This morning we went to the IC and were told that Quint may go to the pediatric ward. Everything is well. On the ward we are assigned room 927. Quint is put next to a girl who received a transplant beginning of this month. She will go home this afternoon.

Quint is very restless, complains a lot and cannot lie still. The nurses check him and later a anestesist will come by. When she arrived it was decided to increase the morfine dosis and to give him a small shot. Quint fell asleep, unfortunately this was only for 10 minutes. After this it was the entire afternoon of twisting and turning and complaining. The medication did not help. We had his arms tied so he could not pull out all the tubes. He was also very thirsty, but he still is not allowed any food or drinks. We put his “speen” in water and give this to him, this settles him down. A few medication were given through the mouth and amazingly Quint swallowed this. There is hope that he wil start eating and drinking himself.

In the afternoon the doctors came to check on Quint and we were told that all was good with the liver and transplantation.

In the early evening Quint was sleeping comfortably and we left to get something to eat. When we got back Quint was again awake and still restless. This remained the entire night. Of each hour he may have slept 15 miniutes until 6. Then he slept good until around 8.

In the evening a fysiotherapist came by to give Quint a lung massage to help return the lungs to normal volume.

It is now Tuesday, January 30 and we are allowed to see Quint at 1100 hours. Quint was in a deep sleep and the oxygen mask was removed and he was there quietly.

With a transplant, the first three months very critically related to rejection. Next week Quint must again go under the knife to remove the rubber spacer. We do not yet know how long Quint has to stay in the hospital and we take it day by day. When Quint can go home, he will have checkups twice a week for the first three months and after six months a biopsy of the liver will be done. If everything goes well, we can return to Dubai. That idea is the best prospect.

We will update this story more often these days to keep everybody informed on how Quintje is doing.

And thank you for all your SMS's and well wishes. 

Hello everyone,

Monday morning Jan. 28, we were in Belgium with Quint for his checkup and we were told that he officially nr.1.

That same day ....in the evening ... we got a call from Magda, (she is the liver transplant coordinator) and a great person and is actually much more than that), that a liver was available for Quint. We were called at 1900 and were expected in Brussels around 2300. I quickly informed Oscar, who was on a boat trip but was able to get to shore and get in a taxi to hopefully get on KLM that night. Fortunately he managed to achieve that.

Together with my mother I went to Belgium. Quint initially had to do some tests, a thorax, blood and he his intestines were cleaned. A very though evening and at 1 am Quint was exhausted and luckily was able to get a few hours of sleep until about half past four. At 5 o’clock in the morning Quint was brought to the OC and was sedated. Just before that, he looked at me with a look of what will happen.... and was very upset. But I was happy to be able to be with him until the last minute.

 

At eight o’clock they would begin with the transplant. Os was already underway and arrived at 10 at the hospital. At 11 o’clock we were told that the operation was going well and by three o’clock we were called by Magda to inform us that they were almost done with the operation and that around 1600 we could call her. We called at 1615 and she told us we could come in to see Quint and Dr. Reding also. The pediatric IC ward is a very beautiful section of the hospital with all animal drawings on the walls which makes all very cheerful. Quint was in the room with Farm animals and was of course attached to a variety of devices. Dr. Reding explained us the following about the operation:

 

The operation was successful. It took longer than expected because it Quint’s own liver attached itself to other body parts and also to the connection with the intestines. So it was quite a task to separate Quint’s liver from his body.

 
The donor was a young man of 18 years. And the doctor said that the condition of the donor liver was great. And after the transplant it immediately started to work. Because the liver was too large for Quint they used a portion of the donor liver. Even this part was big and thus the doctor inserted a spacer (rubber swab) to keep the muscle tissue separated in order to give the new liver more space. The expectation is that after a week donor liver shrinks to the volume of Quint’s original liver. Because of this Quint needs to go back under the knife to remove the spacer in about a week. For now, the muscle is not attached, only the abdominal wall.

 

Because of the difficulty in removing the old liver from the intestines, there is a small chance that between the new connection to the intestines small holes will develop causing leaks and thus infection. Therefore Quint is now under constant surveillance. In addition to this Quint is on heavy medication to prevent rejection of the new liver. Because of the large liver, the lungs also a bit compressed and for this Quint is on oxygen. He is breathing by himself but with a mask on. This way it is expected that his original lung volume will come back.

 

At this time everything is stable but under constant surveillance, and his condition is monitored on a day to day basis. For now, everyone is very happy and the expected prognosis is good.