As per usual, things aren’t playing out exactly as they were supposed to.  We visited the transplant surgeon in November and started all of the bloodwork necessary before being listed for transplant.  We were ready to get things moving.  But, out of the blue, we received a message saying the surgeon wanted to see us back in clinic.  That’s never good news!

The transplant surgeon has been thinking about Taylor’s case over and over and can’t understand how this motility issue ever happened.  He is also concerned about doing this transplant due to her having so many prior surgeries that have completely changed her anatomy.  He worries the complications after transplant for her will be way more extreme than most cases and has decided he needs to go in and check her anatomy for himself before listing for transplant so he knows what he is getting into.  He has hopes that just maybe he will be able to find some small problem that has been overlooked all these years and correct it, avoiding transplant.  That would be amazing, but the chances are very slim. 

Dr. Matsumoto will be partnering with the kidney transplant specialist January 12, 2023 for a large, invasive surgery.  They will be making a large incision from the pubic bone up to the sternum and fully lifting and inspecting every organ, the entire digestive system, and the urinary system.  This procedure will take a minimum of 7 hours and has great risks on its own.  Hospital recovery time will be approximately 3 weeks!  Pray that things go well, they find a problem and it can be corrected without any further surgeries!

Taylor is handling the news well.  She honestly doesn’t want another major surgery, especially knowing transplant will probably still have to happen shortly after recovering from this.  She wishes we had done this 8 months ago when we first started the transplant work up so that we could speed things up a little bit, but, it is what it is and she will stay strong and get through this again!