What's going on...

Well the last few months have been a whirlwind. We have had so much change! Some good news that we have is Trevor started a new job. He now works at the same mine my dad does and so far he is liking it. He's building fences right now and is going to be one buff and tan dude after this summer!!! We also bought a house. We really wanted to buy one before the tax credit expires and we made it by about a month! We really like the house. It was foreclosed so we got a GREAT deal and it's actually pretty big (1800 sq ft). We plan on totally remodeling it and I cannot wait for my kitchen! Hopefully we can get most of the remodeling done before our baby comes! July seems to keep coming so fast! I'm almost 30 weeks already!! We close on the house the middle of May so I hope that we can be done!
Sadly, these months have brought some not so great change also. Starting in the beginning of February, Jacen was sick with something every single day. He really never got a break. He had 3 ear infections in just 6 wks, a couple throat infections (one so bad he refused to eat or drink for a few days and had to be hospitalized overnight for it) a sinus infection and the stomach flu a couple of times. He just couldn't fight anything off! Then on March 11th he started throwing up. He didn't have any other stomach problems, but he threw up at least once a day for 3 weeks. It seemed like we were always in the doctors office, but they did blood work, urinalysis, and stomach tests, and everything came back negative. His urine was super dark and had lots of crystals, but they were thinking it was from dehydration from throwing up so much. Then on March 30th he started turning yellow. My mom and my doctor both didn't think he was that yellow, but they see jaundice babies all the time. I insisted that he get his liver checked, and my doctor said he'd run the blood work, then call me the next day to tell me the results. When I got a call from him a few hours later, I knew it wasn't good. He told me Jacen's liver enzymes were extremely high, that he had hepatitis and that we needed to go to Denver that night. When I heard the word hepatitis I was so SO offended. I had only heard of the type of hepatitis that is associated with drugs and other risky behaviors. I told him that "My husband and I do not lead hepatitis risk lifestyles, so I know my son doesn't have that!" He politely explained there were more kinds and that hepatitis just meant he was having liver failure. So that night we drove to Denver, got lost and ended up staying in a hotel for the night. The next morning we got Jacen admitted into the hospital and they immediately started an IV and labs. Our poor boy is a VERY hard stick and had to be poked over and over with them digging in his arms and even feet for a long time every time they needed blood! It was awful! He is so scared of doctors and needles now!!!! Who could blame him?! When those blood results came back we were shocked to hear the news Jacen's liver enzymes were insanely high. Normal levels are around 40, our little boy's were over 2200. He was in full blown liver failure. We were so worried, and so were the doctors. He was immediately locked in his room for the hepatitis and more blood work was ran. We found out that night that the next morning (Saturday) he would have a liver biopsy. They also told us that this could be a very risky procedure for him because his liver wasn't working so he wasn't clotting the way he should. If he didn't recover correctly or if something went wrong, he could bleed out during or after the surgery. They gave him some vitamin K to help clotting and typed his blood so if he did need some transfusions, they'd have the blood ready. We were scared to death. Well the next morning came and they were 3 hours late getting him to surgery (our poor guy was STARVING!!) But he came out great. They needed him to lay on his right side for 5 hours after surgery to avoid bleeding out, and he slept for 6! We were so relieved! The next day, Sunday, they told us the likely diagnosis. Jacen (they are 80% sure) has auto immune hepatitis. Auto immune hepatitis is when the immune system rejects and attacks the liver. It can be caused 2 ways, heredity or by a virus. More than likely, Jacen's was caused by a virus that somehow changed the composition of his immune system. It is chronic and the type Jacen has will never go into remission, meaning he will be on medicine for it for the rest of his life. If he doesn't take his medicine, he will go into liver failure. Auto immune hepatitis is not contagious, and only if his type is genetic will he have to worry about passing it to his kids. He could share his blood with you, lick you and hug you and you would never catch it. It is sort of like a cancer in that way and in the way that one type of auto immune hepatitis can go into remission. His liver is very scarred and damaged, but one great thing about the liver is, with time, it will repair it's self. If his body keeps responding to the medicine as well as it has so far, he will only have a slightly greater chance of developing cirrhosis and liver cancer as anyone else. But a transplant is still not ruled out down the road. We ended up staying a total of 5 days in the hospital, but we've been home for about 2 weeks. To treat this, they started giving him steroids and he has responded great. He has extreme "roid rage", is super hungry all the time, has trouble sleeping and has been gaining a lot of weight, especially in his face because of the steroids, but if they are helping his liver, none of that matters! He will be on the steroids for 6-12 months, slowly getting weened off of them and weened onto immune suppressants, which is what he will be treated with the rest of his life. Because steroids and immune suppressants weaken the immune system, he is much more likely to get sick and when he gets sick it will be more severe and will last longer than normal. He got the stomach flu right after we got back from Denver and it lasted 10 days. I got it also, but mine only lasted 2. He also has thrush right now, something that usually only affects little babies. But that is what his immune system is like right now. It's sad, but we are so grateful that there is a treatment for this. It may not be curable, it may be hard to live with, but he will live, he will be able to have a somewhat normal life, and we have our baby boy who we love so much! We are blessed!