Kaelyn had to be readmitted last week for diarrhea and vomiting. We think she just had the stomach flu. But because of her clogged bile duct, the doctors wanted to make sure she didn't have an infection or was going into rejection. After being in the hospital for 5 days they finally let her go because all of the test were negative. Thank heavens!

We do have some not so great news though. The surgeons are considering relisting Kaelyn for a second transplant if the blockage in her bile ducts do not correct themselves. Normally they could place a drain and the ducts would usually clear up and start functioning properly. But because of the thrombosis (clot) in her hepatic artery, they don't believe that the drains would be a permanent solution for the bile duct issue. We basically are just waiting to see if her liver will some how compensate for the loss of blood flow from the artery. Dr Healey, our surgeon, has said that is some cases this is possible. So please pray our girls liver to be able to compensate for this.

Thank you all for your love and concern. We will keep you updated.

Okay, so it has been a few days since I last posted. Kaelyn and Jacob have come down with a stomach flu. We took Kaelyn into the ER yesterday. She is fine, we were just worried. Diarrhea is a sign of rejection or infection, so we figured we had better take her in. They drew some blood tests and just watched her for a few hours. We were able to come home without being admitted. Jacob is doing much better today, Kaelyn is still have some diarrhea so we are just keeping a really close eye on her.

Tomorrow Kaelyn is going in for her CT scan to check for any remaining cancer and to look for blood flow into her liver from the hepatic artery. We probably won't know the results until Thursday when we see her oncologists.

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We are home!

Kaelyn was discharged from the hospital yesterday afternoon. All of her liver function test are repeatedly coming back favorable. She still has the issue of the hepatic artery's blood flow not penetrating into the liver, but so far so good.

She was just so excited to get back home! So much happiness from that little girl was emitted! She wanted to walk all night long and laugh with Jacob. She also just loved being back with Grandma again! It was really fun to she her enjoying herself so much! There is no place like home!

There is one bit of news that is not so uplifting. Kaelyn most likely will need more chemo. We kindof all figured it would happen anyway. The head of surgery, Dr. Reyes, is the national expert on transplanting livers to patients with hepatoblastoma. He suggested, very firmly, that Kaelyn have one more course of chemo. Which makes sense. We would much rather go through 6 more weeks of chemo than another encounter with cancer. So, I think that in a couple of weeks she will be going back in for more chemotherapy. This does not mean that they can find any remaining cancer cells, it is only precautionary. We will find out more about the cancer after they test her AFP levels and perform a CT Scan. But from what the pathologist could tell, there is no cancer remaining.

Kaelyn is healing amazingly well. She is very happy and does not seem uncomfortable. I am hoping to put a few very cute Halloween pictures up of the kids very soon.

Love to all...

Angie

The doctors seem to think that Kaelyn will be ready to go home by Monday! Isn't that amazing. I was expecting her to be in the hospital for atleast 3 weeks or more. I am just so happy that she is doing so well.

We did have another ultrasound on Wednesday. There has been no change in the blood flow from her hepatic artery to her new liver. But so far all of her liver functions test have come back normal. So we are just going to wait and see what happens.

Right now I am just in the learning process of how to take care of her once we get home. A lot of drug information and precautionary information. It looks like we will need to become pharmacists along with nurses. It actually is pretty interesting, keeping my brain working at least.

Everything is going just great. THank you all for your prayers and concern.

Love ya,

Angie

Out of ICU!

Hello everyone!

I apologize for not updating the site recently. It was hard to get to a computer this weekend.

Kaelyn was finally transferred out of the ICU last night. We are now in the surgical inpatient unit. We have our own room which is really nice. Kaelyn did have another ultrasound yesterday. It doesn't look like there is too much change. But the surgeons are very optimistic because of her liver function tests. They are all coming back in the normal range, so that could mean that her liver can function without the blood supply from the artery or that they are just not able to see the blood flow from the ultrasound because the artery is so small. So, we are going to remain at the hospital for atleast another week to two weeks so they can keep her on her blood thinner and also keep performing the ultrasound. Otherwise all is great.

The surgeon said that this type of artery failure or blockage only occurs in 10% of transplant patients, of course our Kaelyn couldn't miss out on being part of the minority! :) But he also said he is very optimistic that they will be able to see the blood flow into the liver.

Kaelyn is really looking and doing very well. It is going to be great to be out of the ICU. She has been wanting to go for a walk since her transplant!

Love to all.

Angie