March 4 9:00 pm

Eleven hours late and we're home. Home!

Things went really well today. Claire and I checked in just after 7:00 am and the liver biopsy took place close to noon. Waking up from the anesthesia is never a pleasant experience...but give her an hour and she's right back to her normal, playful self. Claire just brightens everyone's day where ever she goes!

The results came back good. She isn't rejecting the liver and I believe the word they used to describe her biopsy results was pristine. The only thing that may be causing some problems has something to do with the bile. Bile seems to be flowing fine through the liver without any obstructions but there may be some resistance causing some bile to be pushed back up into the liver. So they want to start her on a medicine that basically thins out the bile so that it will flow easier through the liver/bile duct and not come back up. ((((this is sooooo not a very good technical/medical explanation but it's our best shot at interpreting!)))) They're not 100% sure this is the problem causing her elevated liver numbers, but there was something in the biopsy that suggested it could be an issue. SO the story continues: we'll keep watching, testing, waiting, and hoping those numbers get back down! Whatever the problem is is very subtle.....which hopefully also means it's not something to be too concerned about because we've ruled out A LOT of worse things it could have been. They've also said that sometimes, kids liver numbers just do bounce around for reasons that are not known....and then eventually settle back down. It could just be the body/immune system's way of saying, "wow...there' s something different going on here. Let me check this out for a bit and then we'll let her do her thing!" Who KNOWS?!?!!!! :) If the liver numbers do get more elevated over the next few weeks, they will look into doing more extensive/invasive testing. Let's hope we don't have to go there.

Still smiling. With a headache. and a stuffy nose.....

But the best part is that Claire isn't ill or miserable with whatever is going on. She thought (for the most part) it was just a fun play-day at the hospital; a day to visit many familiar faces and make people smile and laugh at her! So she's great! And the one word I heard people use to describe her today was intelligent. She knows a lot. Especially about medical stuff. One example. When someone walks through her door in a maroon colored outfit, she says "it's blood work time," and shows them where her catheter is to draw the blood from.

On the way home from the hospital Benson said it was a really good thing Claire was able to come home from the hospital tonight because he needed someone to play with....although he himself was quite tired, verging on miserable, and didn't seem to be feeling 100% well himself. We put him to bed right when we got home at 6:30 and we'll see what the night and day brings for him.

Happy to be home. And to have the rest of the weekend off!

She was truly hungry today as she had to be fasting for the biopsy. She drank ALL of the cheerio milk and ate one or two of the O's!! I love it! One of the best sight's we've seen.