The surgery went great!

Carter post-op and cancer free

Carter's barrage of IVs

The surgeon (oh, and did we mention THE surgeon...the best pediatric liver transplant surgeon in the country did Carter's transplant) came to speak with us right after surgery last night, and it was about 11:25pm. He said the surgery went very well and the liver was a perfect fit. He also said they didn't need to give Carter as much blood as they had thought. He went on to tell us he almost did a resection and not a transplant. He couldn't feel any tumors in the right lobe but after reviewing scans and x-rays with the radiologist, they decided transplant was indeed the best option. We are glad this decision was made. Had he come to us after surgery and told us he just did a resection, the recurrence of cancer would hang over us for years to come. It will be interesting to get the pathology report back and see if there was still cancer in the right lobe. At least we can feel confident now that Carter is cancer-free! And in four weeks we will begin Carter's fifth round of chemo, followed three weeks later by round 6--the last and final round of chemo. They need to do these two remaining rounds as an insurance policy that we got all the cancer cells that may be floating around post-surgery.

The surgeon told us they were stitching Carter up and would call when we could see him. Grammy and Grandpa left about 1am, and Matt and I got to go to the PICU to see Carter at 2am. They were keeping him pretty "snowed" while the breathing tube was in, and he was pretty calm and resting most of the night. I slept for about 3 hours, and Matt slept for about 2. So, hopefully tonight will be a little more restful.

Carter was alert on and off throughout the day. They were talking about removing his breathing tube today because he was doing so well, but decided to wait until the morning. All his counts (liver enzymes, etc) look great and all the doctors are very pleased. They said you couldn't ask for better results so far. The next 48 hours will still be crucial, then the next two weeks, then month, and eventually Matt and I will be able to breathe a little better after 6 months. It's a long process, but our little champ is doing amazing.

The surgeons, doctors, nurses, etc have been incredible here! The care has been like a well-oiled machine. We know we are in good hands.

Matt and I still are constantly thinking of the donor's family and can't imagine their pain. We are hoping they will contact us down the road and will find peace in meeting our little angel!