January 22, 2010 - Annie went in for an ultrasound to check for blocked bile ducts or signs of injury.  Still a mystery... no signs of anything wrong except extremely elevated liver enzyme and bilirubin numbers.

January 25, 2010 - At the doctor's office again, trying to figure this all out!

January 28, 2010 -  Dr. Murray at Seattle Children's Hospital wanted to do a biopsy to try to get to the bottom of what was happening.  It was scheduled right on Annie's 6th birthday.  We had a little party for her the night before.  Notice the yellow in her eyes!

February 3, 2010 - The biopsy gave us no new information (other than that the problem was not an autoimmune disease).  Annie became very sore and VERY yellow over the next couple of days.  She was admitted to ICU where it was determined she was in Acute Liver Failure and needed an immediate liver transplant.  Here is our neighbor, Nadia, visiting and playing with Annie the day before the surgery.

Here is Annie wearing a crown made by a sweet neighbor and holding a book made by her Kindergarten classmates to cheer her up.

Aunt Wendi from Vancouver, WA and Aunt Carhelia from St. George, UT came to take care of Megan and Chloe that night so Mom and Dad could stay with Annie as doctors and surgeons prepared for her life-saving surgery.

The nurses took such great care of Annie!

February 6, 2010 - On this day, Grandma Chase came to visit Annie at the hospital.  We decided to wash Annie's hair.  We used a suction tube to suck up all the water and lots of pads under her head.

February 7, 2010 - All done with ICU!  Annie was ready to be transferred to the surgical floor.

February 7, 2010 - Big Sister Megan visited on this day.  Annie finally made it to her new room and a much more comfortable bed.

Dr. Murray is the lady who ordered Annie's first biopsy and later admitted her to the ICU.  And look, Annie finally got rid of that feeding tube!!

Here is Annie with Dr. Simon Horslen who is a liver specialist (hepatologist) and has performed Annie's biopsies.

February 8, 2010 - Annie felt good enough to go for a ride in her wheelchair.  We took her on a tour of Children's Hospital.  There is so much to see -- what a great place!

Still day 4 post op.  Annie is starting to feel more like herself -- ready to color and do activities

Mom brought some soup from home because the hospital's soup was "yucky" according to Annie.  Here she is with our social worker, Amal.

She walked down the hall to the scale.  She was weighed every day.

February 10, 2010 - Here is Annie working on her class Valentines.  She was beginning to feel so much better!

February 11, 2010 - Annie posing with the pharmacy specialist, Jennifer, who trained Mom and Dad on how and when to give Annie her medicines.  We had to do it ourselves for a 24-hour period before Annie could be discharged.

February 11, 2010 - Here a nurse is removing her IJ in her neck.  Dr. Andre Dick is the other surgeon who performed Annie's transplant (along with Dr. Healy)

February 11, 2010 - Annie was SO ready to get out of the hospital and back to normal life.

It took awhile because Annie was still in quite a bit of pain!

We missed you so much!

Annie working on a painting project from a friend who brought us dinner that night.

Grandma Chase took such good care of us for two weeks!

Out of the shower and all wrapped up in the Snuggy Mrs. Steelsmith gave her.

Annie with Dr. Jorge Reyes at her first clinic appointment. This man has performed more than 1,000 pediatric liver transplants! He is also the surgeon who removed the donor's liver and prepared it for Annie.

February 20, 2010 - My girls received doctor costumes from their Aunt Laurie.  They had a blast taking turns being "doctor and patient."

February 22, 2010 - Annie really wanted to go to school on the "hundredth day of school" to show her friends her alien project with 100 eyeballs.

She got to read a story she wrote about a Super Baby to the class.  It was really funny :)

Annie is very interested in all the organs and what they do.

She was so happy that she got them all out on her own; she didn't want any more doctors doing things that hurt!

Annie is enjoying her time with Mrs. K who is tutoring her in reading and writing.  Mom is helping with math and other subjects.

March 5th 2010 - Annie's enzyme numbers were elevated at the last two clinic appointments, so Dr. Horslen decided it was necessary for Annie to return for an ultrasound and biopsy to check for rejection.

Aunt Laurie sent Annie a doll made in Germany with removable organs.  Even the doctors thought it was amazing and were playing with it!

It's a good thing we brought some activities; sometimes the wait can be long!

Here we are hanging out with Annie in her room.

Our friend Ling Hilton stayed 2 of the nights with Annie so Dad could go to work and Mom could get the other girls off to school.

Annie's immune system is even more compromised now that her anti-rejection medicines have been increased and she is on a steroid.

Aunt Lyn stayed until Daddy got back.  We had a lot of fun!

March 24, 2010 - Back at Children's for yet another biopsy and ultrasound.  Annie's enzyme numbers jumped up by almost 200 points.  So the doctors wanted to check for rejection again.

Annie finally got a room!

Every day is an adventure.  We call all this stuff "The Adventures of Annie."

... and paint lots of pictures

When the results came back, there was no rejection!  Her elevated numbers may have been from high drug levels, a cold, or the beginnings of a fatty liver condition (which may be caused by the steroids).  They discharged us on the 25th of March in the late afternoon.