I know that everyone following has probably been waiting on an update.

We have more answers, but because I don’t have a medical background, sometimes it’s hard for me to completely understand all the results myself and also share them in a way that is understandable. I will copy and paste the message the liver specialist sent me.

“Jade's ultrasound overall looks good. She has good blood flow to and from her liver. Her liver is a normal size, which is also excellent.

 

As I suspected might happen, the texture of her liver looks echogenic (which means "fuzzy" on the  ultrasound). That just tells us there's something in her liver, like inflammation. It can also mean scar tissue, but her labs show us inflammation, so I think it is most likely inflammation they're seeing.

 

The elastography test, which measures stiffness, shows some increased liver stiffness in Jade's liver. This can either be from inflammation, which causes the reading to look like tissue stiffness, or it can be from liver scar tissue.

 

Jade's spleen is a little enlarged. I wonder if that could be from her ALL, or if it is related to the liver issue going on now.

 

Also, make note that she has some gallstones. I don't think any of her abnormal liver tests are due to these stones. If the stones are causing any trouble now or later on, it typically looks like right upper abdominal pain, and sometimes that pain shoots to the right shoulder blades, and it is usually after eating a fatty meal.  We don't need to address the stones (gallbladder surgery) unless Jade develops gallbladder pain symptoms. It is possible that these stones could dissolve and go away in the future. I suspect she developed them when she was sick and wasn't able to eat for a period of days.

 

I ordered the additional liver blood tests that we should get to rule out other liver issues, and alerted the oncology team that the labs are ordered.

 

Let's touch base after her next set of liver enzymes are rechecked later this week.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

It was lovely re-meeting you and your family yesterday.”

I am happy to say that when we went to clinic on Thursday, her liver enzymes were in the green and within normal range for the first time since Oct. 2024. We restarted some of the oral chemo, but we will have to labs weekly to make sure we are not adding “insult to injury”. Her liver has been working overtime and while we still need to administer chemo, we have to do it in a safer way from now on and continue to work with dosing and watch numbers extra carefully. 

Overall, it looks like her liver has the ability to function properly and when chemo is withheld it can work well….. we need to be careful with it because we have already made it angry.

We are grateful for an amazing team. Her liver doctor remembered us from when Jade was admitted for a GI bleed a few months ago and all I can say is that she was amazing. We could feel all of the extra prayers this week as we did more exploration into her liver function. 

Please continue to pray that we can find the right dosing of the oral medication to keep bad cells away, but not leave lasting damage to her other organs.

Thank you all for being here and supporting Jade with your love and prayers.