DALLIN

Brian and I took Dallin out for his birthday dinner tonight (of coarse Lydia tagged along too).  Dallin chose a Japanese restaraunt where you have a private booth, take off your shoes, and sit on the floor.  Dallin was so excited and very fun to be with.  It's hard to believe he is 7.  He has had a great couple of months in school after a rough start of not wanting to be away from me for the full school day.  He used to cry alot when he left for school and during school, saying he missed me too much.  It broke my heart, so it's been great having him happier.  He is such a tenderheart!  Dallin is my sweet, sweet boy.
He is a good student.  He does great in math and has picked up reading quickly this year and reads very well.  He is self-motivated to get his homework and chores done.  Dallin is a hard worker.  When he has a job to do, he gives it his all.  He is a good organizer and likes his things orderly.  He enjoys working with Brian and will often choose that over playing with the other kids.  He has smile that melts my heart and gives super bear hugs.  He loves it when we sing to him and scratch his back.  I love him so much!!

PIC Line Problems

Well if you can tell by the title we have had trouble. Janene went down for here MRI for being the doner. She took Lydia up to her moms and when Lydia woke up from her nap there was blood on the carpet. Long story short Janene stayed at PMCH and Maureen, my mother-in-law, took Lydia down to meet her.

They got the PIC line fixed and told us that we couldn't use it until 10:00 PM becuase the glue needed to dry. We gave her the antibiotic at 10:00 and then tried to flush the line and it started to leak blood right at the place they fixed it.

We couldn't mentally deal with it at that time at night so I gave her a priesthood blessing and we went to bed. The next morning was filled with more drama of having to go to the emergency room to get it fixed. Finally at 5:00 pm tonight Janene is on her way home and the IV team had Macgyvered the PIC line with a lot of glue. They said it may not look pretty but they wanted it to hold. We agreed with them.

I just read one of the most touching, heartfelt stories that I have ever known.  Lydia's liver friend, Lulu, has this sacred story newly posted on her blog by her loving mom.  Thank you Liz for sharing your heart and teaching me how to love.  http://www.liverforlulu.blogspot.com/

Yeah!! "Lyds" and I came home yesterday (Lyds is a nickname that one of our liver BFF's moms calls her and we like it).  It feels wonderful!  We did have another scare on Wed. night around midnight.  Lydia kept turning over on her tummy and scooting backwards and I would turn her back over trying to get her to settle down and go to sleep.  One time when I turned her over I saw blood on her stomach.  I thought mabye she scraped her stomach with the clamp on her central line, but as I looked closer, I noticed that blood was leaking out of the tube of her central line.  She had stretched it so much when she was scooting on her stomach that it broke.  As I looked more there was a lot of blood on the blanket she was on and the pillow by her.  I was scared that she was going to get more infection in her line and that she would have to get a new central line.  As it turns out the IV team was able to repair it.  She did have to get an IV in a hand so she could get her IV antibiotics while the repair glue set up.  I felt so grateful that Heavenly Father guided me to find that leak before we fell asleep and she lost too much blood and that she didn't have to have another surgery or stay in the hospital longer because of the break.  I am so grateful for His tender mercies upon me and my family!

We enjoyed a very nice evening together as a family last night and we're looking forward to a long weekend together with President's Day (Dallin's b-day) off on Mon.  I'm so grateful to Brian for taking such good care of the kids and all the responsibilities at home.  He is such a hard worker and a great dad!  I could tell he took good care of the kids here as they were all happy when we got back together.  I echo his thanks to our family and friends who helped with transportation, taking care of Parker, and the prayers, fasting and all the other help everyone gave us.  We love you!

Good to have Janene and Lydia home

It will be good to have Janene and Lydia home. Janene is amazing that she can handle the hospital for as long as she was there. I know I don't like to be there long. Poor Lydia can hopefully get back to normal as much as normal is for her. I am sure she missed eating popcorn.

Janene and I wanted to say thanks to all those that participated in Wishteller. We won second place which was $500. That will be a big help. Also, we thank all of you who have helped us during our last stay at the hospital.

Sleeping Beauty

Lydia slept from 3 pm yesterday until 8 am this morning with only waking up occasionally for a few minutes at a time when getting her vitals taken.  She has also taken two good naps today.  She must be getting her beauty rest from her rough day yesterday.  The nurse and tech today gave her a really good sponge bath which her sweaty body really needed.  Although she wasn't happy while it was happening, I'll bet she feels better.  She has learned a defense mechanism against her anxiety with people she doesn't know coming in the room.  She has started to pull a pillow or blanket over her face so she can't see them.   One time when she was hiding, the nurse or I would pull the blanket off her face and say "peek-a-boo", then she would cry or moan but after she pulled it back up she would immediately be quiet.  It was so funny, but I guess it gives us an idea of how much she doesn't like what's happening to her. 

Her spinal-tap results showed that the bacteria had not reached her brain, yeah!!  Her perintonesis showed that she does have infection in her stomach.  The antibiotics should clear this up soon too.

Spencer, Alyssa and Dallin are here to see Lydia for a few minutes.  She was excited to see them.  Brian is going to stay here for the evening and I get to go home with them for a little while. Yeah!! I'm so excited!! 

Full of Infection

Lydia has an infection in her blood called Strepp-pneumonia.  The doctor said it makes people really sick and can cause menengitis if not treated quickly.  They did a spinal tap today to check to see if any of it reached her brain.  When she was admitted yesterday they started her on three new antibiotics which should take care of this bacteria.  I am grateful for her doctors quick and precaucious treatment of her.  She also has Rhinovirus which probally explains a lot of her respiratory struggles.  They gave her a steroid to help with the swelling in her asophagus.  Her ascites got big yesterday so they gave her more diuretics and drew some fluid out of her stomach today to check for infection in it.  She had a rough morning being without food or drink from 9 pm last night until about 3 pm today.  She was so thirsty, she just cried and pointed for water for a long time.  She is all tuckered out and has been sleeping lots since then.  Hopefully she's on the mending side now.  I'm so grateful for the knowledge and service of doctors who help us heal. 
I miss my other sweet kiddos at home and I'm so grateful for all who are taking good care of them.  Our sick bug from last week seems to be gone and it's business as usual for Brian and the older three.  Brian's mom took care of them this afternoon.  Dallin told me he was looking forward to her good cooking tonight. Parker enjoyed a play day with his cousin, Cooper.  My sweet sister Lorraine brought Brian and I some yummy Sunday dinner and visited with us yesterday, and my dear mother came to help with Lydia and spend  the day with me.  They were angels who boosted my spirits.
(I wanted to post some pictures I have taken here at the hospital of Lydia, but I can't figure out how to upload them off of my camera to this laptop since it doesn't have the same easy photo program as our home computer has, so I'll have to get my "main computer man" to help me later.)

What A Week!

It's been one of those weeks full of unexpected surprises.  Last Saturday, Lydia needed a blood transfusion because she had been losing a lot of blood in her stool, so she and I spent 8 hrs. down at PCMC.  On Mon. evening Alyssa said her stomach wasn't feeling too good, but by Tues. morning she was feeling fine.  In the middle of the night on Tues. Dallin woke up throwing up, by morning I was joining him.  On Wed. night Spencer woke up with it.  I was scheduled for an appointment for my donor evaluation on Thurs. morning,  but because my stomach was still feeling queesey and since Dallin and Spencer were staying home from school because of sickness, I cancelled that appointment.  When I picked Lydia up out of her bed, I realized her TPN was dripping from her pickline.  She had scratched at it so much during the night, that it came out of her arm.  Dr. Book decided to have a central line put in since we've had so much problem with her piclines.  My parents picked me and Lydia up in the afternoon to go down with me to the surgery.  Spencer tended until Brian got home from work.  Brian got sick that night.  When Lydia got into surgery, they had problems intubating her.  She bled a lot and had some spasms in her esophagus from it and had respiratory complications when she came out of the surgery.  She was admitted to stay overnight.  My parents picked up Parker on their way home, and Brian got the other kids off to school in the morning.  Friday was Brian's birthday.  After a lot of debate they released Lydia Friday evening.  She was wheezey and had labored breathing during the night on Friday.  This morning she woke up struggling with breathing and she seemed to be in pain.  I gave her a breathing treatment and some Motrin.  As the day progressed her pain increased and she got a high fever.  After a couple of phone calls, back to the hospital we came.  They have done most of the regular tests to find out what's wrong, we should have some results tomorrow.  Whew, one of those weeks!