Fridays are always good days!! After she eats solid food and tolerates it ok she is going to be discharged home! She is doing great. Much better than Adult patients I've taken care of in the past. Yesterday her doctor ask her to get up 6 times and walk outside of her room. I think she took atleast 10 walks yesterday!! Her pain is now being controlled by pain pills. She will follow up with her surgeon in 3 weeks and she will see her GI doctor in 2 or 3 months. Her GI doctor said the spleen was causing all of her problems and they removed it and now her body should heal! Thanks again for everyones prayers and support. When we get home Im sure Haley will return messages to those who have left notes on the blog for her this week!

Love,
David and Carrie Ann

I tried to correct some words that I spelled incorrectly in my last blog, but it posted the blog before I corrected them!! Sorry, Carrie Ann

Haley is resting so Im going to try to bring everyone up to date on Haley's surgery today. They took her to surgery about 7/7:30 am and they were finished around noon. They tried to remove her spleen by laperscopic surgery, which would have left her with on 4 or 5 small "stab like wounds." They were unsuccessful with that approach because of the location of her spleen(it was in the middle of her stomach not on the left side of her abdomen where it should be) and because the large intestine was somewhat intertwined with some of the veins/arteries coming off the spleen. They had to make a incision from the belly botton up about 3-4inches towards her sternum. Once they opened her up they found that her anatomy was not as it should be. Her pancreas was not where it should be and part of the large intestine was tangled-up in the mess of twisted veins and arteries from the spleen!! She had lots of veins and arteries around the stomach, pancreas, and spleen that where distended due to the large circulatory load these vessels were having to accomadate because the splenic vein wasn't doing its job. They removed her spleen and veins and arteries that go with the spleen. Her pancreas and part of her large intestines were put back where they should be. She didn't have any blood loss during surgery!! Her surgeons did such a good job and were very careful with her situation. They are going to continue to monitor her for bloodloss. She can't eat or drink anything right now till her "gut" wakes up. They are going to be very careful about this because they had to move part of her large intestine around and want to be sure she dosen't develop a "illius" or blockage in her bowls.

The surgeon told us today that she will be put on a small dose of penicillan (one tablet daily) for the rest of her life. This is to prevent her from getting infection because she is now at risk to get sick easier because she doesn't have her spleen to help fight infection. The doctors will continue to monitor her to be sure this surgery has reversed the portal hypertension and that the varicies in her stomach have stopped bleeding and healed. We will learn more about her longterm care later this week. The doctors told us today that her problems with her spleen and what they saw when they opened her up in surgery is one for the record books!! We always knew she was "special"!!! They took lots of pictures during her surgery today. (Katie do you have time to make her a scrapbook? Maybe Colton can help you!!) The surgeons also think she was born with her spleen problems and they don't know why!

Her big issue at the moment is controlling her pain and controlling her nausea!! She has a pain pump and they increased her dose late this afternoon because it wasn't controlling her pain. This caused her to have more nausea! At the moment she is resting comfortably. She did dangle her feet on the edge of the bed about a hour ago! They want her walking around her room tomorrow!!

Sorry it took me so long to get this on her blog to night. Keep the prayers coming and thanks for everyones love and support.



Love, David and Carrie Ann

We are back on vacation!! Haley in currently drinking some yummy stuff called "golytely". If you've ever experienced it you know what fun lays ahead of her!!!! They have drawn some blood and started an IV. She is getting IV fluids. They have scheduled her surgery for 7:30 am tomorrow morning. She will have three surgeons working on her. Her blood counts are still low, but they didn't get worse over the last three weeks and her platlets are looking better! Last week we took Haley to see a Cardiologist to be sure her heart hasn't been effected by this problem with her spleen. He gave her a perfect score!! They did a Echocardiogram and a EKG. She was cleared for surgery and they said her heart is perfect. Our hometeacher ask Haley if she was scared about her upcoming surgery and she said "no, I just want to get this done!". I was surprised by her answer. She gives me strength!! Please keep her in your prayers.

Love,
Carrie Ann and David

yesterday we arrived at the hospital and Haley's surgeons were there to greet us!! The surgeons had consulted a 2nd Infectious Disease Dr. to be sure she would gain immunity from fridays immunization and today's immunization. The Infectious Disease Dr. said it has been shown that it is best to wait 2 to 4 weeks after the immunization before the spleen is removed. The spleen is needed for the body to gain immunization from the shots! Even though her spleen isn't 100% it will help her to leave it in place for a few more weeks if we can. She will probably have surgery on 2-24-09 if she doesn't become critical again! We will be monitoring her labs, and watching for signs and symptoms of increased abd bleeding and increase in pain. She is a real trooper!! I know she wants this to be over so she can get back to her normal activities like DANCING!!! If we can wait a few weeks this will help here a great deal in the long run when it comes to her body fighting future infections. Again once her spleen is removed she will lose 20% of her immune system!! She has great doctors and we know they are being very careful with her situation. She is keeping her doctors on thier toes!!!! Thanks again for all the prayers and notes that have been left on this blog. Haley feels sooooooooooo loved!! We will keep you all up on whats going on with this blog.

Love,
Carrie Ann

Today the surgeons gave us the gameplan! They are going to remove her spleen on Tuesday. They need Haley to recieve two immunizations prior to surgery. These immunizations will help protect her from certain types of bacteria that she will have a hard time fighting off once her spleen is removed. She recieved one of those immunizations today. The doctors want to give her body a couple of days to gain protection from the first immunization. They are sending her home later today and we are to bring her back to the hospital Monday morning and she wil be admitted again and they will give her the 2nd immunization, draw labs, and give her "golytly" to clean her bowels out prior to surgery(this will give the surgeons more room in her abdomen to perform the surgery). They will have to make a fairly large incision d/t the spleen being so large. She will have three surgeons working on her during surgery. She will be in the Pediatric ICU after the surgery, this is normal for this type of surgery. She will be in the hospital for probably 5 days depending on how well everything goes. While she is at home the next two days, she is to keep her activities to a minimum. We will have to keep Ammon and Caleb off of her!! That will be a challenge because they miss her so much! Please keep her in your prayers. Thanks for the prayers, food, and support!! We will continue to update everyone on this blog!

Love,
Carrie Ann

Hey everyone this is Haley i just wanted to let you all know that im doing great and im just trying to be patient while these wonderful doctors try to figure out whats wrong with me. I am amazed at how everyone just jump up to help my family while Iam hear i know that you guys have lifted a load off my parents shoulders by everything you offer to do or help with. I am so lucky and thankful to have such wonderful people in my life and i just wanted to thank you for the love, the prayers, and the willingness to help me and my family. Thanks for the little puzzles and stuffed animals and everything i love it all. After some of the test i had when i first got here on friday i told my mom and dad that ive never even broken a bone and yet ive had a chest x-ray, an ultra sound, and a head CT. But that was friday now i probably couldnt even tell you the names of some of the tests ive had. By the time i get out of hospital ill probably have had every test in the book. But hey i wanted to be a nurse and i now i can learn about all the different test and medications in the pediatric unit :] . Well once again thank you for everything you guys have done for me and my family and i hope to be out of here real soon or i might just have to smuggle myself out of here. Well i see you guys soon ! Love ya !

Love ,

Haley