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

Yesterday Haley's GI doctor told us that her liver looks good and that they think her spleen is the trouble maker. Her spleen is not where it should be in her abdominal cavity. They are calling it a "floating spleen". Her splenic vein runs off her spleen and it is occluded, d/t it being twisted, probably d/t the spleen moving around. Her spleen is also enlarged. It is probably trapping red blood cells in itself. The GI doctor feels removing her spleen would stop the bleeding in her abdomen. They consulted a pediatric surgeon. They came by last night. There are 4 doctors in the surgical group. They are going to review her case and gather all the information they need to be confident that removing her spleen is what needs to be done. They need to know exactly how high the Portal Hypertension is, a number value. This means she will probably have to endure another test. I'm gathering her Immunization records because if they do remove her spleen she will lose part of her immune system defenses. They won't remove the spleen until they know she has been immunized against pretty much everything there is a immunization for. They will continue to monitor her labs and vital signs frequently. She is on medicaton to lower her heart rate which helps decrease the workload of the circulatory system which in turn helps slow down the bleeding in her abdomen. They don't want to give her anymore blood because the spleen is trapping the red blood cells and this would further enlarge the spleen. They are also giving her iron twice a day to help with the anemia. Her bone marrow shows that her marrow has been making extra red blood cells. This is most likely d/t her body trying to keep up with the bleeding in the abdomen! The body is so amazing! With all the testing we have seen how her body has been adapting and compensating for all the problems with the spleen. On the MRI they could see where her body made new pathways for the blood to flow around the occluded vein and this is also why she has been bleeding out in her abdomen because the body had to keep the circulatory system working! We don't know how long this has been going on, but it appears that her body has been compensating for the spleen for quite some time. Your prayers have been felt and please continue to keep Haley in your prayers. She has excellent Doctors and Nurses. Haley has been so brave and hardley ever complains. Her nurse just told us she has another test ordered by the surgeons so we will keep you all informed with this blog. The computer is right outside Haleys room so if you want to send her a message she can use this computer to respond to your messages.
Carrie Ann