Liver Results

Still trying to understand everything the GI doctors are telling us but as usual, Kelsey's results aren't bad but not wonderful either. The BIG praise is that her liver is not worst and not in a condition to prevent her from having heart surgery. The doctors have discussed the cath lab option and decided Kelsey didn't need to have that done before her surgery so we are not doing that tomorrow. Praise that's one less thing Kelsey has to go through. So, what's next for Kelsey...open heart surgery. Probably the beginning of next week, we don't have a date or time yet. As exciting as it is that it's finally going to happen, I'm nervous also because it is open heart surgery. I'm trusting God with my little baby girl because He's the one in control, now. My heart and her heart are in His hands. Pray for all of us as we prepare for this next step.

I'll try to explain the liver biopsy...it showed there was still some fibrosis but not a lot of cirrhosis. If I understand it right, her liver is showing signs of damage but not a lot of permanent damage. Her liver function numbers are still moving in the right direction but are still not in the normal range. Bascially, she has a sick liver but it seems like it's trying to heal itself but still has a long way to go. Please continue to pray for complete healing for Kelsey's liver.

Right now, I just miss holding my little girl. Since she's been on this ventilator, we can't hold her. Andy and I are both frustrated we can't hold her and feel like all she's doing at the moment is laying up there in a lonely hospital room slightly sedated. We are trying to have patience but just want all this over and our little girl better and at home with us, again.

Thanks again for all your prayers

Patti

STILL No News

Believe it or not we are still waiting for the results from the liver biopsy. They are feeling good enough about it to try and schedule Kelsey for a cath-lab to test her lung pressures before heart surgery. Probably Thursday. We're still not sure it's necessary but think they want to have it done anyway. There's a very, very, very small chance they can do a procedure during the cath-lab to close the hole but they really don't think her situation will work for this type of procedure. If all goes well with the cath-lab her heart surgery could finally be next week!!!!

They tried to take her off the ventilator and she didn't do so well. In fact, it looked like her lung was collapsing again, so, she's back on the ventilator. I guess she will stay on it until her surgery, so I hope it's soon!!!! We hate it because we can't hold her. They tested for the virus again and she was neg but she needs two negatives in a row before they will let us go in the room without mask/gown/gloves. So, they will test again tomorrow.

We're back to this waiting game with Kelsey. Please pray for patience for momma and daddy, pray Kelsey will tolerate the ventilator until we know more about what's next for her and pray for the doctors to make the best decisions concerning Kelsey.

Thanks again for reading Kelsey's update and for all the prayers.

Patti

Quick Update on Liver Biopsy

Andy went up there this morning and waited but no one came to get Kelsey for the biopsy. They finally called and said an emergency came up and Kelsey got bumped. So, we waited and waited and it wasn't until 4:00pm that they started to come for her. She did fine and was settled back in her room when we left to go to Andy's sister, Lisa's house, for Christmas Eve Dinner around 6:15pm. With the snowy/icy roads it took us a while but we finally made it for a wonderful Christmas with Andy's family and my mom.

Thanks for all your prayers, now we have to wait for the results...who knows when that will be with Christmas.

Merry Christmas!!!

Patti

Liver Biopsy Tomorrow

Kelsey's liver biopsy is finally scheduled for tomorrow at 9:00am. They're getting her ready today with a blood transfusion and another IV which she is not happy about. Also, she let them have a little drama last night by wiggling out of her si-pap head gear and then proceeded to get extremely upset about it. So much so, they had to give her something to calm her down because they couldn't get her SAT's up. She is so ready to be done with hospitals just like momma, daddy and big brother. They are also looking to possibly do the heart surgery Jan 7th, depending on the liver biopsy results. We know this is a big guess at a date but at lest for the first time they have even hinted at a possible date. So, we're very excited and nervous at the same time. This is a major surgery and she's a very delicate little girl. We have been and will continue to depend on our Lord Jesus for her healing. We are looking forward to celebrating the birth of Jesus this Christmas, but just wish sweet Kelsey was home and not in some hospital. Not what we had expected for her first Christmas, but we are grateful she's alive and know she's a little fighter.

Pray for tomorrow's biopsy,

Patti

Kelsey's Fever is Back

Kelsey's fever is back and they are hoping it goes away so they won't have to postpone the liver biopsy scheduled for Wednesday. Because they have had her on antibiotics they don't think it's another infection but are testing just in case. Her liver counts are still looking better and some protein that her liver produces is finally in the normal range for the first time in a long time. I asked the GI doctor doesn't this mean her liver is getting better finally and I couldn't get him to say yes for sure. He still wants to wait until the biopsy before he says for sure but he did say he was optimistic that it would show it was indeed better or the same. I think for the first time in a while, some of the doctors that think Kelsey's liver would never get better are starting to change their mind but won't admit it until the biopsy comes back and says for sure. This is a HUGE PRAISE to us but we still need the biopsy results to be sure.

Meanwhile, Kelsey's heart is causing all kinds of damage to other parts of her little body. Until the lung collapse, her lungs had been doing ok but now her lungs are showing signs of lung damage and they are not sure how much. Also, because of all the diuretics she's been on for so longs she has osteopenia which means she's losing calcium in her bones. They've discovered she has 3 or more broken ribs on her right side. They look like they are already healing so they really aren't sure when it happened or how. This is temporary and they started giving her calcium to help. Her white blood counts are up today which probably has to do with the fever and her cold. Please pray this goes away so they can do the liver biopsy. With Christmas coming at the end of the week, we probably wouldn't get any results from the biopsy until next Monday anyway but Kelsey really needs to have this heart surgery before any more permanent damage is done to her lungs. I hope all this is making sense and hopefully lets you know how to pray specifically for Kelsey. We are seeing signs of answered prayers all over the place. We had hoped they would take her off si-pap today but no luck, yet.

Keep checking on and praying for sweet baby Kelsey.

Patti

Latest Hospital Update

Kelsey's finally feeling better from this virus and collapsed lung. Her congestion/cough is better and her work of breathing is better even thou the SI-PAP is helping her with the breathing. Hopefully in the next couple of days she will be off the si-pap, so they can get the feeding tube out of her mouth and back in her nose. Kelsey hates the si-pap head gear and nose gear. Kelsey's also turned into a little drama queen this hospital stay. The first night she pulled out her IV and several nights ago she pulled out her feeding tube. They've had to restrain her a little to make sure she doesn't do a repeat. She's discovering she doesn't like certain things and she's not afraid to let you know.

She had some fever on and off the last several days but she seems to be over that, too. Her liver counts today looked good BUT during rounds this morning some of the surgical doctors were talking again about how they thing Kelsey's liver is not going to get better. They are under the belief that the counts are dropping because the liver is shutting down and that the liver is NOT going to getting better. We had a NICU doctor tells us months ago that the liver counts would go up and then come down and that them coming down would mean the liver is getting better or the liver is getting worst. SO, Kelsey is having a liver biopsy this week to find out if her liver is better or worst. PLEASE PRAY it's getting better. We feel confident that it's better and our hope is in the hands of our Great Physician. Big praise because this time the liver biopsy is going to be with the ultrasound and needle instead of the open surgical one like last time. We will let you know what day the biopsy will be as soon as we know. They are also going to be putting in a pic line because her little heals are all scabbed up from all the heal sticks to get blood for all this testing.

Another big praise, the doctors are going to let Keeton visit Kelsey in the hospital this week because of Christmas. Keeton's very excited and glad he can see his baby sister in the hospital. He saw her Friday night and was so happy.

As always, thanks for reading Kelsey's updates and for all your prayers,

Patti

Kelsey has the Rhinovirus (aka common cold)

They put Kelsey on a 10 day antibiotics because she tested positive for the Rhino virus. Although that's the common cold, for her with her heart condition it's very surious. They are still working on getting her left lung opened and she seems to be feeling better. She's very hungry because they've had her on IV fluids with no food since she was admitted. They are starting to feed her slowly but they are worried about giving her fluids with her lung collapsed. Right now they are planning to do a liver biopsy next week if Kelsey continues to get better. And then hopefully, we can start discussing heart surgery after that. It looks like Kelsey will be in the hospital for Christmas.

Keep praying for her to get over this virus and that her lung will open up, that the liver biopsy will go well and from those results, the heart surgeon will be willing to schedule the heart surgery. Praise her thyroid level is normal at the moment.

Thanks for checking on Kelsey!!!!

Patti