Update 11/09/09 from Tina Meyer:

Hello Everyone,

As many of you know, Brian has been under the weather far more than usual in the last 4 months. During those weeks his health has been on a downhill trend. Since July he has been mostly confined to his bed. He was beginning to feel stronger in mid October, but his overall condition declined rapidly in the last few weeks. Bri was hospitalized on November 3 and 4, and returned home without improvement. He reached the tipping point and was transported to UCLA via meditrans this past Sunday night.

Bri remains at UCLA and his status on the liver transplant list has been upgraded to "urgent". Dr. Durazo (Bri's transplant surgeon) informed him early Monday that the team was moving "full steam ahead" towards transplant within the month if at all possible. Due to his very frail condition, most likely, Brian will remain in the hospital and not be discharged home while he awaits surgery. Maureen is staying with friends nearby and hopes to return to Temecula for work on Thursday and Friday of this week. Many of her coworkers have donated time once she uses up her available time off. She is hoping to save these days for the transplant and post transplant period. Dan and Drew remain at home and will help to maintain the house as Maureen will be traveling back and forth when she can in the coming weeks.

For now, Brian is admitted to the hepatology unit within the Dept of Transplant Services. He is able to have visitors but we are cautioned to STAY AWAY if we have had ANY exposure to others who are ill with colds or flu, or we ourselves have been recently ill. Brian and the other patients are extremely fragile and it is imperative that we all use good judgement to avoid exposing them to anything unnecessarily.

Brian is not quite up to visiting much at present but if you wish to write, your cards and letters will reach him at:

Brian Carlson
C/O UCLA Medical Center
200 UCLA Medical Plaza, Room 8647
Los Angeles, Ca. 90095

You may recall that we had used the website from CaringBridge in the past. Our network has outgrown that resource and we will be moving to another format soon. Be on the lookout for an email directing you to a new site in the coming week or two.

As always, Brian sends his love to all and humbly asks for your prayers. He hopes to be able to send his own messages very soon! Please pass this news on to all of Brians friends, and remain alert to updates and calls to action as efforts to achieve a successful transplant move into full swing. I will update again as soon as there is any news. As always, please feel free to send me email addresses to add to our distribution list. Feel free to email or call me at (909) 240-3074 and I am happy to do whatever we can to facilitate connections and gather resources.

Please visit the website at http://transplants.ucla.edu/body.cfm?id=37 for information on the liver transplant team and service at UCLA. The site contains links rich with information. If you have not already done so, please pray in consideration of the gift that you may be able to offer another and learn about live donor transplants at http://transplants.ucla.edu/body.cfm?id=54&category=4. You can learn about other opportunities at the UNOS web site at http://www.unos.org/HowYouCanHelp/.

Glad to be joining with you all in love of Brian -
Tina.