I wanted to give the feel that this wasn't "so" serious... Olivia's CT results came back and showed two things. (Please know first off that Livi is doing GREAT!) The first was that her pancreatic cyst has grown. It used to measure at 3.8 cm and now it's 5.5. So numerically speaking, quite a big amount of growth since September, however Dr. Kogut the GI surgeon says that looking at the scans side by side there doesn't appear to be much difference. The main difference she says is that where before the cyst looked withered now it is very taut. Bottom line, the cyst is not going anywhere and will only continue to grow. Now, let me explain the cyst. When Olivia had her bout with pancreatitis (June '08), the middle portion of her pancreas was obliterated. (Truly the doctors say they have no idea where it went, "it's just gone".) The head is still functioning at a good enough rate to keep her from being diabetic. Unfortunately the tail end is still trying to do it's job as well, and produce the enzymes that it's supposed to produce. But, because the two ends are no longer connected the tail end has no access to the intestines at the head and therefore has no where to dump the enzymes... hence the cyst. It has become the dumping ground for the dead wasted material from the tail end of the pancreas. In no way is it cancerous because it is all dead tissue. SO... we are going in to surgery on Monday morning to connect the cyst to the stomach so it will naturally drain into the stomach. The cyst is so large that it is pushing up into the stomach and so provides an ideal setup for this type of drain placement.
So, as we were getting ready to leave the surgeons office after the consult Dr. Kogut says, "Oh! What? Wait... this (the CT report) says she has gallstones!?" I said, "My daughter?" Apparently my 4 year old, because of the TPN that fed her for 3 months, now has gallstones. So the #2 thing is Olivia will be getting a 2 for 1 surgery and have her gallbladder removed at the same time.
The doctors don't quite understand how she is not in any pain. The cyst alone (practically the size of a tennis ball) should be causing a significant amount of pain, but with the gallstones showing up on the CT scan (which is the last place they show up), they just shake their heads. I know why. Faith is an amazing thing. (See post "Young Faith" from October '08.) We prayed that her pain would go away and it truly did.
As always your prayers are welcome as well as visits and phone calls as Livi will be in the hospital for a minimum of 5 days. We'll keep the blog updated to the latest.
6 comments:
You deserve a medical degree! I am amazed by your knowledge and understanding of things that are so complex. Our faith and prayers will be joined with yours next week. She is one special little girl, I think that was obvious from the beginning. And she was definitely sent to special parents. Love and hugs, the Richards
Wow...whew, Olivia sure will have some stories to tell. We too will keep her in our prayers...what a strong little girl she is! WE love you guys!
Good luck to Livi hope the surgery goes well and she recovers quickly. As always, she is in our prayers.
Of course you are all in our thoughts and prayers. We know that Livi will face this challenge head on much like the rest and be released by her birthday. Hopefully this doesn't delay your March trip. Lots of love and prayers from Chicago.
You guys are so great! We, of course, will be praying for you and hoping for the best.
Your sweet family is in our thoughts and prayers! Love ya!
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