No surgery today...

Well, Dr. Healey came in this afternoon and thought that Kaelyn needed to get some fluid off before he could close her up. So, we are going to wait until tomorrow and see how she is doing after a dose or two of lasix. She really doesn't look that puffy to me, but her weight is up a little from yesterday. I guess we will see where she is at in the morning.

We have to take her off of the Precedex (the good sedation) tonight, so it may be a long night. But thanks to Wade's mom, I am ready. She stayed with Kaelyn last night so Wade and I could go home and be with Jacob and get a good nights sleep in our own bed. It was hard to leave her, but very good to get home together.

Love to all,

Angie

Steady...

Kaelyn is steadily improving. They think that she will be able to be closed tomorrow and possibly extubated after that! It is very exciting to think that we may be able to see Kaelyn's personality return, even if she will be a roaring bear it's so much better than nothing at all.

They did take her off of her paralytic today and she is opening her eyes and squeezing my fingers. She also can shake her head yes or no to simple questions. That makes my heart feel a little better.

I think that things are finally starting to improve.

Love,

Angie

Resting...

Kaelyn is having a day of rest. She hasn't had much going on today. Which is good for her, give her some time to heal and get rid of some of the excess fluid in her body. The docs say that when her edema goes down some they are going to close her abdomen the rest of the way. That could possibly be in a few days. Her LFT's are slowly coming down, another good sign that her liver is beginning to heal. I did not get a chance to view her ultrasound today, but the surgeons are assuring me that it should be fine based on what they saw in the OR yesterday.

It is so hard for me (Angie) not not hear Kaelyn's sweet little voice and to see her so still. I miss her! I know this is all for her good, but I can't wait until she is talking and able to get around a little. Hopefully next week.

I am home tonight with Jacob, while Wade is spending the night with Kaelyn in the PICU. Jacob started 1st grade yesterday! He really enjoyed it and said he made one new friend, though he couldn't remember his name yet! He likes his teacher. He said most of what he did today was learn more rules. But he had PE yesteday and tomorrow, his favorite subject!

Love to all,

Angie

All is well...

Kaelyn is now out of surgery. Dr. Healey said that everything really looked pretty good. The blood they found in her abdomen was old, so there is not any place that is currently bleeding. Her artery that was showing high frequency in the ultrasound looked pretty stable. It was slightly adhered to the liver wall so they unstuck it. He also said that since her artery is connected directly to the aorta that it most likely will have a higher frequency blood flow. So also is carrying a lot of extra fluid which makes your blood pressure higher too. All in all, she looks good in there and her liver looks good. Very encouraging. They were able to close her a little bit more but not completely. Slowly but surely she will have a closed tummy.

Wade and I are both breathing heavy sighs of relief, and prayers of thanks.

~Angie

Back in surgery...

Kaelyn's ultrasound this morning showed some bleeding in her abdomen. Also one area of the hepatic artery had really high pressure. Dr. Healey thinks that probably with the extra fluid in her abdomen the artery is getting compressed or stretched or even rolled so the blood has a smaller area to flow through. There is visible flow though on either side of the trouble area, which is a good sign. He does not think that there is a clot. Her bleeding is probably being caused by the high amounts of heparine she is being given to lessen the risk of clotting. He is going to go in and clean up the extra blood and look for any place that it may be coming from. It may be hard to find, her blood is so thin that it could be leaking from any place. Her hematacrit dropped from 30 yesterday to 20 today. They usually transfuse her at around 23. So she will be getting some blood and platelets today also. Dr. Healey mentioned that he thinks things will get better soon. Her LFT's (Liver Function Tests) are getting better and the blood flow getting throught the trouble spot is a good sign.

She went into surgery around 10:30 am and it will be a few hours before she comes out.

Love to all,

Angie