Pleased

This IS my happy face.

Actually, I'm over the moon!

So, the attending this week is the new Chief of Staff for the Liver Center and is the Biliary Atresia guru.

And the fellow is someone who has been with us through this whole fiasco starting in September.
Awesome team this week.

YAY!

So, Dr. S says that the biopsied tissue looks really good!

-Little to no inflammation

-BILE DUCTS ARE REGENERATING

CAN I GET AN AMEN??
TESTIFY!!

-"If a pathologist was just looking at random samples, he'd think this was a pretty normal finding."

OH EM GEE!!

BUT.

-No, Doc. No buts. Let's end it there and Bubby and I will ride off back to Stephenville.

I would say off into the sunset; but, you know, its after 5pm.

Its stupid dark so early!!

...

BUT..."we have no idea what has caused all of this. It's an anomaly."

There's that word again.

When they do the biopsy, they go into the right lobe of the liver. You are assuming that the left lobe is behaving the same way. You know what they say about assuming...

I guess they have a good reason why they don't biopsy from the left lobe. 

Needless to say, they don't.

The LIVER looks amazing in the biopsy. The labs, especially the GGT (bile duct) is still crazy high.

Weird.

Three hypotheses:

1. Chronic Rejection: Maybe he was starting an episode of chronic rejection and the steroids and extra immunosuppresant are starting to work at turning the situation around. Labs are just going to be the last thing to reflect that.

2. Medication Related: Medication theory that something he was taking was destroying the bile ducts. *Pretty much ruled out, because everything potentially hazardous has been stopped for quite some time and the GGT is still abnormal*

3. Hepar Sinister: (I totally made that up just now. Look at the big brain on me)-It is possible that there is a piece of liver in the left lobe causing all these problems and while the majority of the liver is functioning normally, that is the part being reflected in the labs. Which may explain the intermittent weird poo and the bile related itching.

One more test...

A MR Cholangiogram. 

I'm not going to even pretend to know why and how this is different from the cholangiogram they did during the biopsy yesterday. Suffice it to say, it is and it's what might be able to tell if the left side is running-a-muck.

Fine.

Whatever.

The important part of my story is
WESTON'S LIVER IS DOING WELL AND THE BILE DUCTS ARE COMING BACK!!!

He is scheduled as the first case of the day at 0730 (meaning 10am) and then after he recovers from the sedation, we can go!!

Waiting For White Coats

It's almost 5pm and we're still here...

This is how my nightmare starts...I go in for something simple, say "How to Rid Oneself of OCD Tendencies." They find out I'm bat sh*t crazy, commit me. The next thing I know, I'm having a lobotomy and drinking mashed potatoes through a straw. 

Ok. That was extreme.
But, its almost 5pm AND WE'RE STILL HERE!?

WHY?!

They came by earlier this morning to say that they are waiting for the biopsy results, but in the meantime, lets do an ultrasound.

Sure, why not?

And that, friends, is where we are.

It's almost 5pm and we're still here.

"They looked ok, I'm not messing with it"

That's what the Interventional Radiologist said about Weston's bile ducts, when I ran into him, wild-eyed and crazed for information. So, to me, that means he got in there and was able to shoot the cholangeogram
and everything looked "post liver transplant fine". Haven't talked to any other the liver doctors, so I don't know if this is actually true or not. No drain necessary. Yay!
I was really sweating that one...can't lie. What if he pulled it out??? What of the bag leaked at school, spilling bile all over?? Gross.

Of course, my pessimistic nurse brain is now wondering, if the plumbing is working, why is the GGT still high and why are there intermittent acholic stools?

BTW, as I write this, the CA just rolled in to do vitals on my JUST now asleep child...**primal scream!!!!!**




Waiting for the fun to start, watching Octonauts.

Now we wait for tomorrow afternoon when the biopsy results are in.




10 minutes ago...


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Bates St,Houston,United States

Secret Basement Lab

I've been keeping this under my hat for a week or so now. Quite frankly, I've been trying to weasel our way out of it since the day the decision was made.

We are in Houston for yet another liver biopsy. Weston's labs haven't really changed. And now he's having intermittent acholic stools (pale, no color=no bile). There were not only pictures of said stools, but actual electronic transmission of the pictures. You gotta hope THAT was the email Big Brother decided to audit ^..^
Dr. F was concerned and after consulting with the new Liver Center Captain, they wanted to biopsy to see if any of the bile ducts have started to regenerate; why the acholic stool; possibly place a drain to help pull bile off.
Like I said, I've come up with all these fantastic scenarios NOT to have this done just now...included but not limited to bribing and promising our next pet will be named after Dr. F
They are immune to my shenanigans.



We got to Houston a little after 8 and went straight to the hospital's mysterious basement lab for pre-procedure blood work. His biopsy, etc is scheduled for noon tomorrow.
I know we will stay at least tomorrow night...I hope that's all.

On the home front:
Emmy and Daddy are adjusting to life without Baby Bunny. It was a little touch and go for a while, but the ever so resourceful Daddy made it all better with pickles...




Keep Bubby in your prayers tomorrow. He could be in the procedure room for up to 3 hours depending on what they do.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Dryden Rd,Houston,United States

Thanksgiving's Over??

You have got to be kidding me?
Christmas is 30 days from TODAY.
I don't know how the time gets away from me, but it sure does.

We has a lovely Thanksgiving and long holiday weekend.
Nana came in to celebrate with us and help decorate for Christmas.
Admittedly, I don't care for decorating...especially Christmas.
I'm a Scrooge.

What?!

Billy fried the turkey this year and it was amazing.

AMAZING.
Way to go B!
I totally forgot to make the gravy...no one even noticed.

Our Little Turkey.
Don't worry, we didn't fry him

Wants to be just like Daddy

 In all seriousness...not sure if it's one of the medications or he inherited my silver back gorilla genes, but this child is suddenly sporting a uni-brow and back fuzz!!

Yes, this precious baby is a hairy beast!

 Speaking of hairy beasts...
This is Loki, aka Baby Bunny:

 We are Bunny-Sitting while his family is out of town.
EMILY. LOVES. BABY. BUNNY.

 I was a little surprised because I always thought, up to this point, Bubby was the animal lover.
She has declared herself Baby Bunny's mother, including stationing herself outside his cage to hover. Just in case. ;-p

Feeding Loki ranch dressing carrots and showing him some toys

 Don't be fooled by his pagan name, Loki has recently been introduced to Baby Jesus via the Nativity Scene.

Loki seems to love The Daddy the most. He's the only one he sat in their lap for.
I don't think The Daddy minded.

 Emily has enjoyed loving on, feeding tator tots to and sharing The Good News with Baby Bunny.
She realized that Baby Bunny is going home tomorrow to his family and we hit DEFCON Level 1 tonight.

Me: "Emily...BB already has a family and a little girl that loves him. How do you think she'd feel if he didn't come home to her?"

Emily(sobbing): "Sad."

Me: "You don't want her to be sad, too."

Emily: "SHE CAN GET ANOTHER PET!!"

o-O

Changing gears...

Me: "If you were BB's Mommy, you'd have to change his litter box everyday."
Emily: "You can do it."
Me: "No. If you're his Mommy, you've got to take care of him. Clean his litter box everyday. He needs food and water everyday. It is a lot of work being some one's Mommy." (thinking the responsibilities would be unsavory)
Emily: "I WOULD DO ANYTHING FOR HIM!!!"

Good grief.
Santa may have an unexpected request this year.

Speaking of Santa!

The tree is up, thanks to my mom.
Along with a new chic ruffled burlap tree skirt, also compliments of mom's craftiness.

 And with the end of Thanksgiving comes perhaps the best time of the year for parents...
ELF ON THE SHELF!!
YES!
Take that defiant behavior!!
Sparky made his grand entrance Friday and I guess his trip was more taxing than he expected as his first order of business was to sink into a nice marshmallow bath.

 Day 2, Sparky decided to show off his newly acquired ranch hand skills.
Who knew dinosaurs migrated up to the North Pole.
You'd think it'd be too cold...

A Week of Thanks-Golden Style

Yeah, I'm going to join in on the "22 days of thanks" for Thanksgiving.
Weekly.
Of course, keeping it "Golden".

Day 1, Nov 1:
Our Angel Donor
Without him/her, Weston would not be here.

Day 2, Nov 2:
Modern and Not So Modern Medicine
After a dose or two of Amoxil, Emmy was back to normal!

Day 3, Nov 3:
Old Friends and Tequila
Yep, a two-fer.
Pretty self-explanatory

Day 4, Nov 4:

Homecomings
There really is no place like "home".

Even after a much needed weekend vacay from Mommy-land.

Day 5, Nov 5:

The Ability to Say Nothing If You Can't Say Anything NiceOh em gee.
I would have been fired, deported, excommunicated, arrested, defriended, alienated by now.

Day 6, Nov 6:
A Great Husband
Can't tell you how nice it was to come home after a long day plus two hours of call to dinner and bathed babies.
Love you, B!

Day 7, Nov 7:
New Friends
So nice to be able to debrief after a stressful day with new pals.

Day 8, Nov 8:

Days Off
Extra sleep, DVR and housekeeping
(its not that I like housekeeping, I HATE mass amounts of trash and crap everywhere)

Day 9, Nov 9:
Waking E
Never have seen anyone wake up with a smile on her face.
She is precious.