2 years post transplant

Today marks 2 years since Leah's liver transplant. It is hard to believe. We thank God everyday for the life he has given her. We will always be indebted to the family who chose to donate life. Words cannot express the gratitude we feel. Leah is a healthy, lively 4 year old who loves life.

Happy 3rd Birthday Leah! Leah has done amazingly well over the last 6 months. We are looking at doing muscle closure sometime in January.

I know it's been awhile since we've done an update on Leah but here is a little info on how she is doing. She has adjusted well to being back home and continues to get stronger. Looking at her, you can't tell that anything happened a couple of months ago. Because of her muscle wall not being closed, she does have a belly that sticks out, but it doesn't seem to bother her in anyway. She does an amazing job of taking her medications and often times wants to do them herself. We had an appointment in Pittsburgh on Thursday and they are very pleased with her progress. We do not need to head back to Pittsuburgh until we schedule muscle closure for her. They are talking about doing the closure in January. We will be in Pittsburgh for about 2 weeks to have the surgery done. They said that this can be a very painful surgery. Thank you for your continued prayers and support. We are truly blessed.

We have arrived safely at home! We left Pittsburgh yesterday afternoon and arrived home last night. Leah was very excited about sleeping in her own bed again (so was her mom). We can't thank you enough for your prayers, encouraging emails, cards, gifts adn visits over the last 7 weeks. It has been quite a journey, but we enjoy having Leah's personality back. We will not need to be back in Pittsburgh until the end of April or beginning of May for a clinic appointment. We will go to a lab that is local to continue her blood work. Sometime toward the end of summer, we will look into getting Leah's muscles reattached. This will be about a 2 week stay in Pittsburgh. We praise God for bringing us through this journey.

This week didn't turn out quite the way we were hoping. On Monday, Leah's prograf level was about 3 times what it should be (prograf is her anti-rejection medication). Because of this, they wanted to retest it today and see where it's at. It was much better, but still a little high, so they would like to do blood work on Thursday again, to make sure she's at a safe level before releasing us. It sounds like we will most likely get to go home on Thursday. Despite all of this, we are very happy with Leah's progress. Everyday she seems more like herself.

If all goes well with Leah's appointment tomorrow and her liver levels are good, we will be coming home. We will need to wait on the results of her levels before we get the ok to head out. We are looking forward to being back at our house again but not looking forward to packing up all the things that have accumulated over the last 7 weeks. We will keep you updated:)

We had good news today. Leah's CMV and EBV virus came back negative. We were very happy to hear this. They are also continuing to cut more of her medications. She is still on a lot, but it has gotten much better over the last week. We are being told that we might be able to head home this coming Monday after clinic. Yea!! We will probably find out on Thursday if that is the plan. This coming Tuesday will be 7 weeks that Leah and I have been out here. I think we are both ready to be back home. Travis continues to travel back and forth. He works for 3 days, then travels out on Thursdays. This week, Ethan is staying with me and it has been going well. Leah enjoys having her older brother here to play with. She is doing really well with eating and doesn't seem to mind textures. We are still working on her transitioning to regular milk, but she is slowing getting used to the taste. We are very happy with how the last couple of weeks have gone. Thanks to everyone for your continued prayers and support.