fluid in her lungs so they want to get that cleared out before they send her to the floor. We're looking at MAYBE tomorrow but it will mostly depend on what her chest x-ray shows in the morning. Overall, we're traveling the road to recovery pretty smoothly right now.

Back to the OR

Peanut headed back to the OR last night around 7:30 but everything is okay. There was actually some happy news afterwards.

Here's the story . . .

She had been acting really uncomfortable and just not normal but it was hard to tell for sure what it was. She had been draining bile from one of her JP drains but the doctors were just watching it because a lot of the time bile leaks can correct themselves. Well all of a sudden, yesterday around 5:30 I noticed that both JP drains were now draining the same color of stuff so the nurse had the doctor come look at it and he notified the surgery team. By the time someone from surgery came to look at it she was draining "particles." When her surgeon looked at it he decided that we should take her to the OR to open her up and look around. They had scheduled a time earlier in the day "just in case" but she was doing pretty good at the time so they canceled it. So we had lost our slot in the OR. Dr. Scaife watched her and her vitals and thought about it for a few minutes and then decided to declare it an emergency and they took her back less than an hour later. Around 10:30 Dr. Book came out to tell us the good news: Her liver looks great! It's nice and pink and has a really good texture. The problem and the reason it was good that they didn't wait to do the surgery was that there was a hole in her colon and there was poop all through out her belly. They cleaned it out and sewed the hole shut. She also had a small bile leak from the cut surface of her liver which they fixed. The surgeons seem to think that this will be the biggest bump in the road and, even though there will probably be more, she's headed in the right direction.

I finally got some pictures uploaded to my computer . . .

A couple of days before transplant with "Willa" (her big belly)

Smiling for the grandparents while waiting to go to surgery

Heading down to the OR

Saying good-bye

Post transplant with all the tubes and cords


First bath post-transplant


First time out of bed - we both LOVE to cuddle!

She does have another breathing tube but we're hoping to get that out sometime today. We'll also have another rough couple of days trying to get her back on track and rid of the infection but we are headed in the right direction and she's a fighter!

Just a little update . . .

Some peoples have been complaining that we haven't given any updates on Peanut but there haven't really been any to give. She's still in the intensive care unit and they're still just trying to get everything back on track. It's just the game of "we give her this for this but then that causes this so we give her this to treat that," etc. She still has quite a few things connected to her which makes it really hard to hold her without just making a big huge tangled up mess but we still have our cuddle time a couple times a day! We're also still trying to figure out how to control her pain without keeping her snowed. We're hoping they can get her more stabilized soon but we'll most likely be here in the ICU for a couple more days.

Save a life or two!

EVERYONE needs to be organ donors! So many life's can be saved! Being here in the ICU I have met many parents of little ones that are awaiting transplants so PLEASE register to be an organ donor. That way, when you die (and all of us have to someday) nobody has to decide for you! Just having a "Y" on your drivers license may not be enough so please visit www.organdonor.org today and register to save some lives!

No More Breathing Tube!

They just took out the breathing tube so we can hear her cry. She is doing well. She is still a little sedated so she is not quite sure what is going on but it's good to hear her voice again. Next we are waiting for the ultrasound so we can check out her veins and arteries.

Update on our miracle

Just thought I'd give everyone an update on the little peanut while everyone else is catching up on some sleep . . .

We were able to get into the PICU to see her around 8:30 this morning and all I can say is that I was totally shocked because she had NO BELLY! Her basketball (little "Willa" as the doctor would call it) was completely gone! It's amazing! It makes her arms and legs look a lot more chubbier.

All in all she's doing pretty good. There's a couple of things they're keeping a close eye on in addition to the usual things they look for but only time will tell how well she's gonna do. We're still just praying and hoping for the best!

It Finally Arrived!

MaKayle and Peanut were scheduled for surgery Thursday morning for the transplant. Wednesday we got a call around 5:00 pm about a potential liver. There was one baby ahead of Peanut on the list and she turned it down because she was too small to take the liver so . . . it was ours! They took Peanut in for the operation around 11:00 pm Wednesday night.

It is now 7:00 am Thursday morning and they are just about done. We got calls from the operating room every hour and a half or so. First they sedated her and all the tubes they need were placed. The next call was to say that her liver was almost out and as soon as the new liver arrived they would take it all the way out. A few hours later they told us that the new liver had been placed and that they needed to connect all the blood vessels and then finally we got a call saying the vessels had been connected and now they are going to take some ultra sounds to make sure they hadn't missed anything and then they would be done soon.

The surgeons just came in and gave us an update. They said the procedure went as best as it could have gone! They mentioned that a common problem in little ones is that the new liver doesn't fit just right, but that in Peanut her belly was so huge that it made plenty of room for the new liver. From here they will watch for blood clots and watch to make sure the liver starts to function right. If all those are good for a week they will watch how well her body is accepting the new liver. We will keep you all posted. Priesthood blessings are amazing and the gospel is true!

Thursday's the day!

The title pretty much says it all...Thursday's the day. If Peanut doesn't get a liver in another way by Thursday morning then they'll be taking part of mine! I'll be going into surgery around 7:30 am and then Peanut will follow about 2 hours later. I'm sure that Luke will keep you updated once the surgeries are under way, so you can check and see how it all went. So, keep the prayers coming! And, THANKS from the Larsen family!

Another False Alarm

We were told around 7:00pm that this liver was not splittable. It was an adult liver and it was really hard and stiff. I guess those livers are harder to split and often times don't work after they have been placed into the patient. This second false alarm hasn't got our hopes down though! We will wait for the right one. The plan is still to use MaKayle's liver on Thursday if one doesn't show up by then.

Another possible liver!

We have had kind of a busy Sunday today. Peanut had a bad night because her tummy was so big and she was uncomfortable. We got her belly drained again so she wasn't that uncomfortable and as soon as we returned to her room the phone in our room rang and MaKayle was informed that they have accepted a liver for Peanut. That is one step farther than the last liver that we almost had. They could still turn it down but it looks a lot more promising than the last false alarm. Everyone keep your fingers crossed. If it does go through the operation should be sometime tonight. Thanks again for all the support everyone has given us!