News about Liam

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May 11, 2007

Liam continues to amaze us all. His gentle disposition and sincere smile warm the hearts of everyone here in Seattle. What an honor it is to be his Mom.

As you heard from Bill, Liam and I are back in Seattle. The specialists decided that it would be in Liam’s best interest to “bridge” his condition as we wait eagerly for the notification that a new liver is being offered to him. The hope is that he will have an offer within the next 6 months. If this is not the case, there is a slightly more aggressive surgery to help with the portal hypertension. We hope that surgery will not be necessary.

Yesterday Liam had an Endoscopy procedure. He was put to sleep and a small scope with a camera at the end was inserted from his throat, through his esophageous, and into the stomach. The doctors felt that it was important to get a “lay of the land” to count the varices and determine if they have increased or decreased since last months procedure. The doctors felt they looked better, however, it was apparent that the pressure was still too high. Today another team of specialists from U of Washington did an additional bridging procedure. They did another angio on Liam’s shunt and were successful in opening it to a “safe” level (last time we were here, they brought the pressure from 18 to 14 – today they reduced it further from 14-12. The lower the number, the less likely he is to have another bleed. 12 is the boardline industry standard by which they consider him to be “not a major risk”.) In addition to the angio, the doctors coiled 4 major vein clusters in Liam’s stomach, 2 of which were new since last month. The best news is that nothing was done to his spleen.

All in all, The Seattle doctors are pleased with the results of this visit,and we’ve been given permission to fly home today! Once again, we thank you for your prayers!!

Love and blessings,
The Hearne’s