ALEC GOT A LIVER TRANSPLANT YESTERDAY!!!
Rampton disclaimer: Per Alec's permission we are sharing some of our post-op pictures with you. You may have to look away, but this is just proof of a miracle:)
May 13th, 2014 is one of our new favorite
dates. I can’t even begin to describe
the relief we have right now. I am going
to write this email to Alec to let him know just how amazing he did despite all
of the craziness.
Dear Alec,
YOU ARE A
CHAMP! The things you have had to endure over these past years are mind
blowing. You have done it with such
courage, faith, strength, happiness, and love.
I am so proud of you, and I am so happy that you chose me to be by your
side through all of this. I just wanted
to let you know what you went through this past night and all the grief and
“excitement” ahem, fear you put into our lives while you were on the Surgery
table. The doctors absolutely love you and have come to know you and our little
family over the years. They have learned
that you are a cool dude, you don’t complain, and that you have an understanding
and grateful attitude for them and the hard, beautiful work that they do. All this time, so many of us have loved being
by your side to serve you as you are so easy to love and help because of your
kind heart. You weren’t a difficult
patient. Ever . . .Until yesterday starting at 9:45 a.m. when they began the no
turning back liver transplant surgery until 10:30 p.m. when they closed you up.
I would like to document the events that transpired
yesterday so that we may be able to reflect and draw on the strength and faith
that we had in order to have this great ending.
Around 7 p.m. on Monday, May the 12th we learned
that we had a possible organ coming your way.
You were in your hospital bed as the nurses came to do rounds and pass
along the information to the next nurse that would be taking care of you that
evening. Our nurse, Stephanie, had told
you she was excited that you were going to get a liver that night. That was the first you had heard about it and
it almost sounded like a joke to you (a mean joke if it ever was one, but it
wasn’t thank goodness.) Just then I enter your room and the nurses say, “That’s
so great! We are so happy for you!” I look at Alec like, “what are they talking
about?” He looks at me like, “I don’t know, I am hearing this too right now.”
And so it began. They started all of the
pre-op stuff (i.e. blood transfusions, plasma, fluids, EKG chest x-ray, etc.)
that we have come to know a little too well as you have been pre-opt many times
with out seeing the operation part. I am happy to say that you made it to the
operating room this time and successfully came out with a new organ.
Saturday night, you told me that you prayed soooooo hard for
Heavenly Father to grant you an organ.
Sunday came and your Meld went from 37 to 40. The highest we have ever seen it go and a
sure sign that good fortune would come promptly. You said you felt peace ever since that
prayer. I am so happy you did because it
was what ultimately calmed your heart and prepped you for what was a pretty
intense surgery. All this time, we have
really been close to the spirit. We lean
on each other and the Lord for guidance and reassurance. From the beginning, you told me, “I’m not
going anywhere.” Anytime I ever felt
scared, or spent a little too much time imagining the future and the “what ifs”
I would remind myself or those 4 words, “I’m not going anywhere.” It’s funny how
we give and take when the other one needs strength. When you were unsure of things you looked to
me. I would assure you that I felt peace,
and that you would be fine. I loved the
fact that you carried the peace with you and for us the day of your transplant.
We anxiously waited from 7 p.m. that night until 5:00 a.m.
that morning (now May the 13th) with little sleep due to the
constant prepping and also the nerves.
At 5:30 we said a prayer together on your bedside. You said it.
You blessed the doctors with a calmed nerve, and that you would be safe.
You said that you were grateful for our family. You were grateful for the
person donating their organ and blessed his/her family. You were so happy that your
prayers, my prayers and all of the prayers said on your behalf were being
answered in this very moment. After that I helped wheel you down to the O.R.
lobby. A sweet little moment was when
the guy wheeling you down said, Hi, I’m Miles, and I will be taking you down to
the O.R.” We both smiled knowing that at
least we had a Miles there with us. It
may not have been “our” lil’ Miles, but a Miles would do. There we said our
goodbyes. Lots of Love you’s, be strong, think about our family, and it’s
happening!
I went upstairs to take a snooze as we had a couple hours
before you actually would go into surgery. Best 2 hours of sleep ever! I was
jostled by an O.R. nurse telling me that there was an important decision to be
made downstairs. She told me that she thought Alec can’t make that alone, so she
said, “I’ll go get his wife.” The
decision was this: Whether to wait for another organ offer as this organ was a
little fatty (30-35%) or accept it. (We
found out later that his first transplant was the same and it had been awesome!
It worked strongly and it was just that his PSC disease re-occurred. There is still a chance of that happening
again after this transplant but most likely we have good odd that it won’t).
Possible complications could be a slower kick-start after transplant among some
other things. I think this was probably the reason I never felt total
confidence and peace in this offer. We
knew for awhile about our surgery but didn’t want to involve anyone but our
parents and immediate family members. Not because we didn’t love them, but because
this is some serious heavy emotional stuff.
We didn’t want to retract a statement saying, “we are going into
surgery, and oh wait . . .it didn’t happen.
False alarm. (Been there, done
that, not doing it again!) The only way I can describe what I have been feeling
(and maybe this is how you feel also Alec) is this. I don’t know if you have ever been to a
little kids “splash” park. There are all of these little water features the
kids can run through, squirt guns to shoot and puddles to jump in. Well, there is a particular water feature
they have where the water is continually dripping into a bucket 8 feet off the
ground. Once it is filled to the top the
weight tips the bucket one way or the other and water dumps down on the kids
below. I feel like that kid waiting for
the water to tip and dump all over me. Except I wasn’t excited to get wet . .
.at all. If the bucket tipped it wasn’t
going to be a good thing. This week
really would have tipped me over the wrong way. So, that’s why we had to wait
until we knew for sure this surgery was going to happen. And so it all began .
. . . .
Surgery:
Surgery took from 9:45a.m. until-10: 30 p.m. (what is that
13hours and 15 min?) The surgeon was Dr.
Alonso, the best surgeon ever. She was
attentive, sharp, smart, and like one of the docs told us, “she’s like a Jack Russell,
in that she is feisty and she will never give up.” I am so happy that this was the case. She was our blessing yesterday. She was the girl to do the job and we are so
grateful for her and her team. We have established such great friendships with
all of these people that have taken care of you and our family over the past
years, especially the past 3 1/2 weeks we’ve stayed in the hospital. It’s not a doctor/patient relationship; it’s a
doctor/Alec, Megan and Miles relationship. We give hugs (lots of them) not
handshakes. It is so rare and I know the
outcome could have been different with out Dr. Alonso and her team. After
coming out of surgery, she told us it could have gone either way. “That was the most difficult surgery to date.
He just kept bleeding, and bleeding, and bleeding, and bleeding and bleeding! I
am just happy we are here.” I told her “thank you for saving Miles’ daddy’s
life.” She said she actually thought of
Miles and it motivated her to make sure Alec would come out alive. I’ve heard that a lot from all those who
participated. They love you Alec. We all do.
You connect to all those who get to meet you. How special are you?! We all need you in our
life. You make us better, happier,
stronger, wiser, funnier, faithful-er (yes, I know that’s not a word but I was
in a rhythm.)
Dr. Alonso called me (and your/my awesome fam while we were
waiting) in the first portion of the surgery and the phone call scared the crap
out of me and the rest of us. She said it was very difficult to get through all
of your scarring and adhesions safely (later we learned that your old liver was
ginormous and sort of attached itself to the aorta…um, scary much?) She told me
she wasn’t going to approach it the regular way. She was smart and saw that is
wasn’t safe. She would be going in
blind and would most likely make a fatal mistake. She is awesome. She said the alternative was to open up your
chest and open up your ribs so they could get a better view. So, enters into
the picture a Thoracic Doc/Surgeon. My brother Ryan made me feel more peaceful
about it when he made this statement. “Looks like the free-way is backed up and
they have to take the frontage road.” So that they did. We waited a long time
after that phone call with not much news, just the fact that it was really busy
in there. I know it was a difficult time
for them, but it was also a difficult time for us not knowing if you were going
to make it out alive. I was told I looked
tired and that I should take a nap.
Whaaaaaa? There was no way, but I lay down anyway and listened to a
Chopin station on Pandora. DID NOT HELP
AT ALL. All it did was it left me alone in my thoughts (and probably the same
scary thoughts your parents and everyone else had). “Is he going to make it? Is he going to be
strong enough and live? What will I do with out you? What will Miles do with
out you?!” So, I played Plants VS. Zombies 2 (way better than the first one) on
the ipad as a distraction.
The best phone call of my life (of all of ours) was the call
that said they safely got your old diseased liver out. I’m just guessing here but it seems they
might have spent 7 hours alone just trying to get that puppy out. After that, we were able to breath, and I am
hoping they felt better too. We will never really know just what went on in
that operating room and all of the things they witnessed, but it’s safe to say
I am glad I wasn’t in there to see it. It seemed the surgery progressed at a
good pace and they safely finished at 10:30 p.m. Dr. Alonso pretty much
busted down the doors in the waiting room looking for a familiar face. I don’t think she has ever seen your dad in
casual clothes, only a suit, (Me neither, hehe. Such a classy man that man) and
walked right pass him. You
r sister Micah recognized your doc and said, "are you
looking for the Rampton family?" I had pushed a couch up to the wall making it
like a little cave so I could try and get some sleep. I hear commotion through my headphones and
Dr. Alonzo practically scared the crap out of me but we embraced in a HUGE
hug!!!! The relief in that girls eye were undeniable! We were so happy to see
her and hear her tell us of your insanely difficult surgery and that you made
it out alive. She said your surgery was the most difficult surgery to date. She
said it could have gone either way in the operating room and that she was
thrilled she was standing here with the news she had. We are happy you are here
with us today and that she and everyone else there helped. We saw you later in
the ICU and you looked beautiful!!!! I was so pleased to see how much better
you looked from even the day before. Your
coloring had already improved in a matter of 30 mins after having a new liver
in your body. Your bilirubin dropped
from 45 to 10 pretty much right after they transplanted you. Your liver already started working, making
good clots, and doing what it is normally supposed to do. Don’t quote me on
these numbers b/c/I may be off a tiny bit but the Anesthesiologist (Dr. Aiden)
told me today that your surgery is the toughest surgery he has had to do also.
During surgery he used 135 units of blood on you. They were worried their blood
bank for you would run out and so they recycled your own blood being suctioned
from your body. His job was to make sure with all the blood you were losing
that you had enough in there to keep you alive. He told me that at any given
time a man of your stature has a round 6 liters of blood in your body. The average liver transplant might get
anywhere from 1-2 transfusions if that.
Alec you got 7 whole body transfusions!!!!! Because of it, your potassium skyrocketed.
But, once they put you on continuous dialysis things started to get into
rhythm. The word on the street and in the
hospital that day was that the O.R. room was a bloody mess.
We never know the ins and out of what goes on behind the
scenes, and the beautiful people involved, but a Doc did tell me that if he
could count how many people were in that room helping you that is was around
40! This makes me want to cry in joy for
all of these hands that safely deliver you from danger. To these known and unknown angels thank you!
Thank you from the top of our hearts (why do people say bottom? I never
understood that phrase) Thank you for keeping our family together. Thanks for keeping my man alive. I have heard
from so many of you your genuine concern for Alec, not patient in room 1020.
So here’s to every position here in the hospital. Cafeteria,
phlebotomy, nurses, aides, pharmacist, cleaning lady, social work,
nutritionist, P.A.s (Ben you are a stud and have been with us since transplant #1, and Jesse we haven't forgotten about you) Docs, surgeons, coordinators, O.R. peeps, EVERYBODY!!!!!!!
THANK YOU! We love you! This has been a long, long, long, journey but thanks
for being a part of it with us. You kept
us happy through it all.
To all of our friends, family, and those we haven’t even
met, THANK YOU. We have heard some of
your beautiful and tender moments that you have experienced. We hear of prayer
lists in the Temples in England, New York, Washington D.C. Chile, and others. We hear of beautiful meditations, and
thoughts in nature. Even my
sister-in-laws dog was wearing a RamptonStrong bracelet on his paw (Thanks
Cano). We have received phone calls, texts, emails, hand written cards, food,
lawn mowing, brownies, hugs, fasts, treats on our doorstep, etc. you name it,
you did it . . . AND IT HELPED US GET THROUGH!
We have just been embraced in a big hug this last crazy year
(and always) by all of you and we can’t wait to return the love.
Also, we want you to know that the money we raised last year
for Alec’s fundraiser is a big relief for us.
The insurance year started what a month and a half ago? And we have
already reached out of pocket max (it ain’t cheap!!! thanks to our 3 and a half
weeks here in the hospital and a transplant).
But if it wasn’t for you, especially you Bonneville Mortgage Company! Our
stomachs would be in our throats right now or however you say that phrase. Well, we would just be stressed out of our
minds. Our savings would have already
been gone now, so thank you. We will be using that money now for all of this
crap. Ha-ha!
Moving forward:
Alec will have a long difficult recovery. He already is doing amazing just in one-day
post transplant. They will probably take his breathing tub out tomorrow as he
is already breathing well on his own.
Because he has a giant tube down his throat it has been hard to
communicate. I gave him a pen and a
piece of paper and the words he wrote to me were, “I Love You.” Sheeeesh, sure
know how to make a girl feel loved. It
sure is reciprocated. Also, you know he is feeling better because using the pen
and paper later tonight he wrote, “Had a dream Miles putting honey in Megan’s
hair.” Oh Alec! We love you! Alec is now
in quarantine for the next 3 months.
Which sadly means no visitors. It’s
too dangerous. So help me protect him please. We would love to hear from you
via email:
meganrampton@gmail.com And please don't be offended if we don't respond individually because of well, the circumstances. But we love you! Please know that! We will make it up to you! We have been so phone sensitive waiting for doctors calls and updates that we
jump out of a dead sleep to answer them.
This week I will be sleeping a lot trying to recover from the autopilot
my body has been on for the past year. So if you don’t mind holding off the
phone calls, or text messages for the next week that would be great. I can’t hear a buzz on my phone and not go
into an emergency fight or flight mode.
So, definitely email. We want to hear from you. We want to share this with you. We have
needed you this far and we still do. So
thank you for your kindness and respect.
If there is anything more to add, we will update our blog with that
information.
Alecandmeganrampton.blogspot.com
I will post this email over there right now and add photos of our
process.
Love to you all and mostly love to Alec’s organ donor. Because of you he is Alive. EVERYONE BE AN
ORGAN DONOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IF YOU ALREADY ARE, SPREAD THE
WORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(we are trying to get this kid of his binky, but he just woke up from his nap, so don't judge. Yes, he's almost 3)
