Celeste...

For the past few weeks, my 9-year old niece Celeste has been struggling with her blood disorder. Her blood has been breaking down quickly and she has needed a few transfusions. The doctors were planning on taking out her spleen (which is the 'cure' for this disorder) in a few weeks when she was on break from school and after a few immunizations that are ideal to get while the spleen is still in. She got the immunizations, but they weren't able to wait any longer to take out the spleen. In the past few days her blood was breaking down too quickly. So, surgery was scheduled for this Thursday (yesterday).

There was some discussion that they would remove her gall bladder as well, since gall stones can be common with this disorder. But, they were not convinced she has any gall stones, although the ultrasound showed a little ‘stuff.’ The doctor believed that to be more fluid-like than stone-like. So, Thursday they did the surgery laprascopically and only removed her spleen.

During the procedure her spleen was VERY enlarged and difficult to remove. There was a scary moment during the procedure when an artery was nicked and she bled for about 10 minutes losing at least a ¼ of her blood. But, the surgeon was giving her blood during the procedure to compensate and there are no ill effects. She’ll be in the hospital until tomorrow, but in typical kid fashion they say she’s bouncing back already. She’ll be back home in Castle Rock by Sunday.

Thanks for all of the extra prayers for Celeste!