Your love and support over the last three weeks has been phenomenal. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you! Elliott’s story is so incredible and I am elated to share it with you.

Twenty seven hours after emailing the Yess Yoga community (you), we received the call of our life. There was a donor, a perfect match, for Elliott and he would go into surgery. WOW! This was a true sign of what happens when collective consciousness works together around one goal. A goal of love and healing.

On Thursday, July 27th at 5 am they took Elliott down to the operating room. We were told that it would be an 8-10 hour surgery, aka the mindfulness test of a lifetime. After six hours we saw the screen change saying that Elliott was post op. What did this mean? I panicked when I saw the surgeon approach us. My heart dropped when he sat and looked at David and I. SPEAK! 

He smiled and said, “everything went well.” Those were the sweetest words I have ever heard. We were able to spend the next couple of days loving our baby in a very new way, as he had two full towers of IV medicine and tubes connected to him. It was the wildest parenting moment of my life. I couldn’t pick him up without having three other adults helping organize his pumps, medicine, and tubes. 

On June 30th, three days after surgery, he was sitting up, smiling and looking like himself (minus the fact that he was still very connected to the drips). That evening we had our daily ultrasound to make sure everything was still tip-top shape. Sadly, that was not the case. The resident doctor on the PICU floor came in to say that a blood clot was in his artery and was not supplying the liver effectively. They were going to bring Elliott back to surgery that evening and clear the clot.

Five minutes into Elliott’s 1st birthday, he was wheeled away from two crying parents for his second surgery. He came back three hours later with horrible news. The artery did not stay open and thus he would need a second liver transplant. This time Elliott had a week, so he was listed on the emergency list, nation wide instead of regionally. Needless to say we did not sleep. We looked at our darling baby covered in wires, tanked with medicine, and sent all our love to him.

To our joy we didn’t have to wait long. In fact it was that evening at 10 pm that another liver donation was accepted and Elliott had his second liver transplant (third major surgery) in a week. This time the recovery was not as smooth. He was in pain. We were all in pain. We were in deep agony for a week, watching our baby thrash around in pain and discomfort. I slept in his crib, nursing him for hours hoping that in some way he would bounce back. And he did. He did in a miraculous way.

Two weeks post his second transplant, we are home! We are sleeping in our beds, eating our food, and all together again. It is a continued “adventure of recovery” including three times a week labs, weekly doctor visits, daily shots, 17 medicines, etc, but I will take it! I will do what it takes to be with this bright-eyed baby of mine.

I have plenty to share about these three weeks at the hospital and will start discovering the lessons as I unpack the effects of this season of my life. But for now, thank you. We have received so many thoughtful words, emails, hugs, and viral love. You are felt. You are appreciated. You are loved!