The new year will be better....

So today is the last day of the year, this year has been a roller coaster for sure for our family. We all hope that with the new year comes good things and that we can look at the past year as a memory.
So today Abby's blood count has creaped up a little bit. Her total white blood count is now up to 1700 and her neutrophils are around 150. They need to be 500 and her total count should be 4500. But they are headed up so that is good. They took Abby off of all the medication that was lowering her blood count. We just hope that she doesn't get sick from being off of the medication. But for now the risk of the medication was greater than the benefit. So we hope and pray that she doesn't get certain viruses that the medications were preventing. Also Abby's drains in her abdomen have putting out more fluid which is good because we need to get rid of that fluid. The biggest reason she is in the hospital right now is because the combo of her low white count and having fluid that has some bacteria in it. They are afraid that it could turn into something dangerous because she doesn't have an immune system to fight it so they need to keep a close eye on it.
Abby has been discouraged lately she has had more pain and of course having to go back to the hospital was no fun. She also hasn't had as many visitors so she is very lonely and bored. We all wish we could cheer her up but I think she is sick of us. So visitors are welcome! I know people are nervous to visit because of Abby's weak immune system. But if you are not sick than you can visit just make sure before going in her room you use the hand sanitizing solution outside her door, and there are boxes of masks on the counter outside of her room door. You need to wear a mask at all times when in her room. So as long as you do those things she would love to have visitors. And she needs them and to her friends who have her cell phone number she would even love a phone call or a text. She really has her phone on her at all times and is waiting for a call.
We hope that her numbers will continue to get better and that she will stay illness free so she can come home soon. Thank you for all of the love and support!

Still fighting...

So Abby's white blood cells came up a little bit today they are up to 700 from 500 but they should be a lot higher like at 5000. Plus the neutrophils which fight bacteria are only at .1 and they want them at .5. But for now we will take any improvement. She is in a lot of pain in one of her drain sites. They did a CT scan to see if they can see the problem we still haven't heard the results of that yet. Her Kidney and Liver numbers are still good so that is good. She is just very vulnerable right now. So she is scared and feeling very down. But she is still fighting and we are all very proud of her.
So we are hoping and praying for good labs tomorrow so she can come home again. Keep fighting Abby we love you and are fighting with you!

back in the hospital.....

So Yesterday Dec 26 Abby was readmitted to the hospital. Her lab work yesterday morning showed her white blood count going down even more so it is only 0.5 which means only 500 white blood cells. A normal blood count is 5000-10000 so she literally has no immune system at all. Which is so dangerous, so they wanted her back at the hospital so they could decide what to do. They are also worried about her stomach fluid as well. She will have another CT scan today to see what the fluid is doing.

So pray hard, we need her white blood cells to come back so she can fight any possible infection. This is very serious, thanks for all the love and support! I will keep you all posted!

Day 77 and She is HOME!!!!!

Yup folks that is right she is HOME we cried a lot of happy tears today. She still has a ways to go in her recovery but she is making her way there. The biggest issue right now for Abby is she has NO immune system. So on her lab work her white blood cells are only at 0.75 a normal persons would be much much higher. This is even low for an immune suppressed patient. So they are a little concerned. They don't want her around kids at all and everyone needs to wear a mask around her. But the doctors feel that the hospital is more dangerous for her right now with her low white blood cells. So they felt ok about sending her home but made sure my mom knew what to do to keep Abby well.

Abby is happy to be home but she is also a little nervous for a few reasons. She is nervous about getting around on her own especially because of the stairs. She is also nervous about her immune system and she is worried about catching something. She still feels pretty sick to her stomach and struggles with eating and taking pills. She is still pretty swollen in her legs and feet so that is uncomfortable for her.

But over all she is doing very well, she can walk on her own with out a walker, but still uses one for long distance. She is still a little weak but she is a lot stronger then she was even a week ago.

Abby will need to return to the hospital a lot to check labs especially these next few days. So we hope her white cell count will come up.

So on this Christmas eve we are all very thankful for our Abby and we are so glad she is home where she belongs. We love her so very much and we are thankful for the chance we have to have her in our family. Merry Christmas to all and thank you for keeping Abby in your thoughts and prayers.

She could be home soon.....

So we don't know what will happen with Abby yet. She may be home tomorrow evening or she may have to stay at the hospital for a few more days. Abby's immune system is non existent right now. Her white blood count is lower than 1 so they are worried she has a virus called CMV. She also had a big pocket of fluid in her abdomen that isn't draining well. So they are culturing her blood to see if she has CMV if she does she will have to have another line put in for IV antivirals. So that would mean she would have to stay at the hospital. They are also putting a new drain in to see if they can get rid of more of the fluid that is making her stomach hurt. They will also look at the fluid to make sure she doesn't have an infection. So if the drains work and the fluid doesn't have any infection in it and if her blood cultures come back ok, they will let her go home tomorrow.
Her primary Dr who is her liver doctor thinks it is best for her to get out of the hospital because of risk of infection is high because of her compromised immune system. So he is pushing to let her go home.
If Abby does come home everyone who comes in the house will need to wear a mask. She will also have to go get labs drawn very often to check her blood counts and her drug levels. So that is where we stand right now. So we won't know anything till tomorrow afternoon. So we pray that Abby will stay well and not get any infections and that she can go home where she will get better!

Feeling defeated....

So my last post was all happy. I wish I could say this one is too, but it is not! Abby won't be home for Christmas. She was doing really well in rehab and hit all of her goals so that is good. But she got a UTI and she isn't making enough urine again. Her drug levels in her blood were a little high. It is the drug that is the anti-rejection med which is hard on the kidney. So it worries them. So they discharged her from rehab and moved her back to the transplant floor. The reason for moving her back was to do a CT scan to make sure her kidney didn't have a blockage, and to give her IV antibiotics for the UTI but at first they were still optimistic that she could be discharged on Friday. Well tonight she spiked a fever after getting the antibiotics so the doctors are pretty concerned. So she won't be coming home on Friday. We are all very sad because Abby is sad. It will not feel like Christmas but we will make it work I guess.
We hope all will turn out ok but we are all discouraged right now. We really thought she would be home for Christmas. Abby is pretty sad right now so she could probably use some cheering up. We are all very grateful that she is alive and that she has some strength back. We just hope she will be home very soon. Please keep Abby and our family in your prayers they are very much needed tonight!

She'll be home for Christmas... (that is the plan anyways)

So Abby has been on the Rehab floor since Tuesday and she is doing really well. She doesn't spend much time in bed anymore. She has done stairs a few times and she gets dressed everyday and goes to a day room to just sit and hang out. She is really getting stronger and we can all see it. The Rehab doctors had a meeting yesterday to discuss what Abby needs to do to get home and when we can expect her home. They said the biggest thing for Abby is her endurance and strength and just a little help with balance. So she is coming along beautifully. They also said they are planning on discharging her on December 24th!! Now that is what we wanted to hear. So last night we all went to mom and dad's and decorated the house for Christmas. The only thing we didn't put out was the nativity and that is because that is always Abby's job. So it is waiting for her to do on Christmas eve.

This has been a long 10 weeks especially for my parents. They have been through so much and so has Abby of course. Luckily for Abby she doesn't remember the first 4 weeks, but we do. But Abby has had to endure so much pain and discouraging moments and I know she also worries about our parents. Every time a new Doctor reviews Abby's chart they always say "according to this she shouldn't be alive" Medically no she shouldn't be alive but She is special and she has something big to do in this life. It is hard to look at this as a miracle because a lot of the bad stuff that happened shouldn't have happened and we have all been through this before 20 years ago. So it seems we had a lot of bad luck, but luckily we have a lot of miracles too. I hope we are out of bad luck because we just might have exceeded our limit on miracles. But for now I am grateful for our miracles! They told us that awful night 10 weeks ago that Abby was gone, and now they tell us she will be home for Christmas. What a blessing!

So Abby will have a busy week a head of her, getting ready to come home. We know she can do it, she can do anything! So please keep the prayers coming they WORK! We hope and pray that everything goes well from here on out so she will be home for Christmas!

light at the end of the tunnel...(in a good way)

So we finally feel like there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Abby is doing very well, her hematocrit dropped last week so they were a little bit concerned but they realized it was just a drug reaction. It is back up now not as high as it should be but high enough. She is eating more and has a little bit more energy. She now walks to the bathroom every time now, with her walker. She also has walked around the transplant unit floor as well the other day. It completely wore her out but she did good. She is off all of the antibiotics now and all IV's are gone. She still has the feeding tube but that is because she isn't eating enough on her own yet to have it out. So really she is just working on getting stronger. And her pancreas and incision need to heal a bit more as well. But as of tomorrow she will be on the rehab floor. We thought she would have been there last week, but one of her doctors wanted her off of all of the antibiotics before the signed her off to Rehab doctors.
We are all so proud of Abby and the progress she has made. It has been a long hard journey for her, but she never complains and is so pleasant to be around.
The Rehab nurses and Doctors will work on her strength she will work hard everyday and as soon as she can do basic life functions of her own i.e. dressing herself, getting out of bed, standing up and stairs, she will come home. So we hope it is a fast process but she needs to get strong and her muscles need to regain strength, so no real time line yet. We are just hoping for her to do the best she can.
She has had a lot of visitors and it has really helped in her recovery. So thank you to all who have visited her. And she will still want and need visitors while in rehab. She will still be at the U on the 2nd floor so as soon as they move her and we know more I will update everyone.
We love you Abby Jean you are an amazingly strong girl! Keep being strong you will be home before you know it!

Getting stronger...

So sorry it has been a bit since my last post. Abby is doing very well she is just now working on getting stronger. She has been getting up and walking with her walker more. She walked down the hall yesterday which is a good thing. She still has a lot of pain from her pancreas issues and she doesn't have much of an appetite either. Today should be her last day on antibiotics so that is good. Medically she is doing very well her pancreas is an on going issue and just needs time to heal. But her kidney and liver are doing well and her incision seams to be healing better too.

Monday Abby will be moving to the Rehab floor so she will do 3 hours of physical therapy a day. Well it breaks down to 1 hour of PT 1 hour of occupational therapy and 1 hour of some kind of outing or doing something out of her room. This is a major step for Abby and one that may be a little tough but she needs to get stronger so she can come home. They were going to move her to rehab last week but one of her doctors wanted to get her off of the antibiotics first. So Monday is the day. We are hoping that she will only be there 7-10 days then be able to come home. But things don't always happen they way we want them to. So we will hope for the best and pray that she will be home for Christmas. So keep Abby in your prayers that she will have the strength to get home soon. And that she will have less pain so she can work hard. We love you all and appreciate the love and support you have given to our family through this long 2 month journey.

The good news continues....

So really we have had so many good days since my last post on Tuesday. Abby is doing so well the doctors really think she will be able to be home by Christmas. She had a CT scan on Thursday to make sure she had no more leaks or signs of infection. It came back good, still some pockets of fluid but they are all smaller. And it looks like no new areas of fluid have formed. So she is healing yay! So she is finishing a course of antibiotics she will be done with them on Tuesday so then her line for IV meds will be taken out. She doesn't have to be on dialysis anymore she is making urine on her own so that is awesome! She does have a weird rash on her arms and legs that looks painful but she says it doesn't hurt. So we are just waiting for her pancreas to heal all the way and for her to regain her strength which is coming along. Today she walked to the bathroom with a little help from a walker and Physical therapist but she did all of the walking. It was amazing to watch, she was a little scared about falling but she did it. They will work with her a lot the next few days then she will move to the Rehab floor sometime next week. Where they will just work on her strength, and then she will be HOME!!! So we hope and pray that all continues to go well so Abby will be home for Christmas.

Thank you to those of you that have visited Abby these past few days it has made Abby work harder and keep her spirits up!!

Abby has the best friends and family!