Well, unfortunately I have to bad news to share with everyone. Hailey got another infection yesterday. She has a lot of stomach issues anyway and cannot tolerate much food or liquid, so she throws up sometimes. She threw up a little a couple of days ago and the doctors think that she ruptured something in her stomach, because she was throwing up blood last night. She was also having a lot of trouble breathing. They think that she aspirated some of the vomit and it caused an infection. Not pneumonia again, but a similar infection. They said it’s not that bad, but it was very scary seeing her throw up blood. She has never done that before and I was really worried about her.
She is doing much better today, although she is very tired. They do want to keep her for a few extra days to stabilize her condition. We were supposed to leave Thursday, now they want us to stay until Tuesday. I’m kinda sad about it and was really excited about going home to see Neil and Carter. I just can’t believe this happened, it was very unexpected. Even earlier yesterday afternoon she was doing great. Then she started getting sick around 10 pm. Before the infection, she was doing awesome! She’s holding her head up now, trying to talk more and more, is so much stronger, she’s breathing SO good and her lungs are functioning much better than before, her vision is improving and so much more. I’m so happy for her and I know that once she’s over this infection, she’ll be back to doing great, just like with the last infection. Thankfully this one isn’t as bad as the last one and she’ll be over it much quicker.
They’ve been taking really good care of her through this and are all really concerned about her… and even me (they could see that I was very upset). All of the nurses were in here, as well as a few of the resident doctors. They even called the two head neurologists, who were at home, to come in and check on Hailey. They were in here for several hours, trying to stabilize her condition and the nurses checked on her all through the night. They were all pretty upset about it too, because they were all very happy to see her doing so much better. They really care about her and love spending time with her, so they are sad that we’re leaving soon.
The doctors said that there will be even more improvements to come. It usually takes about a month to see the results of the gene therapy and although we have already seen some results from the stem cells, it can take several months to see the FULL results. With our last trip, she did continue to improve in the months following her treatment. So we have a lot to look forward to. I really didn’t know what to expect this time, so I’m really impressed. Hailey still has a long way to go, but she has made so much progress. They sure can do amazing things here. All of the other patients are doing much better too, so that is very encouraging. I can’t wait to see how she does after her third round of treatment! We plan to come back in 3 or 4 months.
I also really wanted to comment on Obama overturning Bush’s veto on stem cell research. I think that it’s wonderful and long overdue. It’s so sad that so many lives have been lost and so many people have had to suffer because there is no other treatment for them. Their only option is going to a foreign country and spending tens of thousands of dollars for medical treatment that should have been available in our country for years now. While this is great news, they do still have a long way to go before it can be available to everyone, because of the FDA and safety regulations. But at least we’re making some progress and one step closer.
I also think that it is very important for me to point out that the stem cells that would be used in our country are embryonic, but they are NOT from abortions. They are from donated eggs that were to be used for invitro fertilization. They have an excessive amount and these embryos would either be frozen forever or tossed out. Why not make some good out of them? I think that if more people knew that, embryonic stem cell research would not be such an issue. I think that stem cells are the future of medicine and we will be able to do amazing things with them in the years to come. They can cure diseases, end people’s suffering and give the sick a much better quality of life. I know they have for Hailey. In some cases, like ours, it is their only option… their only hope.
