That Liver…

Last week we had tiny P’s appointment with a liver specialist to determine the cause and extent of her liver damage…

There are, of course, no answers yet, but we do know that her liver damage is extensive, and they feel that it may be that she has something called biliary atresia. She has portal hypertension, and the side of her liver is quite enlarged and causes her constant pain…

They ordered some further testing, so we went back to Children’s this week for blood work, a clotting test, and a doppler ultrasound. There was much discussion of her “oddly shaped liver” and how it was “tilted strangely,” and they took a long time trying to figure out where everything was…

Now, we wait to hear results, and find out what the next steps and tests will be!

Two different people at the hospital commented that tiny P must have been a good girl, and gotten a purple lollypop… she hadn’t. Her lips are just blue, and the doctor viewing her ultrasound was much more concerned with her duskiness than any possible jaundice in her eyes. He was so concerned that he ordered a pulse-ox be brought in to check her O2 sats… which were at 67! No wonder she is blue!

We are looking forward to getting to the bottom of some of our girl’s problems, and getting her more comfortable. It looks like many more tests are in her near future!