What's The Latest

It got later than I anticipated, but here is the latest from our recent trip to Pittsburgh!

We got in Thursday night and stayed the weekend with our great friends, Rob and Alisa Zisman. Nolan had to be at same day surgery at 6 am, so it was an early wake up call for us Friday morning. Once he gets into the procedure, it is pretty quick. We actually spent most of the time speaking to one of our transplant doctors about Nolan's medications, genetic testing and what the next 6 months will look like. This was also Dr. Lal's (transplant doctor) last weekend at CHP, as he is heading west to Utah. It bums us out because we really clicked with him and we all have grown close; and I know he enjoyed watching Nolan progress so well. There are many doctors we really enjoy at CHP, but we will miss Dr. Lal.

Once Nolan got out from the biopsy we were called back to the recovery area. He was super groggy, but otherwise was doing well. We ended up leaving the hospital close to 1 pm and spent the rest of the day relaxing at Rob and Alisa's. They have a son, Enzo, around Nolan's age...so it was fun to see them playing with one another. On Saturday morning we got a call from Dr. Lal letting us know that Nolan's biopsy came back with zero rejection - which is the best we have ever had! We were so thrilled and relieved! The rest of the weekend we really just relaxed, went out to eat, went for a walk/picnic in Frick Park...it was exactly what we were looking to do. So, again - THANKS Rob and Alisa!

Monday morning we had an appointment with our gastroenterology at 8 am to discuss feedings and his liver enzymes. His liver count came back normal, which is great! But now the question is why his counts were elevated in the first place. Most important, Nolan needs to be on a prophylactic antibiotic to protect him from certain ailments, most notably a type of pneumonia that could be fatal. So, he will start back on Bactrim this week - and if his liver enzyme elevate, we'll now know it's the Bactrim. We also started him on Pedia-sure instead of formula. He is now down to 3 bolus feeds a day through his NG tube, as well as relying on oral feeds for his caloric intake. So, we are making progress!

ALL IN ALL - it was a great weekend. It was everything we wanted to hear...and MORE! It has been a busy week...actually, July has been pretty crazy! This weekend we are heading to a wedding in the Finger Lakes. I am actually looking forward to a get-away with Matt and taking some time to ourselves. BUT, I also miss our kids, so I am looking forward to our life slowing down a bit.

Thank you all for the continued support and prayers. We are beyond blessed on how well everything has gone thus far and hope things continue to move in the right direction!

Off to bed. GOOD NIGHT!

#nhos