Home Again...Again

Emily got to go home on Friday. They seem to be sure that rejection was the root of her problem. A little adjustment to her medication seems to have the situation under control. She felt good most of the time she was there and this made it really hard for her. No one wants to be in the hospital, especially when they feel good. We understand that this is very common in the first six months after a transplant and chances are she will be back in the hospital a few more times. I just hope she has a few months inbetween visits.

On Sunday the family, minus me, went to the annual Make a Wish Holday Party at Tempe Town Lake. They all had a good time and Emily met a bunck of people. This is a great organization, help them if you can.

A week ago Saturday, my friends in my game group held the last of their fund raiser events. This time it was Warhammer Fantesy Battles and it was a smashing success! The event was held at Imperial Outpost games and prizes were donated by Games Workshop. Thank you all!

More when there is news...which I hope is a long time.

Rejection

Emily is still in the hospital but is doing well. She has been undergoing treatment for a mild rejection episode. It does not seem to be anything major but the medication is mostly I.V. so she has to stay in the hospital. The blood tests have been improving over the last 24 hours and if things keep going in this direction than she might be able to come home tomorrow.

Nothing to worry about really, but it is frustrating for everyone. Emily is really tired of being in the hospital, as you can imagine. She realizes that this is part of life now but she would really like to get in a few months between visits!

More later...

16

Emily celebrated her 16th birthday on Friday. We had a bunch of friends and family over and everyone had a great time. Many of the guests had not seen her since she got home.

On Saturday morning she was not feeling well. She threw-up a couple times and was generally ill. About mid-day, after talking to the doctors, it was decided to take her to Phoenix Children's Hospital. After a few tests they decided to keep her over-night. We are sure that she has a stomache bug - the same one her little sister had about mid week.

When I went to see her in the evening she was feeling fine but later in the night she started getting sick again. This mornig her blood test showed some indication of infection. This could be a sign of the bug or it could be an indication of rejection. All of her heart functions have been perfect but they want to be sure, so they will keep her another night and do a biopsy in the morning. This will tell them if the indicators are signalling rejection. I don't think rejection is what is happeneing but better safe than sorry.

If everything checks out she will be home tomorrow. She has been feeling good today and getting plenty of sleep. This is her new reality. She will be visiting the hospital a couple of times a year and will catch everything that goes around. Nothing really can be done to prevent this.

More tomorrow!