Welcome Home!

Yesterday, we strolled into the General Surgery wing for our appointment with the liver transplant team with the hopes of a positive analysis and permission to take our family home to Vermont. The tension in the clinic room rose slightly as head physician Dr. Elisofon examined Porter's data and said, "Well, we would like to find a way to send you home today." What did he mean by that? Did he mean that something was holding us back from going home?

Sarah spoke before anyone else could, "Oh, we're going home today. So, what's the plan?"

The tension eased as we all had a bit of a laugh. If he didn't know before then, Dr. Elisofon now knew that of the two plans in his head, the staying in Boston plan and the Going Home plan, it was clear which one he needed to choose. Needless to say, we are all incredibly grateful to our surgeons, team doctors, and nurses, but we were ready to return home.

With blood lab results still yet to be analyzed the team quickly drafted our Going Home plan. We did have to stick around for a short time just to get the official word on the lab results, so we grabbed some lunch and soon received the phone call we had been waiting for. Porter's liver function labs showed continued improvement in liver function and his Prograf (immunosuppressant) levels were right on target! It was time to go!

Sarah was so eager to leave, she even volunteered to drive! She got us out of Boston in record time and we cruised home. Katie only asked a handful of times, "When will we be home?" and we made it to Rutland before Porter started to say and sign "All done."

We will return to Boston clinic every Monday for a few weeks to check in with the transplant team, but now begins the part of this journey where were care for Porter and his new transplant at home.