Happy Birthday Angel Sarah

My dear friend Colleen lost her beautiful baby girl Sarah when she was only a little over a year old. She was listed for a Liver and Small Bowel Transplant, but didn't receive her gift of life on time. Today would have been her fourth birthday. Although I have never met Sarah's mother Colleen, she is a dear friend to me, and was in my thoughts and prayers today as she had to deal with not being with her baby girl on her birthday. We both have had three girls at about the same time, so this got me thinking today. How very lucky I am to still have Anna with us, as well as my other girls. It is not fair that Colleen couldn't wake up happy today on Sarah's birthday. To not be able to give her a kiss. To have to go to the cemetery to visit her on her birthday. My heart goes out to you Colleen. We love you.

Today the girls and I decided to give Sarah a little something on her birthday. We flew up 4 pink (Anna thought she would like pink) balloons for the little Angel in heaven with love notes written on two of them, and on the others the girls drew smiley faces. Happy Birthday Little Angel Sarah, We Love You!

Half Birthday's!

Today Alexandria turns 6 months old, in another half year we will be celebrating her first birthday, but for today we will celebrate her half year birthday!

Some people think this is weird, but we always celebrate our baby's 6 month birthday. The story behind it: When Mary turned 6 months old my in-laws, who we lived with at the time, came home with half a birthday cake and a couple small presents for her. I didn't think much of her turning 6 months old that day, but her Gama and Papa sure did. Mary was their first and only grandchild since Jason is an only child, so they made a big deal out of everything and spoiled her rotten. It turned out to be a sweet day, and it was fun to celebrate something in the month of March which is a pretty boring month anyway.

Today I was trying to remember if we had a party for Anna for her 6 month birthday. I was going through some pictures and came across these:

Here is the cake and a sign Anna's nurses made for her!
Daddy giving Anna a taste of cake



After seeing these I remembered that I wasn't there with her for her 6 month birthday. It had been only one week since her liver transplant. Anna was still in the hospital and I was home recovering my operation. I didn't listen to the doctors when they told to take it easy. I wanted to be at the hospital with her as much as I could, and it wore me out to the point that I could not go on that day. I was in too much pain from being there with Anna those first few days after being discharged from the hospital myself. Leaning over the crib, feeding her, and anything else I could do for her. I felt so guilty for not being there with her during her transplant, and those critical hours afterwards, I guess I felt I had to make up for it. I didn't remember missing the party, until I saw these pictures. I think Jason kept it on the down low so that I wouldn't feel bad and make myself go when I knew I needed to rest.

Today I will go to the grocery store and try to find a half cake, for Alexandria. Maybe get her a little something. Thank you Dad and Mom for making half birthday's special!
Alexandria on HER special day, cake comes later tonight!

Long September

Sorry for the delay in entries, things have been busy here. The girls are all doing well. Mary had her 8th birthday last week. We went to her favorite place, the all you can eat Chinese buffet (I have no clue why she likes it there so much) and came home to have cake and open presents. Buying presents for an eight year old is a lot different than it was in all the past years. It used to be toys, and disappointment when she opened a box with clothes in it, and then more toys. This year she loved the clothes (especially her Hillary Duff shirt), and she got a few CD's that she asked for (Hillary Duff again), a pair of roller blades, and a round comfy chair to read in. That was it, and she loved it. Thank goodness, I wouldn't know where to put anymore junk in their room!




Anna is adjusting well to school, although I think she would like to go more often. She wants to be able to get up in the morning everyday and get dropped off at school along with Mary. It's hard to explain to her why that is not a possibility. I guess twice a week for two hours each day is not enough for her. I'm thinking of signing her up for Ballet again to give her something else to do. That would mean two dance recitals because Mary is in Hip Hop dance, but that could be cool. Anna is still in gymnastics, and is still loving it.

We went to the Make a Wish 20th anniversary celebration last weekend. It was nice, they had good food, and fun for the kids. I ended up going with my friend Jenny and her son Brandon because Jason couldn't get the day off. The celebration took place in my old High School, this is were Jenny and I met and became friends. We were very excited about this, it has been a while since we stepped foot inside. We kept telling the kids about how we went to school here and they seemed to ignore the fact. Finally I asked, "did you here us, we went to school here!" They all looked at us funny and Brandon replied with, "we heard you, you told us too many times!" LOL!!! I guess it's not all that interesting. So, our first stop was to see Mickey Mouse. Anna was so happy that he was there, all the way from Disney World! Silly girl, she acted as though he came all the way up here to see her. As we were waiting in line, Mickey waved at Anna. "See, he does remember me!" was her response. She acted as though her and Mickey were tight, old buddies, you know? Too funny. After Mickey Anna got her face painted, Mary got her hair done, and they both had their nails done. While they were doing that Brandon went to listen to a story that a little boy wrote. This little boy wished to write a book, that's what he wished for. They had his book for sale there, but all the proceeds go to the Make a Wish foundation upon his request. I could cry. After that, and after lunch they had Kevin Sharp come out to sing a few songs, one was called Make a Wish. It was a nice day.






This weekend we have Anna's cousin Samantha's birthday party, and that should be it for our busy September. Now the holidays will start up. I'm not ready for that, I need to recover from the past couple months!

My now 4 year old

Well, Anna's birthday came and went. She is 4 years old now and in preschool, she is growing up so fast. Her first day of school went well. The first day was actually a one hour orientation for the students and parents, so her real first day wasn't until the day after her birthday. On Anna's birthday we had a little family party with pizza, cake and presents. It was nice, Grandma and Papa came over to celebrate with us. Anna is so such a sweet girl, after every present she opened she had to get up and give each of us a great big hug, and the thank yous' were never ending. It's hard to believe that she is 4 already, it's seems that it was just yesterday she was born.


Here are some birthday pictures. I especially love the one where she is holding up her four fingers!



On her first day of school she had a great day! We had to go for labs in the morning and since the ride is so long to the hospital at that time of day we were talking about school and what she thought she would do on her first day, about the friends she would meet and what she would learn. She seemed to be very excited about the whole thing and we talked for almost the whole ride (about an hour on that subject)then our conversation veered off onto a different subject and wasn't thought about again until after we went for labs and while we were eating breakfast at McDonald's. Anna suddenly came up with the fact that she was scared to go to preschool and she didn't want me to leave her there by herself. I was shocked by this comment, I thought she was ok with the idea. I just let her know that it would be fine, she would have fun and I would be right back for her before she knew it. By the time we got to grandma's house to pick up the baby and left for school Anna seemed fine. When we got to school, and the teachers opened the door for the kids Anna ran in before she said goodbye to me. I had to call out after her to give me a hug, she came running back to me, gave me a hug and kiss and ran back in. So, I left my four year old at school all by herself and she was fine without me. All I could do was sit in my car and cry, wipe my tears, then try to find something for Alex and I to do for 2 hours. When it was time to pick her up she seemed to have had a good day (but she wouldn't tell me much) We went and played in the school playground. There were a couple girls from school playing too, and they all played very nicely together and I got to know their mothers. Alexandria got to go on a park swing for the first time, she loved it! Anna and one another girl from preschool took turns pushing her, very gently, on the swing. That night when I went to tuck the girls in for bed Anna told me that she couldn't wait to go back to school the next day. My heart broke when I had to tell her that she was only going two days a week. She got very upset, poor thing thought she would go everyday like her big sister. It took a long time to settle her down and explain to her why it was only twice a week, and that Mary did that too when she went to preschool. Poor thing, I felt so bad for her, but it made me realize how much fun she had, and how much she will enjoy school all year!

Here are some pictures of Anna's first day of school, and at the park afterwards


I got the results of Anna's blood tests the other day too. Her Prograf level came back at the level they want it to be which is great, so we can go for three months without labs if all continues to go well. Her fasting blood sugar was normal at 95, and the other test which gives the average sugar for the past three months also came back normal. So, we will keep watching her because it is still a mystery why her sugar shot up so high those couple of times, but we won't stress about it either.

Thanks for checking in on us, we still have Mary's birthday to go yet and more days of preschool so there will be a lot more to share soon. Take care!

Anna's Clinic visit

We had transplant clinic Thursday and it went well. All of Anna's labs are perfect! As I mentioned in my last journal entry, we were worried about her blood sugar level and I will explain why. In a casual conversation my mother in law and I were having I mentioned how Anna is always so thirsty all the time. My mother in law, who is an insulin dependent diabetic, told me that she feels that way when her sugar is high and that it was one of the first symptoms she had at the time she was diagnosed with diabetes. We decided to go ahead and check her sugar for the heck of it. We tested her and her blood sugar came back at 399! Normal is between 80 and 120, so this was extremely high. I thought maybe her machine tested wrong so I went ahead and tested mine and it was normal at 106. At this time I started freaking out, but since Anna was acting normally I let it go and just kept a close eye on her. An hour later we were at home, but since my downstairs neighbor is also diabetic we used her machine to test Anna again. It came back at 176 which is high, but not 399! I called Anna's pediatrician just to see what he would make of it. He asked me to check it the next morning before Anna ate or drank and since we were going to transplant clinic the in a few days to let them be aware of it. So, first thing the next morning it was only 102, and that put me at ease. Come Thursday I made Anna's liver doctors aware of it, but they didn't seem too concerned. They told me that Prograf will make blood sugar a little higher, but not 399. They took a urine sample and that came back normal too. Since diabetes runs in both Jason's and my family they are going to check her with a fasting test that measures what her average sugars are for the past three months, and then we'll go from there. We'll get that done along with her Prograf level because...drum role please....they lowered her dose yet again! Since she has done so well with the once a day dose they will keep her level even lower now. They were trying to keep it at around 3, so now they lowered her dose and they will try to keep the level at 2!!! This is very exciting news to us. I will update on how her blood sugar test comes back.

At clinic we saw Natalie., one of Anna's liver friends that also received a part of her mommy's liver 7 months ago. Anna and Natalie had fun together while we waited for the doctors. After we were done with clinic we went up to the floor to visit with another liver friend, Annika who is inpatient right now. After a little while Natalie came to visit Annika too, so they had themselves a little party! They had a good time together playing with playdough and puzzles. It was so cute to see these three amazing girls together. It was also nice for the parents to get together. Here are a few pictures of the girls.




Here is Natalie and Anna Playing in clinic


Anna Visiting Annika in her room


Here are all three girls playing with playdough


This one is for you Moreena, Anna got the same cookie Anni had, she was sooo happy!

Back to normal

Well, a couple weeks since Anna's wish and we are all getting back to normal. There is so much going on for the month of September, including Anna's birthday next week, her first day of preschool and Mary's birthday only five days after Anna's. Last week Anna started gymnastics, and Mary started Hip Hop dance. I signed them up for the same time and same place so that is saves me an extra trip during the week. Mary was excited to see that a friend from school was in her class, and Mary's friend's little sister was in Anna's class. Anna was a natural, no fear at all. Jason and I both agree that she looks like a natural doing the tumbling. A lot of the other kids weren't too sure, but Anna was out there doing her thing like she had been doing it for years. Anna is such a wild child it didn't surprise me at all. I think Ballet was a little too structured for her. What a difference from her crying for me on the first day of Ballet last year, and almost forgetting to say goodbye this year. At least I know that she will be ok with me not being there in preschool, although I will try to volunteer to help out when they need it. This will be the first class that Anna will take that I will actually leave the building while she is in. I am a little nervous, but it is only twice a week and for only two hours each day. I am embarrassed that I haven't gotten a Medic Alert bracelet for her until just recently, but I was always with her or she was always with someone like her granparents that know everything about her. It will give me piece of mind when I leave her at preschool (trust me, before I got the bracelet I actually thought about sitting in the building for the two hours, how embarrassing.)

Here is a picture of her with her bracelet, she actually like the fact that she has a bracelet that she has to wear all the time, I thought it would be a challenge.


I am excited for her she gets board with Mary not around, so this will give her something to do. Another thing that I like about this preschool is that she will have the same teachers that Mary had when Anna was sick, so they know us and they are also excited that they now have Anna. They told me that if she was anything like Mary, it's gonna be great! Mary has always been a good student, good listener and "played well with others." Boy, they will be in for a shock. Anna is nothing like Mary. She is hyper, she tells tall tales (you wouldn't believe some of the things she comes up with) she is a bully, and likes to be the center of attention and tries to be funny so I think she will get the class clown title. I have a feeling I will be getting a lot of phone calls from teachers with this one.

Another thing coming up for us this September aside from a two cousins that have birthday's coming up, and a friends birthday party this coming weekend, a house warming party, and oh yes transplant clinic this week. On the 25th we are going to the Make a Wish 20th homecoming celebration. This will be great time to meet with other wish families in the Chicago land area. I am looking forward to the food (catered by some of my favorite restaurants) and the guest star Kevin Sharp! Kevin Sharp is a former wish child and is a famous Country Singer. He does so much for the Make a Wish foundation and I think it is amazing he will be there. The celebration will be held in the High School that I attended, so it will be cool for the girls to see my old school. We can't wait to see Anna's wish granters again so that we could thank them for everything they did for us, it has made lasting memories for our whole family we still talk about it often, and will for years I'm sure.

I will try to update soon, probably after we have clinic Thursday. I am going to ask them for a referral to get Anna tested for diabetes (but that is a long story, and I won't worry about it too much until there is something to worry about.)

Anna's wish trip

Well, we are back from Disney World. I am a little sad that it is over, but glad to be back home at the same time. I was worried about us all being sick, but it passed for the most part, although I had no voice for a few days. The whole trip was just full of excitement and surprises. To start off we were picked up by a limo that took us to the airport were we were greeted by Anna's wish granters (wonderful people), who were there to see us off! They gave the girls each a bag full of goodies for the plane ride. When we got on the plane Anna was so cute, she kept asking when we were going to blast off! When we got to the airport a volunteer from Give Kids The world Village was holding up a sign with Anna's name on it, she then escorted us to get our bags and our rental car. It was sooo hot down there, but I can't complain, it was sunny, and the palm trees were beautiful!

GKTW is an amazing place! When we got there we had an orientation were they gave us our tickets for the parks, along with shirts for the girls. The tickets included a three day hopper pass to the Disney parks, Magic Kingdom, Epcot Center, MGM studios, and Animal Kingdom, a two day Hopper pass to Universal Studios and Islands of adventure, and one day at Seaworld. After that they showed us to our Villa. I never expected this place to be like it was. Our Villa was fully equipped, all the things you would need in your own house, and very comfortable. We spent the day unpacking, we went swimming, and just explored the Village. They had two pools, a miniature golf course, the gingerbread house were we were served all of our breakfasts and dinners, the ice cream palace were you could have all the ice you want all day long and lunches, a movie theatre, a little train, the castle of miracles which was like a big play room with a carousel outside, and much more. It's unbelievable!
Here is a picture of the outside of the Castle of Miracles
This is the outside of our Villa


The second day we went to the Magic Kingdom! When we first got there we saw some Disney characters, and Mary bought an autograph book. After waiting in the first couple of lines we were told by one of the workers that we didn't have to wait in lines, as long as they see our shirts and pins we could go straight to the front of the lines to visit and get autographs! Thank goodness we were told that before heading over to Mickey and Minnie mouse because those lines were the longest! The Characters even spend extra time with wish kids, and there we times that it was private time were we would get pulled to side with them. We also didn't have to wait in long lines at the rides, sooo cool! It happened by coincidence that friends of ours were in Orlando at the same time we were there, so we also meet up with them that day.

Picture of the girls with "Uncle" Justin and his girlfriend Brooke

Meeting Mickey!

One of mine and Jason's favorites of Mary on the carousel


The third day we went to Universal studios and Islands of adventure. Man, we thought Disney treated us well! At Disney we would be able to go through the fast pass lanes, and still have to wait a little bit, but there they would escort us through the crew member doors, and not have to wait at all! There were more rides there that Anna was too small for. It was so funny the first ride she had to be measured for she was just a tad too short for. As they were measuring her and telling us that she wasn't tall enough she stood on her tip toes, and almost fooled them, nice try Anna! We had a good time, but it started to rain towards the end of the day, so we left a little early.

At Universal with Shreck!


The fourth day Anna had her Disney princess breakfast at Epcot center, so it was another day at Disney! The breakfast was good and Anna and Mary were excited to see Belle, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, princess Jasmine, and Mulan. Anna was upset that Cinderella wasn't there, so she told Sleeping Beauty that SHE was her Favorite. After the breakfast we stayed at Epcot for a while, then headed over to MGM studios, then back over to Magic kingdom for the fireworks. The fireworks display was amazing! Wouldn't you know they call the display wishes? How perfect! It was beautiful to watch Anna watching the fireworks on her Wish trip and know that wishes can come true. Jason and I were teary eyed. It was a magical experience.
Mary and Anna with Sleeping beauty at the Princess breakfast

Cinderella castle



On the fifth day we went back to Universal Studios, and the Islands of Adventure.
Here we are with Scooby, shaggy and Mr. and Mrs woody wood pecker

Spider man!


On the sixth day we went to Seaworld. At this point I think Anna was sick of all the walking and complained a lot. We went to the sealion and Otter show, and Mary got picked from the audience to be a volunteer. I think it helped that she was wearing the wish shirt and button, and since we were with make a wish we got to sit up front. Anna was a little jealous that Mary got picked, but I think she enjoyed watching! We also caught the Shamu show. We sat in the "soak zone" which we sat in at the previous show and didn't get wet at all, but it was opposite here. That darn whale splashed out gallons of water on us. It felt good because it was very cold water, but Anna had a heat rash from our previous days out in the hot and humid weather and when that salt water got her it hurt. Poor thing, I felt so bad for her, and then for Mary because at this point we had to leave and Mary loves sea animals (she says she wants to be a marine biologist when she grows up.) On our way out of the park we saw the dolphin nursery, but not for very long because we had to get home to wash the salt water off of Anna. It was actually nice to get back to the village and swim, have lunch, and start packing to go home the next day. On the day we got there at orientation they let you pick between having a parents night out at a local restaurant, or a family night at medieval times and tournament. We have always wanted to go to medieval times, but never had the money, so we picked that and this was the night to go. It was cool, we all enjoyed the food and the show.
Here is Mary shaking hands with the sea lion


The last day we had to check out by 11:00am, so we woke up early to make sure we had time to finish packing, eat our last breakfast there, and say goodbye to the village. This was a sad day. We also went to the castle of miracles to try and find Anna's star on the ceiling (On the day we got there they gave Anna a little star to write her name on and make a wish on so that the fairy can place it on the ceiling of the castle for it to stay up there forever.) We were told that there are over 10 thousand stars on the ceiling, all kids that have stayed at GKTW. It really is an amazing thing that there is a place like this for kids, but also a shame that there has to be one. We will never forget our time there, and it is nice to know that they won't either. After check out we had hours until our flight, so we went to the Animal kingdom. For lunch we went to the Rainforest Cafe, and as we were heading out the door we noticed a huge storm had started while we had our lunch. We bought some ponchos, and headed to the car in hopes of waiting out the storm and head to Magic kingdom one more time before we left, but there looked to be no hope of the storm leaving so we just drove around. We found an outlet mall and got the girls some shoes for school, then headed to the airport. The fun didn't stop there though, we were also picked up from a limo to take us home from the airport.

This is one vacation that we will never forget. Money could never buy a vacation like this, it was so unbelievably Magical. Thank you Make a Wish, and GKTW!


We got Mary a shirt that says Thing 1 and Anna a shirt that says Thing 2

House of sick

Ok, two days to go to Disney, and the whole house is sick. Yesterday morning and the night before, Anna couldn't stop coughing, the baby had buggies all over her face when she woke up, I had a sore throat, and Jason had a tight chest. Mary, with her very strong immune system was fine yesterday, but woke up this morning coughing and has the sniffles. So, yesterday morning I called my pediatrician to make an apt for Anna, and they try to tell me that I couldn't bring her in, that they were booked for the next three days.
Here is how the conversation sounded:

"Hello, Dr. Jabri's office"

"Hello, I was wondering if you might have any open appointments today, my daughter Anna is not feeling well?"

"No, I'm sorry we are booked through Thursday"

"Well, we are leaving for Florida on Thursday, couldn't you squeeze her in?"

"No, I'm sorry, what day do you come back, I could make an appointment for her then!"

"Well, what should I do for my immune suppressed child that was up all night coughing until then, if you go ask Dr. Jabri he would want to see her, I'm sure he would."

Only minutes later she comes back on the phone,

"Ok, Dr. Jabri would like you to come in, could you be here in an hour?"

I don't know why they always give me a hard time, they should know us by now. My Dr. always sees Anna when she needs to be seen. I also brought the baby with us, just to basically ask him what to give her and how much. She wasn't very bad yesterday anyway. Anna only has a chest cold, but she sounds sooo bad. I almost feel bad that I brought her in for just that, but she has had bronchitis in the past that required antibiotics so it is better safe than sorry. The Dr. gave her a breathing treatment, then a RX for some heavy duty cough syrup. She wasn't coughing as much last night, but when she does she gets stuff up so that's good. Now, last night Anna slept fine, but Alexandria couldn't sleep at all. She was so stuffed up and she doesn't know how to handle it. She had to sleep in her swing because when she lied down she couldn't breath. I spent the night using saline drops and the nose plunger on her. This morning, everyone woke up miserable. Even though it is very hot and humid out today I have got the windows open to air out the sickness in this house. We are all lining up to take medicine. I need to do some laundry before we leave, but I am having a hard time getting started on my day. Poor Jason had to go to work today, and he might have it worse then all of us, he sounds horrible.
Please pray for us, that we will all get over this in the next couple days so that we can enjoy our trip.



Here is Anna not feeling so good being comforted by her daddy.

Countdown to Disney

It's almost here!  Four more days to go, then we are off to see Mickey.  This is what our whole summer has been based on, waiting to go to Disney World.  So, our paper chain is down to four links, then all that will be left is Mickey's head.  Yesterday Anna's wish granters came to give us our plane tickets, and final intinerary.  These people are the most organized people I know.  They have left us with no questions because they have covered everything already.  They, of course, brought over some more presents for the girls.  For Anna, a Cinderella dress with a tiara, wand and slippers. . 





For Mary, the new Harry Potter book (which I can't wait to read myself!)  and for the both of them Make a Wish t-shirts and buttons, and wrist bands.  They encourage you to wear the shirts, for added attention when we get to the parks!   Anna loved her princess dress, she refuses to take it off!  I am guessing that we will see a lot of little ones running around wearing them anyway.   I am not sure if I will post again until we get back, I will be busy getting ready for the trip.  On my list of things to do there is making sure all of our pets have enough food for my neighbor who will be taking care of them.  Thanks Lorraine!   Getting diapers, formula, and all that stuff for grama who will be taking care of  Alexandria.  Mary will be starting school as soon as we get back so I must go shopping for school supplies for her too.

Yesterday we went to my nephews birthday party, then went shopping for a digital camera! I have been wanting one for so long now and now I finally have one. I got it for only a little over $100 and I think it does the job well. I need to get used to the settings and stuff, but I have taken a few photos on it already (like the ones of Anna above) So, beware. I will be posting a lot of photos now! Here are a couple more of Alexandria and Mary!

Scrapbook Page

(click on image to enlarge)

(click on image to enlarge)

I made this page for a scrapbook we did for classkids a while back. Classkids is a support group for parents dealing their child's liver disease, and transplantation. This book was sent around all over the country, and each of us added a page of our child. It came out great, but it was hard for everyone to want to wait for it go around again for everyone to view it. Then Laurie (a fellow member of classkids) offered to make a cd scrapbook and send one out to everyone that wanted a copy. So, I want to say thank you Laurie. It came out great, and all the pages look wonderful!

Anna's little hospital stay

Well, were back from an unexpected hospital stay with Anna. I guess we were due since she has gone three years without being admitted for anything.

So, all day Friday Anna was full of energy, and we were outside for most of the day just playing, and she wasn't playing with anyone that was visibly sick. Saturday morning was a different story though. She woke up before me and complained that her tummy didn't feel good. I asked her to go and lay down on the couch in the living room while I got the baby a bottle. I turned on the TV for her while I feed the baby, and then when the baby was done I put her down and went to cuddle with Anna because that is all that is usually takes. So, I went over by her and she had fallen back to sleep. I tried to wake her up but she only woke up long enough to crawl on me. I noticed right away that her heart was racing, and she looked very pale. I woke Jason up and took Anna to the ER nearest to my house right away. When I walked into the ER holding Anna it was VERY busy. After we got seen in Triage they told me to take a seat, and that it would be a long wait because there were 11 cases ahead of us. I told them that if we had to wait any longer at all I would just drive Anna to Children's (an hour away, but I would have been waiting there for 2 hours) and that since she was a high risk case they would take her at Children's right away. Needless to say, they got us a bed.

They took some blood, started an IV and took some urine to rule out a bladder infection. She didn't have a fever through any of this. After a couple of hours they got most of her labs back and her liver and kidney function were all normal, but her white blood cell count was at 30,000 (normal is 10,000) That usually indicates a virus or infection, but they couldn't pin point anything. They then called Anna's doctors at Children's, but since it was a Saturday they talked to a resident, who had to get a hold of Dr. Alonso, or Dr.Emerick (our very good liver docs) so that took a couple more hours. Anna's doctors wanted her there at Children's (which at this point I was very glad to hear) She was still so sleepy, and her heart rate was high. So, this was Anna's first ride in an ambulance. She was so good through all of this, didn't show any signs of fear, my brave little girl! By the time we got to Children's Anna seemed to feel better, at least she was able to stay up now. Anna was excited to be there, a very familiar place, and she asked to go to Mcdonalds! (there is one in the basement there) Asking to eat is a very good sign!

It was like a little reunion gong up to the liver floor. Anna hasn't had to be admitted since she was 7 months old. All of her old nurses were happy to see her and couldn't believe how big she was. We got a single room, but right outside the nurses station which is a little loud, but easy to get the nurses attention. They kept her on IV fluids, and started her on an antibiotic, even though they didn't know what they were treating. We got there around 6:00 pm on Saturday night, so we didn't get to see a real doctor until late Sunday morning. They sent blood cultures at the other hospital and they didn't grow anything, but Anna's white blood cell count was still high so they wanted her to stay one more night for observation, and to keep the antibiotics going. Monday morning Anna was feeling fine, so when the doctors came to make their rounds they told us we could go home. All of her liver functions were fine, as well as her kidney functions, and her white blood cell count was almost back to normal. It was scary not knowing why she was feeling the way she was, and the fact that they couldn't find anything wrong with her. Our liver nurse put it like this, "who cares what it was, as long as her liver looks good, and she is feeling better now". Today she is much better, but I am keeping a close eye on her.

I don't know how I ever survived staying at the hospital with Anna for weeks at a time. I was gong crazy for just two days. I also forgot about that 2 hour delay on everything that hospitals seem to have. Thank goodness Anna is home and healthy! I think Anna is just keeping us on our toes, to remind us to not take her health for granted. You did it baby!