The surgery will take anywhere from 10-30 hours (I can't even imagine) and because of the wonderful invention called Facebook, his family is keeping everyone updated on the progress since they get an update every hour and a half.
Pray Pray Pray.
Here are a few of the updates so far...
Regina (His Mom): Update on Brandon - donor liver was a good match. Surgeons started on Brandon about 5:00. Should hear an update on him any minute now. We've heard about so many people, churches, and prayer chains praying for him. Thank you all so much. This is going to be a very complex and very risky surgery, so needless to say, we need all your prayers. Thank you so much.
Marlana (his sister): My mom updated me so I'm passing it on to all of you. The surgeons called and so far so good...they are dissecting his liver before they start transplanting the new one....it's a very complicated surgery and will take time! They will continue to update us.
Marlana (his sister): Another update....surgery still going well...still working on removing his liver. He's had a blood transfusion, but all is going well.
More Updates:
Marlana: (About Midnight) And yet another update....my mom said my brother is having some cardiac issues and they will let her know more shortly....this is the first complication and I hope it's a minor one...more to come...
Marlana: Ok well I just spoke with my mom and the surgeon came out and said that the new liver is in however there were several complications with bleeding and such that they have to place him on bypass and a vent and basically pack his insides and then resume the surgery in 36 hours. They also stated that he's a fighter(which we already knew). My parents can hopefully see him in a few hours.
Marlana: I just talked to my mom and received an email. Brandon has a fight ahead of him...it's been a touch go throughout the night with blood pressure issues and high potassium with the need for dialysis. My mom said it's extremely hard to see him like this...his chest and abdomen are open and packed and surgery should start again tomorrow with three more to come after that. My family needs strength and Brandon is gonna have to fight to live.... More to come
Another update:
Email from his mom: The transplant did not go as well as hoped. Brandon does have a new liver, but he is not hooked up yet. He has to go back into surgery and have his bowel and bile duct hooked up. Brandon lost a lot of blood and had 72 bags of blood, 6 bags of fresh frozen plasma and 4 bags of platelets during the surgery. There was two much oozing and blood to finish what they needed to do. There was also so much scarring and the old liver was so bad. They had to cut Brandon's chest open too because the length of the surgery was so long that they had to put him on bypass. They left Brandon open and packed him to try to dry up some of the blood before they go back in. They want to wait 6 hours to do the next surgery. Brandon was in ICU overnight and they said he had so many issues and it was literally minute to minute and touch and go. Brandon looked much worse than he did after his transplant when he was a baby. He's sedated and on a vent and will be kept on life support until the next surgery. Things are not good, but Brandon is a fighter and his blood pressure and heart rate have stabilized. Now his body has to go through another surgery and they have to try to get him hooked up. His old liver was bad, very bad and there was so much scar tissue. The surgeon said the surgery was so major and as expected, there were many complications. Seeing Brandon in the state he's in right now has been tough. Knowing that he will not wake up until sometime tomorrow after a second surgery and seeing him open and packed has been hard.
Another update:
Email from his mom: The transplant did not go as well as hoped. Brandon does have a new liver, but he is not hooked up yet. He has to go back into surgery and have his bowel and bile duct hooked up. Brandon lost a lot of blood and had 72 bags of blood, 6 bags of fresh frozen plasma and 4 bags of platelets during the surgery. There was two much oozing and blood to finish what they needed to do. There was also so much scarring and the old liver was so bad. They had to cut Brandon's chest open too because the length of the surgery was so long that they had to put him on bypass. They left Brandon open and packed him to try to dry up some of the blood before they go back in. They want to wait 6 hours to do the next surgery. Brandon was in ICU overnight and they said he had so many issues and it was literally minute to minute and touch and go. Brandon looked much worse than he did after his transplant when he was a baby. He's sedated and on a vent and will be kept on life support until the next surgery. Things are not good, but Brandon is a fighter and his blood pressure and heart rate have stabilized. Now his body has to go through another surgery and they have to try to get him hooked up. His old liver was bad, very bad and there was so much scar tissue. The surgeon said the surgery was so major and as expected, there were many complications. Seeing Brandon in the state he's in right now has been tough. Knowing that he will not wake up until sometime tomorrow after a second surgery and seeing him open and packed has been hard.
More updates:
Saturday 12.31.11
Brandon started surgery again this morning at 9am. Here is an email from Regina.
Good news and absolutely horrible news from surgery. Good news is Brandon is doing better than they expected with BP and bleeding issues. Horrible news is that the big hepatic artery is clotted. This will quickly destroy the new liver. The surgeon and liver team will be relisting Brandon today and trying to get a very high MELD score so that another liver is found as quickly as possible. Never gave a thought to having to have a third liver. Thought second would be his last one. The transplanted liver is working, but this clot will destroy it. The surgeon is telling us not to make this out to be as terrible as it sounds because Brandon is much better than he was during the surgery on Thursday and getting his old damaged liver out was the big challenge. He said changing out this liver will not be nearly as much of a risk or a problem for Brandon at this point as the original surgery was on Thursday. Even with his positive and encouraging words about that, it's hard to imagine how to tell Brandon that he's going to have to have a third transplant. I hope they get another liver before I have to tell him that. Please keep praying.
