:-)

I thought the smile was a good title for this post.  I'm feeling a bit better about things and Shelby got a FABULOUS report in clinic Tuesday.  The surgeon and her hepatologist are thrilled with her recovery.  Her spleen has shrunk about 3 cm in 5 weeks and her wbc and platelets have doubled.  Of course, that does not mean they are "normal" yet, but I have faith (and so do the doctors) that they will get there.  If all remains well, we go back in 2 months for another ultrasound of her shunt; if all looks good then, we go back in 3 months.  The doctors are very optimistic that this is really a GREAT thing for Shelby and now, having been through it, I feel wholeheartedly that it is, too.  I am very relieved that she *only* had to recover from surgery and that we are not having to worry about rejection and all the other complications that can come with transplant.  Not yet.  You're probably not ever "ready" for that until that is your last possible option.  I pray that this gives time for Shelby to grow, live and feel "normal" for quite some time before we have to head down that transplant road.  I pray that medical advances come along in that time period that allow for safer anti-rejection meds and that organ donation becomes more of the "norm" for people to choose to do so that the waiting list is not so long.  I pray for us as a family to look at Shelby's life in a new way; different than we have, especially the past 2 rough years.  I pray for Shelby to look at herself as a healthy kid who happens to have liver disease, not as a sick kid.  

Our trip to Chicago did not quite go as planned as my Mom was not feeling well Monday morning and was understandably not up for the trip.  Scott made several phone calls to find out if it was even possible for him to miss his first day of clinicals for this semester and found out it was o.k.  We headed into Chicago driving no more than 35 mph for the 1st hour, but made it in there safely on Monday.  We ate supper that night at Shelby's favorite, Bacino's, and stayed at the Kohl's House.  Tuesday she had an early appointment with Dr. Jill and then we dashed off to catch the train to catch the bus to the Aquarium.  That was a long trip, but we had about an hour to spend at the Aquarium once we got there.  We opted to just take a cab back to Children's so our travel time would not be as long.  The rest of the day was filled with clinic time and was zoo-like considering all 5 of us were there.  One nurse said to Scott "Oh.  I didn't know you had so many girls."  We headed home late, but made pretty good time and slept HARD that night.  

Shelby is back to school full-time and back to gym.  Her lower back pain gets less and less each day.  The hepatologist was impressed at how well she sat up after lying down to be examined.  We were told by the surgeon no high-impact sports (like sledding) until her spleen and platelets improve even more.  Turns out that had we consulted the surgeon on if her activity should have been restricted when we asked her hepatologist we would have gotten 2 different answers.  The surgeon is in the restrict camp and the hepatologist is not - interesting.  Phew - thank goodness nothing ever happened.  My girls are adrenaline junkies and play HARD.  Shelby can tackle an adult pretty darn good. :-O


Hopefully you followed along my rambling post good enough to get that we are all improving and plan on continuing to.  Please pray for Scott as he started nursing classes back up again this week and starts yet another "new" schedule at work.


Take care, everyone, and STAY WARM!


GO PACKERS!!!

Click on picture to see entire album

Chicago January 2011