Hi it’s Becca again with a quick update on Hilary.
She was feeling much better this morning which was HUGE! Finally some relief from the nausea and headache. This was really the first time I have seen her seem more like herself since her surgery on Monday, Aug 17th. Her bilirubin numbers are still elevated but coming down which is good. I asked one of the drs to explain to me what exactly happened and was told she presumptively had a complication with her surgery. Normally, bile flows from the liver through the bile duct into the small intestine. Unfortunately, she had a small leak of bile into the abdominal cavity and collected under the diaphragm and part of the liver (“sub diaphragmatic and peri hepatic fluid collection in the intra abdomen”). The cultures and gram stain were all negative, so no infection. So there was no abscess present but rather a biloma “a pocket of bile fluid”. Since it was a slow leak, it took a while for it to present.
Another victory today was the removal of her drain. This has been not only a pain to have, but painful and I know that Hilary was very happy to have it removed. They are saying she may be able to go home tomorrow, which we are all hoping for.
I spent the 1st part of the day hanging out at the hospital, we strolled down to the cafeteria to get some lunch, Hills in her PJs and IV tubes tied to her hands. I don’t think many patients do this so there were a few looks! There is a beautifully landscaped and very peaceful courtyard off the cafeteria and we sat out at a table and enjoyed the Texas sunshine. It was wonderful to sit and chat and pretend we were in a nice park vs. St. David’s hospital. I have missed getting to do this with my sis!
xo becca