Outbreak

It seems that Jaisal's stomach bug is extremely contagious. Pretty much anyone who has been in contact with him has gotten sick within a day or two. Kirk and I were both knocked out over the weekend. We're not sure who Patient Zero really was, but among our friends and family Jaisal is the source and cause of a lot of illness. Sorry!

We thought Jaisal was getting better on Saturday, but then his stools lost color. As any of the liver parents who read this blog know, in the biliary atresia world stools with no color are cause for a lot of alarm. They don't necessarily have to be a sign of problems in the post-transplant world, but can indicate biliary strictures in Sir Oliver, a potentially serious problem. So you guessed it, we started freaking out.

We ended up taking Jaisal for labs on Tuesday and all of his liver numbers came back great. No clear sign of rejection or biliary strictures. Whew! What we did learn was that Jaisal's magnesium level was really low, a potentially concerning situation. Then later in the afternoon we learned that Jaisal's prograf level was way too high. This last bit really concerned the nurse and we were told to skip the evening and morning dose of the prograf and take Jaisal back in for labs this morning.

The labs from this morning showed no improvement in the mag level, so Jaisal has been admitted to the hospital to get a magnesium infusion. You want to know one of the side effects of magnesium? Diarrhea. Ugghh. The doctors also want a stool sample to see if Jaisal is still fighting some sort of gut infection. We should hear in an hour or so what his prograf level from this morning is, but I am hoping it has come down considerably. We want his ideal level to be between 8-10 and the last level was at a 20, so hopefully holding a couple doses will get it back to perfect.

We know we're in the hospital overnight and potentially a couple days depending on how Jaisal continues to absorb magnesium and what the stool samples show. Our simple, normal kid illness has landed us back in liverland, but I am certain the little man will do his best to get discharged quickly.