Birmingham - the news so far

We had a productive and interesting visit to Birmingham yesterday. Dr McKiernan is very pleased with Hannah's growth and development, and her energy levels. She now weighs 15kg (33 lb) and is 99 cm tall! Nothing was flagged up from her abdominal exam, although he said he couldn't be sure of its accuracy as Hannah was so tickly!

We had her bloods done there - the most comprehensive panel for a long time - so no results on those yet. I can either wait several weeks for the clinic letter to come in the post, or I can phone Liver Direct and get the results from there in a day or so. Guess which option I am choosing........expect an update on those very soon.

I didn't get chance to ask any of my questions about possible worsening of portal hypertension. Dr McKiernan threw me for a loop before I had chance by saying he is keen to do an endoscopy to check for varices in the next few months. Apparently age 3-4 is the most common time for varices to develop. I'm still a bit in shock from this as although I knew that a scope was likely in the future, I just didn't think it would be quite this soon. I have quite a few mixed feelings about this. Although an endoscopy is routine it is still an invasive procedure and requires a general anaesthetic in children. If the endoscopy shows large varices, Hannah will be eligible to take part in a European study on prophylactic treatment of varices. We need to make the decision BEFORE the initial procedure. More on this later.