The road from Collins transplant has been a bumpy one. Her post-transplant stay in the hospital was extended totally one month in the hospital. It was a long and hard time for the family. Collins developed a lymphatic leak 10 days post-transplant that put her back into the ICU for another 5 days because she was having difficulty breathing. Collins must be on special no fat formula (it’s really yucky tasting) until her leak heals. Once she left the ICU Collins started to do much better tolerating formula. She started playing and acting like herself which lifted everyone’s spirits and soon after she was discharged. 

Bijan went back to work just before Collins was discharged. Kristen has been taking care of Collins full time since leaving the hospital and will be headed back to work in December. Collins’ doctors have allowed a nanny to be hired in January. Collins won’t be able to go daycare until she is much less immunosuppressed and there is wide use of a Covid Vaccine. Viruses pose a great threat to kids with transplants because they can attack the graft or cause other life-threatening diseases. So, for now Collins is safest at home with Mom and Dad. 

Since the family been home, they have worked on getting Collins to take all her formula by mouth and exploring new foods like broccoli and pancakes. Due to being in the hospital for so long Collins has been working on catching up on her gross motor development. She’s getting closer to rolling over, loves sitting on her own and even standing up with mom and dad’s help! She also graduated from her NG tube when she started taking all her medicines by mouth!