New Year- The Liver Saga

HaHa! Most of you probably know Kayli is a Twilight fanatic...so had to come up with a title and thought I would make it cute. "Saga" was stuck in my head so I figured I would somehow tie it to Twilight. :)

I really don't even know where to start this evening. The last 33 hours has been a complete BLUR! Well I will start with the end of the surgery. Dr Mieles emerged from the operating room at exactly 10 minutes til 6am to deliver the good news. The surgery was succesful, he was very pleased with the results, and he has a gut feeling that Kayli will do very well with this transplant. He did say she had a bit of bleeding during the surgery, but overall went well. We all sighed in relief, packed up our belongings and headed to the ICU. Outside of the ICU we waited for nearly 2 hours to be able to see her. In that time, Dr Mieles found us again and and wanted to tell us about Kayli's old liver. Kayli's liver, he said, was very shrunken & shriveled, and when he saw it he was amazed that she was not already in the hospital and still walking around. Apparently, though we knew she was very sick, and sicker than she thought she was...she was also sicker than we ALL thought she was. Based on the lab numbers from before the surgery, she would have been lucky to survive another 3 years with her old liver. This was such sobering news for me, well...for all of us I am sure. I haven't decided if I want for her to know that or not; since the past few weeks she had decided she was fine and there was nothing wrong with her. Shortly after our visit with the doctor, the anesthesiologist who had provided most of her care during the surgery stopped to let us know she did extremely well from his perspective. She only took 5 units of blood and his words were "she was the easiest liver I've ever done". He also said that she was trying to wake-up already which they hadn't expected, and so they had to give her more meds to sedate her more.

It was nearly 9am before Mark & I finally got to see her. It is scary to walk in and find your "baby" looking the way she looked- but by all of the medical staffs accounts, she looked GREAT. She did look good- I mean the child had just had a liver transplant for goodness sakes! LOL She had 2 central lines, one on each side of her neck, an arterial line on her right wrist and an IV in her left wrist. She also sported and NG tube (naso-gastric) and was on the ventilator. She also has a large 'boomarang' shaped incision and dressing across the middle of her abdomen complete with bulb JP drains. To finish off her outfit, boots on her feet & calves that compress and release, to aid her circulation in her lower extremities (at work we call them flowtrons).  Her nurse, Sarah, gave us a complete rundown of everything that was going on so far...then Mark went out so that Uncle Daniel, Granny, & Aunt Claudia could come in one by one to see Kayli themselves. She was not awake yet. We learned that instead of the anticipated 2 days on the ventilator, they wanted to have her weaned off by the end of the day today. Dr Rhoades and Nisha(his fellowe) both came by for a visit, we were happy to see them and they were happy to see Kayli.
Aunt Sunny and Greg arrived around 10am to spend the afternoon with Kayli along with Uncle Daniel, so that Mark and I could run home and grab showers and naps. On the way back to the hospital, Mark stopped at Best Buy and bought Kayli an i-pod touch! She had been saving up for one, but was still about $75 shy...I think she deserves a little help with it, don't you? While on our way back, Sunny & Daniel called to let us know that Kayli had woken up, and was trying to write notes to ask questions, though she was falling back asleep as she was writing. She was doing well, so they took her off the ventilator, and she has done very well since and breathing on her own very well. They said the first thing she asked for when she could talk was me, the 2nd thing was her cell phone. Aunt Sunny helped her put her contacts back in so she could see, and she cried when Daddy arrived and presented her with her i-pod touch. They also removed one of her central lines and she has been off and on asking to sit up. The only small concern has been that her urine production slowed down dramatically this afternoon, so they have given her several large doses of Albumin to help increase urine production. Her creatinine levels are good though so they are not concerned with kidney function. The best news of all, seems to be that her INR is now 1.68!!!
As most of you know, one of the biggest complications of her previous liver disease was that her platelet count was extremely low- and her blood was not clotting. A good INR is below 2, Kayli's has been in the 3's, 4's, & 5's... so as you see 1.68 is a miracle!! They are expecting Kayli to be moved from the ICU either tomorrow or Tuesday...and hopefully Tuesday will be the day, as I would hate for them to move her too quickly. Kayli is expected to be in the hospital 10-14 days...which if you know Kayli at all, you know she will be going stir crazy by Thursday!!

I've been asked to share that Kayli is once again at Children's Memorial Hermann in the Texas Medical Center. She is currently in ICU bed 10. If you go onto the hospital's website you can send e-Greetings to Kayli, which she LOVEs getting. Mylar balloons are accepted, no latex balloons or flowers. To give all of the anti-rejection medicine a chance to work, the docs have asked that we restrict visitors for the time being, but as soon as they give us the go ahead we will pass on. Y'all know Kayli, she Loves visitors and quickly tires of just Mark and I. Again, they are expecting her to be here 10-14 days. You can also send Kayli e-mails at kayli.curda@att.net. OH almost forgot- many have asked about Emily. Emily has been well cared for by our good friends the Manuel's. She is having fun but I am sure missing her family. Yesterday amongst the flurry of activity, she was able to go with Aunt Sheila, Lexie, & Sierra to see Disney on Ice and LOVED IT!! She called to tell us how WONDERFUL it was!! I will go home tomorrow to take Emily to CYT rehearsal and spend an evening at home with her to get her ready to go back to school on Tuesday while Mark stays with Kayli. Have a very BLESSED evening everyone and know that God works miracles on a daily basis! :D Will update again tomorrow when we know more.

PS Kayli has been sleeping heavily today, and each time she wakes up it's like the movie "Groundhog Day".  She is not remembering things and we have found ourselves explaining things to her each time. This is ok though! She just woke-up again and seems to be more awake each time, and this time is actually reading and answering text messages!