We left on Christmas Day to go on a long-anticipated trip to my parent's cabin near Spokane, WA. The entire family had been looking forward to it for months, especially Capper and Anellah. They planned to play in the snow, eat popcorn, watch movies, and get lots of attention from Gram and Gramps. Instead, less than 12 hours after arrival we were rushing to the emergency room with Anellah.
The main problem with Anellah's liver is that its scarring restricts blood flow through the liver. This is what causes blood to back up in her spleen where platelets are destroyed. In addition she has now had blood backing up in the vessels of the esophagus. These weak vessels balloon out (like a varicose vein). This ballooning is something we knew was a risk for awhile and during our trip one ruptured. She ended up losing a lot of blood, being transferred from the local hospital to a hospital in Spokane, and having surgery. We have been in the hospital the entire trip and won't be able to go back to the cabin because it is in too remote of a location. She has been extremely miserable to the point that I don't remember ever seeing her this way (even during past hospitalizations). We hope to go home today but the journey is far from being over.
This complication means she needs surgery as soon as possible to reroute blood around her liver however this is only a temporary fix. The only permanent solution is a liver transplant so hopefully we will be able to get on the transplant list and obtain a liver soon.
There is always a silver lining but today I'm having a hard time seeing it. Still, there is hope. This incident will likely bump up her priority on the transplant list. It will change our entire way of life (no longer traveling far from Seattle) and I'm sure God will work through this but days like today make it seem awfully unfair that such a sweet kid has to go through so much.
Thank you for your prayers and support.
The main problem with Anellah's liver is that its scarring restricts blood flow through the liver. This is what causes blood to back up in her spleen where platelets are destroyed. In addition she has now had blood backing up in the vessels of the esophagus. These weak vessels balloon out (like a varicose vein). This ballooning is something we knew was a risk for awhile and during our trip one ruptured. She ended up losing a lot of blood, being transferred from the local hospital to a hospital in Spokane, and having surgery. We have been in the hospital the entire trip and won't be able to go back to the cabin because it is in too remote of a location. She has been extremely miserable to the point that I don't remember ever seeing her this way (even during past hospitalizations). We hope to go home today but the journey is far from being over.
This complication means she needs surgery as soon as possible to reroute blood around her liver however this is only a temporary fix. The only permanent solution is a liver transplant so hopefully we will be able to get on the transplant list and obtain a liver soon.
There is always a silver lining but today I'm having a hard time seeing it. Still, there is hope. This incident will likely bump up her priority on the transplant list. It will change our entire way of life (no longer traveling far from Seattle) and I'm sure God will work through this but days like today make it seem awfully unfair that such a sweet kid has to go through so much.
Thank you for your prayers and support.
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