Results are in . . .

And we're NEGATIVE for rejection!  Thank the Lord!  His kidneys are working overtime and he is very anxious to be getting those tubes out of his areas.  The vent will be taken out tomorrow morning, but we're not sure about the catheter.  They want to make sure things are working full-time.  So very good news for today.

We also received many letters and a picture today in the mail!  I can't tell you how happy he was to see all the mail and hear how everyone was pulling for him.  Thank you all!

New Scope and Biopsy

Things move pretty fast here in the PICU.  They decided to go ahead and see how the steroids worked today and did the scope and new biopsy.  Preliminary status - things look better.  Isaiah is more awake and his breathing/lungs and kidney function have again steadily improved.  We won't have biopsy results until late tomorrow afternoon.  It would be nice to be able to get rid of one potential problem and move on to tackling the next!

Tough 3 Days

Isaiah is set to be scoped on Wednesday for another biopsy and to confirm/deny that rejection has set in. We have basically come to the realization this is going to be a tough three days as we won't receive any news about the biopsy until at least Thursday afternoon. They have continued to treat the kidney's and are trying to get him to void more fluid from his body. His blood sugars spiked to 400 last night in response to the steroids. It just seems like every time we try to take care of one problem, the treatment causes another. But we've been through this before and Isaiah is still waking up a few times a day. The nurses were pretty impressed as the sedation medication he is on should keep him knocked out. But as we all know, he's a fighter. Sorry there are no pictures, but having to post pictures of him on the ventilator doesn't do him justice.

And just as fast - Bad News

They scoped Isaiah today to see how the bowel was doing overall. The GI doctor stated he thought it looked like the bowel was in early stages of rejection as it was red, swollen, and irritated. The biopsy won't be ready until tomorrow morning/afternoon so it's too early to tell at the moment.

Coupled with his slow recovery, low platelet counts, pneumonia, and being yellow and this all spells trouble for out little boy. He has been awake a few times today and even smiled for Russ and Heather. Keep the prayers coming and I will try to get up to date information out as it becomes available.

Quick update - better news.

He was awake twice today for about 20 minutes and even wanted to try and play video games :-)

He is still under and the platelets haven't corrected themselves yet, but him waking up and wanting to sit up are encouraging signs. We hope to have better news tomorrow.

1 step forward, 2 steps back

So we started off with a lot of discoloration of the skin. This is just under his ostomy bag. We have been battling a loss of platelets and no kidney function now for 3 days. Last night was a long one as I was up all night waiting for labs and hoping the IVIG would help coat the replacement platelets but so far has been a lost cause. So with everything else we've been dealing with, his body is fighting itself and up until late night his breathing was labored at best. So now we're intubated:

Jennifer is here this weekend and brought up a puppy pal since Percy isn't allowed to come to Omaha. This will have to do for now as we wait for his body to reset, let the Lord heal, and continue to pray for a good recovery. I was up until 0830 this morning as there was a lot of excitement with putting the tube in, getting his labs done, and finding the right amount of pain control. I know the pictures only show part of the story, but he has really been struggling and we weren't sure he was going to make it last night. It's always easier to look at the situation after the fact, but I know there were many people praying for our little boy last night and I can only say the Lord was listening.

We have an ADDRESS!

I've receive a lot of requests for an address to send cards et al to Omaha. Well here it is:

Isaiah (or Aaron) Johnson

PO Box 6550

Omaha, NE 68106

We've had issues in the past with the hospital postal service "misplacing" items for extended periods of time. So if you have anything you'd like to send, please do so. Isaiah loves to get pictures and mail. It's lonely up here :-)

Anyway - labs are doing some funky things. We're currently experience kidney issues related to the prograf levels in his blood. Basically, his body has been under a lot of stress with the transplant and we're trying to get all the levels back to as close to normal as possible. And when one thing is out of whack, then it affects something else. So currently we've gotten his platelet count high enough that he will actually start coagulating again, but his FK levels are so high they're interfering with his kidneys.

He's also a bit yellow, which indicates there may also be a few issues with the new liver. . . .

He's trying to be a trooper but having to wear a mask, having 4 different lines coming out of the body, and having to be on monitor leads is having the desired 7 year old boy effect. So we'll keep praying and see what the team brings us next for options. Currently we're trying to tackle one issue at a time.