Sheriff Sarah

Sheriff Sarah

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Sarah's Latest Adventure

I know not everyone is a friend of mine on Facebook where I've been posting regularly the past month about Sarah's current hospital stay at Seattle Children's Hospital, so I'm posting an update here for you.

Sarah's been in the hospital for 29 of the past 33 days. Things began simple enough: her liver numbers were elevated far beyond what they've been since her transplant 5 years ago. This led to our semi-regular visit to Children's for a liver biopsy. No problem, right? And it started that way. Acute rejection and a regimen of prednisone in-house for 4 days and then weaned off it for the next month.

Alas, some things just can't be that easy.

It turned out there was much more than just a minor acute rejection. There was an abscess and an infection. This created a lot of issues including a tremendous amount of fluid. Sarah needed a drain inserted in her abdomen and then a second one a few days later. As usual, she was a trooper. I wonder if God grants sick children a special dose of fortitude and perseverance because if it were me, I'd be a sobbing mess with all the poking and prodding the doctors and nurses do to Sarah.

Surgery became an option late last week when it seemed like the fluid would just not drain enough to clear the infection. The antibiotics were working as much as they could but not 100% due to all the fluid. No one wanted to talk about surgery because of the danger of further infection but it seemed like a very real possibility. Thankfully, the fluid has steadily been clearing out the past few days and Sarah had one drain removed Friday. There's the possibility the second drain may be removed Monday but have to wait and see.

Our warrior battles on! We're so grateful to God for carrying us through this time as there's been an (obvious) strain on our family with Patty mostly the one at the hospital, the other kids finishing up school and staying with some friends & family, and me home with our dog.

More lessons learned and to be reflected on following this latest adventure. We're humbled by the love and support we've received and by God's mercy on Sarah's life.