We received the call this morning around 8:30. A donor had been found! All we know about the donor is that it is a baby and that it was taken off life support today. The liver will not need to be cut to size, which is good, and the blood type is O, so she will not have to undergo the plasma ferresous.
It is about 6:45 PM right now. Kaelyn has been in surgery since 1:30 PM. We have received a couple of updates from the OR and Kaelyn is doing good. They have taken out her liver and are in the process of sewing the new one right now.
So far so good.
I will update later...
Angie
Saturday, October 16, 2004
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
False Alarm
About 7:30 am this morning our transplant coordinator called and said that the liver was not going to work for Kaelyn. The donor had been on a lot of blood thinners and because the surgeon needed to cut the liver to fit Kaelyn it would have just kept bleeding. So, we are back to waiting. The only good news is, is that becuase she has been on the list for so long we should start to get more offers.
We are very disappointed, but we also understand that it is much better to be safe than to get into surgery and have things go wrong.
Love,
Angie
We are very disappointed, but we also understand that it is much better to be safe than to get into surgery and have things go wrong.
Love,
Angie
Transplant Day!!!
We finally received the call we have all been waiting for this morning around 2 am. There is a liver available for Kaelyn! We are going into surgery sometime this afternoon. We will be at Childrens at 12 pm to get everything started.
The donor is a type O blood type, so there should be no need for the plasma cleaning that would be needed if it was a different blood type. That is about all we can know about the donor, we do know that it is in a different state. It will also need to be cut down to size to fit into Kaelyn's little body. But that should not create a problem.
I will try and update the site as soon as we know anything further.
We just came out of the hospital yesterday because Kaelyn had come down with a fever over the weekend. Her counts were very low. But as of yesterday they were on the rise. She is doing pretty well right now.
Please keep Kaelyn in your prayers and thoughts today as she undergoes this very extensive surgery. We love you all.
Love,
Angie
The donor is a type O blood type, so there should be no need for the plasma cleaning that would be needed if it was a different blood type. That is about all we can know about the donor, we do know that it is in a different state. It will also need to be cut down to size to fit into Kaelyn's little body. But that should not create a problem.
I will try and update the site as soon as we know anything further.
We just came out of the hospital yesterday because Kaelyn had come down with a fever over the weekend. Her counts were very low. But as of yesterday they were on the rise. She is doing pretty well right now.
Please keep Kaelyn in your prayers and thoughts today as she undergoes this very extensive surgery. We love you all.
Love,
Angie
Thursday, October 07, 2004
October 7, 2003
Kaelyn went in yesterday to see her oncologist and have her counts tested. We were informed that her AFP (Alpha Feta Protein - the cancer marker protein in her blood) levels are starting to elevate once again. When she was first diagnosed back in May her AFP was above 440,000. After her agressive 4 courses of chemo, every three weeks, her AFP had lowered to 98. But, since she has been waiting for a transplant, we have only been doing chemo every 6 weeks. This has allowed the cancer to start to grow once again. Her AFP is now up to 940.
The surgeons and oncologists both agree this is very serious. Kaelyn has been upgraded on the transplant list to receive segmented livers and also different blood type livers. This hopefully with get her a transplant as soon as possible. If she receives a different blood type she will have to go through a process called plasma ferrisous (spelling may be wrong). This involves the cleaning of the plasma of all foreign anti-bodies. This would be performed after surgery. She would remain in the ICU for a lot longer than if she would receive a liver of her same blood type. But in the long run it does not increase rejection.
We are praying for a miracle. Love to you all.
Angie
The surgeons and oncologists both agree this is very serious. Kaelyn has been upgraded on the transplant list to receive segmented livers and also different blood type livers. This hopefully with get her a transplant as soon as possible. If she receives a different blood type she will have to go through a process called plasma ferrisous (spelling may be wrong). This involves the cleaning of the plasma of all foreign anti-bodies. This would be performed after surgery. She would remain in the ICU for a lot longer than if she would receive a liver of her same blood type. But in the long run it does not increase rejection.
We are praying for a miracle. Love to you all.
Angie
Monday, October 04, 2004
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