Simone Update 9/18

We're back on an upswing. Today went pretty well. Simone had an ultrasound this morning to check and see what was going on with her gallbladder and liver. They saw one small gallstone, but it didn't appear to be blocking anything. No tears or leaks around the gallbladder were evident. That was positive. But, the ultrasound did show that one of the branches of her right hepatic artery is blocked by a blood clot. It is about 90% occluded, which is making it difficult for cells in that part of her liver to get adequate nutrients or oxygen. Fortunately, it's only one branch of the artery and not the entire artery that is blocked. Dr.Brownlee said there wasn't anything that they could do to get rid of the blood clot other than wait, since she's not a good candidate for surgery. So, Simone's on a blood thinner (heparin) and a couple other drugs to help support her liver. They didn't do any liver tests today, but will tomorrow to see how her bilirubin and liver enzymes are doing.

She seems to be breathing a little easier, and her blood gas went up to over 60% from 52% yesterday. Hooray! Hopefully we will continue to see a marked improvement in this area. Her PCV is also back up to 33 from 30. Hopefully her red blood cell count will continue to climb back up to the normal baseline of 42. Her appetite has also returned, and she is back to eating her dry duck and potato food without coaxing. Simone also took a cookie from me for the first time in what feels like forever. She even licked up the crumbs it left on her bed! So, she's breathing easier, has more red blood cells, and is eating better...now if we can just get her liver functioning better, she will be able to come home.

Dr. Brownlee still can't give us a tentative release date. We continue to hold in the wait-and-see arena. We're hoping she'll be able to come home by Friday. It's been a long, lonely seven nights at home without her. But if spending a week or 10 days in the ICU is all it takes to help her recover, and have many happy and healthy years ahead, then it's worth it. We did notice they're not discussing cancer any more as an underlying possibility; it is starting to look more and more like the treatment for the thrombocytopenia is what is to blame. Simone's reaction to the prednosone is pretty rare, and not one anyone could have really expected. We always knew that she was one in a million, but didn't think she'd be the one in the million in this way too!