Now We Wait

Clark's condition is still stable today. He has been eating a little bit better and drank three Ensures so far today. He hasn't thrown up since the day he was transferred on the 30th. In preparation for the transplant, he started receiving antibiotics to prevent infection during surgery. He has been receiving sugar water because he isn't eating. Because of this, his body is trying to equalize and his sodium level dropped. They put him on a water restriction of 2 liters per day and want him to increase his salt intake. He was seeing spots and had double vision starting last night. His abdomen looked distended this afternoon. I don't know if this is because he's bloated or because his liver is getting bigger. He noticed that he is slow to remember things and was told he would have some short term memory loss during this time. All this is to be expected as his condition worsens.

They have been watching Clark’s INR, which is the level that best determines whether or not Clark could improve on his own. They said they have given his liver what they consider sufficient time to turn around and it has proven that it won’t. They said that a liver transplant has over a 90% success rate! At this point a transplant is definitely going to happen as soon as a healthy liver becomes available. He is still #1 on the list in a five state region. We talked to the transplant team who told us they declined one liver today. I don't know the details of why except for they want to wait for a better one. Thankfully they have that time. They said that the incision would be from about where the ribs separate down about an inch, then at an angle toward each hip. Bishop Sampson said it's a beautiful scar and described it as a Mercedes symbol. A man who had a liver transplant 17 months ago came to visit patients today. He asked Clark if he had any questions or wanted to talk about anything. He said it took him 6 months to recover fully and he lost 100 pounds in the process. Clark found it interesting and comforting to talk with him.

Clark is still upbeat and has a positive attitude. He appreciates the outpouring of love, support, and encouragement. Clark on the phone with Blake. Because he's in the ICU he is only supposed to have one visitor back at a time. He decided to take a little walk and come out to the waiting room so we could all visit him at the same time. We fed him well while he was out with some Cheese Its and Oreos.

Huxley trying to get Willow down for a nap.
This is the best he could do in a waiting room.
Nap time for everyone.
Loy and Mindee drove through the night from South Dakota and arrived earlier today.