We will update everyone throughout the day. Thank you all for the love and support you have shown our family. We are truly grateful. ❤️
9:00am NATIONWIDE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL: Hello! Zach got to sleep safely and is doing well! We are putting in a few more lines and then we will position and pad for surgery. We will let you know when we get started with the surgery.
NATIONWIDE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL: We just got started. Zach is doing great! We will continue to update you as we progress in the surgery.
Ellen spoke with the doctors assistant. The spleen is out and now they are working on the pancreas removal. Zach is doing fine and he is stable.
NATIONWIDE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL: The procedure is progressing as planned. Zach is still doing very well! We will continue to update you as we go.
3:32 PM NATIONWIDE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL: The pancreas is out! Zach is still doing great! The team will continue to work while the cells are being made.
6:29 pm NATIONWIDE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL: The team is making good progress. Zach continues to do well! We will continue to update you as we go.
They will now take the pancreas to the lab to extract the islet cells to make the serum to transplant into the liver. This is a 6 hour process and while that is being done they will remove the gallbladder and appendix and reconstruct the intestinal tract.
9:40 PM The doctor is waiting for the Islets to come back from the lab. Then stage three allows gravity to flow the new islets into the liver and monitor the duodenal pressure that could take up to an hour. Another three or four hours before he goes into recovery.
NATIONWIDE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL: Zachary continues to do amazing! Surgery is progressing well! We just got the cells back and we are getting ready to start infusing them now!
11:05pm NATIONWIDE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL: Zachary is doing great! Surgery continues to progress well and as planned!
11:45pm The islets have been transferred into his liver. Some needed to be injected into the small intestinal lining, due to the portal being pressure elevating during the flow process. The number of good islets the lab was able to generate was a reasonable amount for age, body mass, and pancreas health.
12:21am NATIONWIDE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL: Zachary is still doing well! The team is still working but they are working on finishing up! Shortly after finish we will transport to the floor. The procedure is progressing well and as expected. All is well!
12:40am met with the surgeon, and he was very pleased with Zach’s procedure. Some difficulties with the pancreas’s scarring and fatty tissue. Also, the islets’ composition with other cellular structures was compromised for the lab to perform a finer purity of his islets, but 90%+ of the 2,000 measured islets were infused into the liver. 10% infused into the small intestine. He said Zach’s strong body responded very good to the procedure. Now it is a wait and see how his body reacts to the surgery. Another hour to hour and half to come out of anesthesia, which will determine if the breathing tube comes out or not. Then a couple of scans to check on his portal vein pressure and islets placement.