August 11th Update

Mommy and Baby hanging out...

Hi Everyone,

Not much in the way of updates today...everyone is in a bit of a holding pattern until next week. 

As you all know, surgery is set for Tuesday, August 14th (one day before Cordelia's 5 month birthday!). Unless something major changes this weekend (like a donated liver coming in, which is still a possibility) Cordelia and Dani will both be prepped for surgery on Tuesday morning-- Dani at 5:30 a.m. and Cordelia shortly after. These are both big surgeries with Dani's being estimated to be from 4-8 hours long and Cordelia's taking approximately 8 hours or more.

There is a relatively simple explanation of the living donor liver transplant process here if you want to read more. And here are is a short explanation taken from a 2010 USA Today Article:

The procedure, in which a segment of the liver is taken from a healthy donor and transplanted into the ailing recipient, is possible because of the liver's ability to regenerate. In weeks, both the old liver and the transplanted liver begin to grow back to a normal size, providing long-term function for both donor and patient. 

The first such successful transplantations, beginning in 1989, involved taking liver grafts from adult donors for transplantation into sick children, a procedure with fewer risks to the donor because only about 25% of the liver is needed. As pediatric living-donor liver transplantation grew more widely accepted, the technique was modified for use in adult patients, with up to 60% of the donor's liver taken

I spoke with Dani last night and she seemed as joyful and positive about everything as she always is...that is one of the things I LOVE most about Danielle, her irrepressible positive attitude. While we all assumed that a liver would have come in by means of organ donation by now,  Dani seems peaceful and grateful that they even have this option of giving part of her own liver to Cordelia...in her words, "if it means that Cordelia has less of a chance of rejecting the liver then that's great!"

Some of you have asked what happens after surgery- Will this surgery "fix" everything that is going on for Cordelia?

Those are complicated questions with most easy answers. One of the biggest concerns after a transplant surgery is organ rejection. Cordelia will be monitored closely in ICU for quite a bit of time, and then slowly moved to a non-ICU floor. The reason Dani said she may have less of a chance of rejecting her liver is because there is a small amount of research that shows pediatric patients who receive an organ from a parent have shown some slightly higher success rates as far as recovery.

One day at a time though. First and foremost is that we would all be praying for two successful surgeries next week, for Dani and Cordelia.

Current prayer requests are that Cordelia and Dani would remain healthy over the next three days (surgery is not an option if an infection is present) and that God's hands would be directing every small detail of pre-surgery, surgery and recovery. 

Dani's mom and my mom and dad will all be traveling to Cincinnati on Monday to be there for the surgery-- prayers for safe travel  for them would be appreciated as well. 

Thank you all for your prayers, encouragement and support. This is a big week coming up and continued prayers would be very much appreciated. 

P.S. The $5,000 fundraising goal has been reached which is wonderful!!! Thank you.  If you know of friends and family who would still like to donate please don't let them be deterred, the site can still take donations! 

Over the next couple of weeks I will post a few more updates about the Caring for Cordelia fundraiser and the needs we have in regards to it.