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