Emma does have an abnormal immune system. Her gammaglobulin levels are lower than normal. That being said one of the function tests ordered came back with an abnormal reaction to tetnus and candida.. She is unable to fight off these infections. Which explains the 5 admissions to the PICU for infections in the last two months.
Not only does she have the kidney reflux she has to fight against but she also has a weakened immune system which is also putting her at risk for fungal and bacterial infections such as yeast infection and UTI's, etc.
What can we do? We are infusing her with IVIG.. .. we are building up her antibodies so her body doesnt have to work as hard and hoping this will keep the infections down.. we know that it will not keep them away completely. . .. .
She will go to the day hospital and get her IVIG every three weeks for awhile until we can be sure whether this is going to work. Then we will still do them every four weeks if they do help.
Before we were discharged this last time from the PICU she completed her first IVIG infusion and also was given her fourth blood transfusion.(She has had four in the last five months.) Since everytime we draw more and more blood we think that all the labwork is causing her transfusion requirements. However, we never know with Emma...
Dr Basnet called in Dr Neibergie who is a Hematologist to run some testing on Emma and see if she has an undiagnosed hematology issue........ So far the testing they have performed has came back lower than normal but that was to be expected and they think it is all related to all the blood work she has done while in the PICU. There are some tests they are needing to perform to check into other possibilities, however, she had two blood transfusions that were only three weeks apart... so a large portion of her blood was donor blood...... So if they run tests now the results would be based off of the donor blood... so hopefully she can go a few months without being in the hospital and needing labwork drawn daily so that we can get accurate test results and know if there is another issue we need to treat.
We need a lot of prayers that this IVIG will work and help Emma fight off these infections and eventually go several months without hospital stays.
As always thank you for following Emma's Story! She is a very inspiring little gal and is loved by many! :)
Very nice post, impressive. its quite different from other posts. Thanks for sharing.
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