The Liver Biopsy

My daughter’s transplant nurse has been prepping me for almost a year of the prospect of a liver biopsy being in our future.  But like any good mom, I just nodded my head as I got dizzy with thoughts of a time and place that I didn’t want to revisit.  You see, we found out when she was 3 1/2 months of age that she had a liver disease – biliary atresia and needed a transplant.  She received a transplant at 7 1/2 months of age and the details of that time and after can still be found here.  She is now 9 and we have had no issues with her liver and are very thankful and grateful.  (the pic is from when she was 7, don’t tell her as she may get me.)

Nonetheless, her dear sweet transplant doctor wants to check her actual liver to make sure that her every 2 month lab draws are providing an accurate picture of what is going on inside of her liver.  We believe that her body and her liver have formed a happy partnership because she is on a very low dose of her anti-rejection meds and she still has perfect labs.  I am all for being sure but of course I wish there was some other way to give me that surety.

Alas, there isn’t, so in the month of October, she will have a biopsy.  It is scheduled as in/out and my prayer is that we are indeed in/out.  I don’t want to stay overnight.  Yes, I said I because I probably have more anxiety about this than my lovely daughter.  Trust me, she doesn’t want to go but she understands that she has to go.  She has no memory of the 5 weeks spent in the hospital.  No memory of receiving a blood transfusion to boost her numbers that caused a blockage in her hepatic artery that caused them to relist her as a status 1 patient which translates to get a liver soon or die.  She has no memory of her mom being in the room after the 2nd transfusion that made her heart rate fall to in the 40′s and the staff flooded the room with a defibrillator as she was crashing.  I have those memories and they are vivid.

So, the nervous Nelly in me kicks into overdrive to make sure the staff has washed blood on hand in her blood type just in case she is not clotting as she needs to after the biopsy.  The Nelly in me is like a serious boss lady trying to think of each and every possible scenario and then making sure there is a solution to it.  Trust me, nobody messes with Nelly, she is like an amped up momma grizzly protecting her babes from a male on the prowl.

However, in all of my Nelliness, I am reminded of how faithful God has been to our Princess and how I must give this biopsy over to Him because Nelly can’t think of everything no matter how hard she tries.  I have to rely on Him to deal with my anxious heart and mind so that I don’t transfer my anxieties to my daughter.  I have to trust Him that His will W-I-L-L be done before and after this biopsy.  It’s not easy but He has gotten us through worst, so I continue to trust.  In my trusting, I do ask for the prayers of my fellow Christian brothers and sisters.  Prayers for the biopsy, the doctor, the nurses, the equipment, my daughter, my anxieties, the results  will show no signs of rejection, that afterwards her blood will clot and she won’t need a transfusion, and that we will not have to stay overnight.  Thank you!