Once his evaluation was complete, he was placed on a waiting list with the hopes of finding a liver soon. He continued to have blood drawn, etc. He suffered from portal hypertension, ascites, acholic stools, severe jaundice, itching, respiratory distress, malnutrition, vomiting, free bleeding, and borderline anemia. He had problems absorbing fat, resulting in poor weight gain. He was put in the hospital a few times before his transplant for respiratory distress and failure to thrive.
Albumin is an abundant protein in the body produced in the liver from amino acids.
The lasix is a diuretic to help him get rid of some of the fluid also. On June 10,1998, I got Caleb ready to go for our routine visit to Egleston Children's Hospital at Emory University to the liver clinic. Upon examination,the doctors decided that Caleb was not thriving, that he was in respiratory distress, and overall his condition was worse. They decided to admit him and give him the albumin and lasix to give him some relief. They placed a small, soft NG tube down through his nose into his stomach for supplemental tube feedings at night to help boost his nutrition.