Thanks to everyone who prayed for Myka today during her follow-up trip to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh for her biliary procedure!  She’s now HOME, resting comfortably and, most importantly, drain-free.

Today was exhausting, to say the least, as the hospital is on heightened alert with the Covid-19 outbreak and Myka was tagged with isolation-precautions, as well, for the entire day.  So, while the hospital felt like a ghost-town, every move was monitored and everyone wearing masks made it tough for a kid to understand what’s going on without being able to see a doctor’s kind face.  We typically tag-team operations as parents, but with the coronavirus restrictions only one of us could be with Myka today.  So, Richie is physically exhausted being there for Myka and Regan is emotionally exhausted not being able to be there all day for her little one.  We could share 10 more things about how the consequences of this outbreak have had us on edge as we aim to protect Myka, but another day…  We’re simply grateful for all the precautions being taken and to have Myka HOME!  Having her at the hospital today was not ideal during a time like this, but we’re thankful for the access to such amazing healthcare.

Myka was in the Operating Room (OR) for about an hour and a half this morning for Interventional Radiology (IR) to perform the cholangiogram on her bile ducts.  They found good flow through the main bile duct that connects to the Small Intestine, but many other minor bile ducts do not have the quality of flow that they’d like, as “sludge” seems to form over time.  While they were able to pull the biliary drain today, the transplant team thinks that this bile duct narrowing may be an ongoing issue for Myka in her transplant journey.  Thankfully her newly prescribed medicine (ursodiol) has been thinning the bile well enough over the last 6 weeks.  After removing the biliary drain this morning, they closed the wound sight with glue and steri strips.

Myka did well in recovery this afternoon with minimal belly pain – resting, eating some rice, walking a bit and watching a lot of Frozen 2.  She returned home late this afternoon requesting some McDonald’s French fries and Chipotle rice.  So, we’re grateful she’s gaining nutrition with an increased appetite.

We always say, “home doesn’t equal healed,” and there’s lots of things that Myka’s doctors are still keeping an eye on. If you’d like to join us in prayer, here’s what we’re continuing to lift up in the coming days & weeks:

• PRAY for neither Myka or Richie to have picked up any contagious germs or sickness (like Covid-19) at Children’s today.
• PRAY for healing of Myka’s wound site on her stomach.
• PRAY for no setbacks from her procedure, like bleeding or infection.
• PRAY for her bile ducts to continually open up in a healthy way with lots of daily hydration and solid nutrition.
• PRAY for Myka’s liver and bile ducts to continually be received by her body as her own with no ongoing complications.

Thanks for supporting us well with encouragement and prayer during this season of uncertainty.  We love you all!

Richie, Regan, Alivia & Myka