Quint's kasai procedure

Saturday October 14th 2006, early in the morning, we were informed that the operation will continue...... at 11:45 we went down to the OR. It was a difficult moment, to give this little guy to others and that they would open him up.

Dr. Aronson said to us that, if it was Billiary atresia, that we would be called with the message that we would continue with the procedure. The initial operation should last about 3 hours. After 3.5 hours we were very nervous...the phone rang and Oscar picked up....we continue with the procedure..... Quint has Billiary Atresia. We so hoped that it would not be this illness, and in one moment everything changed. BILIARY ATRESIA, it seemed that the world stood still for a moment we could not believe it. Our child has a chronic disease, it was very difficult to accept that fact.

Quint was 2 days in the intensive care unit and recovered quite quickly. The first few days the three of us spend together. We wanted to be there for Quint 200% and we had to give the illness a place amongst us and that took some time......it was a very emotional period.

 

** Shirley **

To Holland for further checks/operation

Wednesday 3 October , we sat in the airplane to Holland. Through good friends we got the number of Dr. Aronson and my mother had already called him in Holland. At first instance we wanted to go to England because there was a hospital specialized in liver diseases. After my mother had spoken to Dr. Aronson he advised us to come as soon as possible to the Amsterdam Medical Center (AMC). We did as we were told. We were full of emotions because there was something terribly wrong with Quint. Melissa, our almost 4 year old daughter, was a good distraction in the airplane. She did not understand what was happening and was very happy going to Holland to visit grandma and grandpa. My parents picked her up and took her home.

The first day was very busy Quint was checked by pediatric surgeon, Dr. Aronson and a little later a gastro-entologist.. all this we were overwhelmed and for now we had enough of the doctors. The next day it became clear which checks would be planned for Quint after the weekend. We were allowed to go ‘home’ for the weekend. So on Saturday we drove to my parents and Sunday to Oscar’s brother, here more of Oscar’s family visited. Later in the evening we drove back to the hospital.
 Monday 8th October a MRI-scan was on the program and an echo and more blood tests. Wednesday 10 October Quint received an ERCP. This is a special endoscopic examination of the bile ducts. Besides this, it is possible to view the bile-ducts by injecting contrast liquid and making x-rays.
 This examination showed that there was a blockage in the bile duct .With the MRI , the specialists could see the duct from the liver until just before the insistent. With the ERCP it was the opposite: the ducts were visible from the intestines until just before the liver. So an operation was necessary for a ‘visual check’. Still we were very hopeful that it would not be billiary atresia.
The operation could be performed as soon as an operating room was available.

Thursday around noon, we received news that the operation would not go through today. Hopefully Friday. On Friday, Quint had to be nuchter from early in the morning again we have to waitaround 4 in the afternoon , we again received word that once again the operation could not go through, finally we could feed Quint. This was terrible and we asked Dr. Aronsonwhat the chances would be of getting the operationroom the next day. Because , if it was billiary atresia, the chances of success will be greatest if done before 8 weeks of age. Quint is already 7 weeks. Dr. Aronson understood our concerns and he hoped indeed he was able to operate Quint the next day.

                                                       

** Shirley **

Referral to europe

Wednesday 3 October, we sat in the airplane to Holland. Through good friends we got the number of Dr. Aronson and my mother had already called him in Holland. At first instance we wanted to go to England because there was a hospital specialized in liver diseases. After my mother had spoken to Dr. Aronson he advised us to come as soon as possible to the Amsterdam Medical Center (AMC). We did as we were told. We were full of emotions because there was something terribly wrong with Quint. Melissa, our almost 4 year old daughter, was a good distraction in the airplane. She did not understand what was happening and was very happy going to Holland to visit grandma and grandpa. My parents picked her up and took her home.

 The first day was very busy Quint was checked by pediatric surgeon, Dr. Aronson and a little later a gastro-entologist.. all this we were overwhelmed and for now we had enough of the doctors. The next day it became clear which checks would be planned for Quint after the weekend. We were allowed to go ‘home’ for the weekend. So on Saturday we drove to my parents and Sunday to Oscar’s brother, here more of Oscar’s family visited. Later in the evening we drove back to the hospital.
 Monday 8th October a MRI-scan was on the program and an echo and more blood tests. Wednesday 10 October Quint received an ERCP. This is a special endoscopic examination of the bile ducts. Besides this it is possible to view the bile-ducts by injecting contrast liquid and making x-rays.
 This examination showed that there was a blockage in the bile duct With the MRI the specialists could see the duct from the liver until just before the insistent. With the ERCP it was the opposite the ducts were visible from the intestines until just before the liver. So an operation was necessary for a ‘visual check’. Still we were very hopeful that it would not be billiary atresia.
The operation could be performed as soon as an operating room was available.
Thursday around noon we received news that the operation would not go through today. Hopefully Friday. On Friday Quint had to be nuchter from early in the morning again we have to waitaround 4 in the afternoon we again received word that once again the operation could not go through, finally we could feed Quint. This was terrible and we asked Dr. Aronsonwhat the chances would be of getting the operations the next day. Because if it was billiary atresia the chances of success will be greatest if done before 8 weeks of age. Quint is already 7 weeks. Dr. Aronson understood our concerns and he hoped indeed he was able to operate Quint the next day.