A fancy medical word for the build up of fluid in the abdomen.
That is what Alexa has developed since Saturday.
When Alexa was first discharged from the hospital, she had it as well. Apparently, to be expected due to the trauma. Within a couple of days it had come down significantly.
On Saturday we noticed that it was getting bigger again; by Sunday her urine output had significantly decreased from her normal.
We had a regularly scheduled appointment on Tuesday for the 4 hour infusion of Cytogam, so after speaking to the nurse practitioner it was decided it could wait until then.
Tuesday, her stomach was very distended and she was in a lot of pain due to all the stretching of the abdomen region. One of her eyes was also swollen, I presume due to the water retention. So they took quite a bit of blood.
The good news is that her blood work was perfect--liver function tests are great, kidney function is great. The only thing that is slightly low is a protein called albumin. This could be causing the water retention. This one is an easy fix.
To be certain they ordered an emergency ultrasound. Her doctor reviewed it and it was absolutely normal. *Breathing a sigh of relief*
The not so good news is that her swelling is significant (Dr. A said "impressive"--Never a good thing coming from a doctor) and although expected after surgery, it should be getting better, not worse.
So they have given her Lasik, a diuretic medication to dispel all the water. We are to return tomorrow to be re-evaluated and if there is no improvement, they will order an emergency CT Scan. Sometimes the CT Scan can pick up things that an ultrasound cannot but due to the exposure to radiation, they did not want to order it prematurely. With the CT Scan they are hoping to be able to see if there is any restricted blood flow or high pressure in the blood vessels of the liver. This one is not such an easy fix and we are really hoping and praying that this is not the case.
So in the meantime, I will be trying to get her to drink and pee as much as possible, consume enough protein to increase her albumin and prealbumin (my how things have changed!), and measuring that belly so I know if in fact it is getting better, worse or staying the same.
I know I have asked for a lot of prayers recently, but with this being our first hiccup with transplant, if you have any more left today, would you please keep us in mind and pray that this issue is not a blood vessel problem?
Prayers always! We had A LOT of fluid retention right after transplant too. Ibrahim was still in the PICU at the time, and remember he was like a little balloon, he was so full of fluid! They gave Lasik and when that didn't work fast enough, they gave something else too (I can't remember what it was called). Once he started to pee it got MUCH better. Luckily he was still intubated at the time, and was not too inconvenienced. Hopefully Alexa feels better soon and that she pees a lot! LOL!
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