Tale of the Hospital Mermaid... or We're Missing Our Favorite Fishies

So... we're back in Utah again.  Sadie had her blood drawn on Saturday morning.  Late Tuesday afternoon the results began to come in and we were asked to be at the hospital first thing the next morning.  Stress!  We had instant flashbacks of leaving the other children in January for what we thought would be a day or two at Primary Childrens Medical Center.  Nine weeks, one liver transplant and several surgeries later, we finally came home.

At five in the morning on Wednesday, Sadie and I got up to drive to Salt Lake.  Man, it was hard to leave David and the kids.  Wiggly Trevin had to stay behind.  Our giggling girls and their hugs stayed behind.  Sadie and I drove away, once again, not knowing when we would be allowed to come home.  We arrived and had a few minor hiccups, had her blood drawn (screaming), an ultrasound, and a liver biopsy.  Sadie felt fine.  Other than her blood tests being off, there were no outward signs of her condition.  We stayed in the immunocompromised unit of the hospital.

Yesterday morning was very, very boring.  She felt fine.  We watched TV, went to the craft room, watched TV, ate lunch, napped, watched TV, went for a walk outside and she played on a giant caterpillar toy.  At three we finally saw the doctors and were instantly busy.  We were told that she could have no more food or drinks.  We immediately had a cat scan followed by an angiogram.  (There may have been another ultra sound in there-- I forget.)  The results showed that her hepatic artery leading into her liver was completely blocked.  The angiogram results were not promising and the kind doctor who had stayed hours late at work to preform the procedure told me that another one would be given first thing in the morning.  He told me that he thought the chances of it working and restoring blood flow to her liver were extremely slim.  If it did not work, she would need a new liver transplant.  With all of the testing, moving to the PICU of the hospital, and getting medications, the first chance she had to go to sleep was 12:30 in the morning.  She was up many times during the night.

This morning, she had another quick angiogram at eight.  It showed that her blood flow had not improved over night.  We came back to her room, were moved to a different room in the PICU and waited until shortly after noon when she had her third angiogram.  This time, the doctors placed a stint in her arteries and used a balloon inflated inside of the artery to help pull out blood clotting and to increase the size of her artery in two places.  It took three hours, twice as long as they told us to expect.  They were very excited with the results.  Surprised and happy.  Remember, the doctor thought this surgery had a slim chance of succeeding.  Both of the narrowings in her artery were widened to normal size.  We are grateful and feel that prayers are heard that we were even in the hospital when the problem was discovered.  Had we not been here, she would have lost her liver for sure.

She has not been able to eat since lunch yesterday.  Tonight, she has been allowed some bites of slushy.  In the morning she will continue more testing.  They will be monitoring the hepatic artery and liver functions.  They suspect she also has a blood clot in an artery or vein going from her liver into her spleen.
So... there's the medical up date.  Thank you for your prayers for Sadie and our entire family.  David came down this morning, but we are missing the kids in Idaho tremendously.  The head liver transplant doctor is hopeful that we will be able to go home sometime next week.
Again, thanks for your prayers and support.

Oh, Sadie wanted me to say that she had to have her legs bound to a board overnight and today to prevent her from lifting her left leg and start bleeding from her catheter in her artery.  The nurses told her she was a mermaid.  We made her a fish tail and covered it with jewels and sea shells.  Next, we made a necklace and long, flowing mermaid hair.

 We called her sisters and I believe that they turned Alyssa into a mermaid also.  As long as they leave Mr. Trevin alone, all is good.  Girls, if you dress him up, paint his finger nails, or give him a sparkly tail, you will be in humungous trouble when I get home.  (Natalie and Rachel, that means you!)