busy week

Our last week was a busy one. We had a lot of things to get caught up on from the previous crazy week. Makai was able to come home late last week, and that was a huge blessing. The doctors told Jenna that he would take some time to be back to normal. Not that little guy. He got home and it was as if he was never ill in the first place. Little stinker.

We were also blessed with a visit from my mom aka “Nana” and her husband Michael. Since Saturday was Jenna’s birthday, Eric and I had originally planned a trip to Chicago with Garrett and Jenna. When Kai got sick that all went out the window but my mom and Michael still came to visit us even though we weren’t heading out for the weekend. We put them to work instead of giving them time to enjoy the kids 😉 Our house is like brand new, and the yard has never looked better. The girls did enjoy playing in the dirt and helping plant new flowers and transplant some bushes. They also liked to be in on the action when Michael killed snakes. Everyone got a stern talking to each time one was killed because, “those are God’s creatures, and we should not kill them.” Our yard has an excess of God’s creatures and at this point it was just crowd control.

I am sure we provided a lot of comic relief for the construction workers by the house. At one point Nana uncovered a coiled up snake underneath an edging stone. I had the shovel in my hands digging out some bushes. She screamed and ran when she saw it, and I did the same (with the killing shovel in my hands) then yelled for Michael. When he saw the shovel in my hands he just shook his head at me.

Eric and I even got to have a date night in Lincoln while the girls stayed at the hotel and ordered pizza with Nana and Michael. They got up the next morning to go swimming, then we headed to the parade in town. It was cold out, but the girls didn’t care. They loaded up on candy and couldn’t have been happier.

Now we are settling back into a normal routine. No one is sick (knock on wood) and we are working with Hadley to learn to ride her bike with no training wheels. We’ll see how she does by the end of the nice weather. Maybe we’ll be able to get some good video of her.

Our weekend

This weekend we packed in about as much as we could stand to. Hadley was doing much better and back to her normal self. She even had a bit of energy to spare, so we decided since our week had been so rough to get out of town and head into Lincoln for a fun family day. Eric had been planning on going to a skate demo, so while he did that I took the girls to go shopping at Target. We quickly met up again and stopped at a park, went out for ice cream went to best buy and home again to watch a rented movie. The day went by fast, the girls were awesome, had fun, and we were able to spend time together, which was very nice.

Sunday morning came fast and the girls slept in a bit. We headed to church and as soon as class was over went to Fremont to visit Eric’s grandmother. When we were just about into town we got a phone call saying she was brought to the ER because she was having trouble breathing. After everything was said and done, they said they don’t know why she had this happen. There were no blood clots and no pneumonia, and it even appears as if the chemo is working and her tumor is shrinking. We were very happy to have good news.

While we were in Fremont we went to eat with Papa and headed back to see Grandma once she was settled again. The girls were fantastic and really enjoyed seeing family. By late afternoon it was time for us to head out because we still needed to stop to see Makai in Omaha. He is doing so much better. He was able to go outside to color. Just sitting outdoors wears this kid down, fast. He is eating better and ate some spaghetti while we were there. He was threatened this weekend with putting a feeding tube in, and that worked magic on his appetite. He ate a bunch of cereal this morning too, so he is on the right track! Jenna is hopeful that he will continue to do as well and be able to come home Tomorrow. He is still going to continue to be tired and won’t be high energy for a while, but it was still progress and for that we are thankful! The girls even got to see Makai, as long as there was NO touching. They did great and understood that boundary.

We did not get home until very late last night, and the girls had a few meltdowns during the day, but we know they are learning valuable lessons. We want our girls to understand that despite the fact that all day yesterday was spent between a car or hospitals, and it was not always fun for us, we do things to help other people. Sometimes this takes sacrifice on our parts, but we do it anyways. Hadley had a lot of questions and we had great conversations with her about how she cheered up Grandma and Makai just because she stopped to see them. She was very happy and encouraged that she can make a difference even being as little as she is. Eric and I felt encouraged knowing that we were able to help our family, friends and our children. On top off all that too, I learned to be more prepared when we are facing a day like this! We had some meltdowns that could have been avoided and I can take steps to avoid it next time…it’s always good to learn new things.

Praying for health

Todays update for Makai is good news. All of the numbers that needed to go up, went up. All of the numbers that needed to go down, went down. It is fantastic news for him and his family. He is also off antibiotics and that is great too! He still has some healing to do but these are tremendous steps to get him back to full health. Thank you to everyone who is saying prayers for him and the Schwarz family, it is so appreciated.

Hadley has been up and down today. She was not feeling well this morning but then by mid morning she was getting cheerful again and wanted to come with me to Walmart. We needed to get her prescription picked up and had a few other household items on the list. While we were at Walmart I got quite a few phone calls. As I answered each one Zoey Belle used the opportunity to whine and throw fits. I ignored four phone calls in the short time we were there and headed to the pharmacy to get Hadley’s prescription. At this point Zoey Belle was all out screaming her face off saying through her tears, “Mommy, I not be naughty, I gonna stop crying!!!” And then she would kick her feet in the cart. Hadley had said a few times her tummy hurt and she continued to look more and more pale. I thought I was going to have a meltdown right there along with Zoey Belle. Finally they got her prescription and we high tailed it out of there.

When we got home Zoey Belle threw herself down on the sidewalk because I didn’t open the door to the car for her to put her puppy in Hadley’s booster seat. Since I had both hands full, I walked into the house and left her on our sidewalk to throw her fit. Eric, thankfully, was home and went out to deal with her.

We had the girls eat some lunch and take naps. Hadley hasn’t left the couch other than to go to Walmart today. Her fever is gone which is great and now she can start on her antibiotics to hopefully kick the infection out of her system.

I am so grateful for the weekend. I couldn’t continue to deal with Hadley being sick by myself. Zoey Belle has also reached her limit of having Hadley be sick and I think that is where her tantrums are coming from. It will be wonderful to have Eric at home to help me. We were hoping to make it to Omaha this weekend to see Makai again, but I am still unsure of if that is what will be happening. We’ll play it by ear.

Updates

***Update*** Makai had a good day today! His kidney number went down to 45, which is still high, but at the highest it was at 85, so that is a huge improvement. They are looking for it to be between 6-22. One small step, but a huge blessing! Also, his potassium levels are back to normal! And Jenna was feeling fairly confident that they had ruled out full kidney failure. They believe that they will be functioning on their own again at some point, it is just hard to know when. He is by no means all better, but he is taking some small steps in the right direction! Keep the prayers coming their way because Makai is working his way back towards health.
In Hadley news, she is just one lucky girl. I took her back into the clinic because she had continued with a fever all day, then added some vomiting into the mix and then refused to watch cartoons. I knew we had a real problem when she didn’t want the TV on. She slept off and on all day so once she was a little more awake I took her in. After throwing up all over the clinic we were sent to get lab work done. They did more urine tests as well. Once those were back the verdict was in. She has the start of a UTI and they think the other symptoms are just a stomach bug. It is probably unrelated to the virus she had over the weekend. They offered a “fix” for the nausea, but I am going to wait it out because the side effects were less than desirable. If it really is a bug, it will run its course. If it continues through the night they said I can bring her right in tomorrow. She hit the sickness jackpot this week.
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Makai had a good night last night. He was up to use the bathroom quite a bit so that is positive. Jenna said everyone was able to get good rest and they all are feeling refreshed this morning. One thing to add to prayers is that Makai’s potassium levels are not good. If it continues this way it could mean strain on his heart. The doctors are going to focus on getting that worked out today. Jenna also asked the doctor if this could have been avoided if he would have stayed better hydrated through the virus and he said no. This was going to happen no matter what anyone did. Please continue to pray for this little guy and their family.

Hadley has the same nasty virus again. She has a fever and woke up this morning saying how badly her tummy hurt. She threw up shortly after waking up and I had her drink a big glass of water. She is saying that she feels much better now, but we will be taking it slow today. Hopefully we can kick this fever too.

Since nothing has been said about Zoey Belle the past few days I thought I should update everyone on her. She is great! She has been as normal as ever. A bit whiny, but what can be said about that…she is two. Eric and I think her favorite word is “guys”. She tacks it on to the end of everything she says. “Good morning guys.” “What’s for lunch guys?” “Look at me guys!” It is super cute and we just laugh. Whatever this supper bug is, I hope it goes away soon, and I hope it continues to leave Zoey Belle alone.

Makai

Today was a bit of a roller coaster, but thankfully it has ended as well as it can. After Dawson was out of school we swung by to grab him and head to Omaha with Lael and their Grandma Shelby. The doctors put in a pic line so that was one positive (no more poking him with needles)! He has not continued to worsen, but he is not doing any better.

Last night Makai had a really bad night. His blood pressure dropped extremely low, but his heart rate sky rocketed. He also went from having a temp of 100 to 104 within 20 minutes. We are praying that tonight will be better for him and now that they have the pic line in he won’t have to be woken up for them to take blood when they need.

The kidney specialist that saw Kai today said that they feel confident they are on the right track and taking the appropriate steps so that is also positive. They also said that they believe it started as a virus and went into dehydration. From there, it robbed his kidneys of blood for so long that they are damaged from it. They did not indicate the extent of the damage because it is too soon to tell. At this point it is still a waiting game and we are very hopeful that tomorrow will bring better news. Please pray that the damage is minimal and that he will start to show signs of improvement soon.

On the note of being thankful, we were so appreciative that Emily came to watch our girls on such short notice. Not only did she do what she always does (play with them and love them to pieces) she also got them McDonald’s for supper and cleaned up the house including doing dishes and vacuuming. It was the biggest blessing for me to come home after a day of worry and stress and see that what I had waiting for me was a clean house and not the mess that I had left behind. I am so thankful that she is here for us, so we can be there for Garrett and Jenna.

Update on Makai

Today began and Makai was not doing any better. His kidney function continued to go down over night and he was still extremely ill after everything they had done for him at York’s hospital. The doctors decided to send him to Omaha Children’s Hospital because they would know more of what to do for him.

After Eric got Dawson from school, I headed out of town to Omaha to see Makai. Unfortunately, through the day his kidneys only got worse. From what I gather the “numbers” on kidney functioning are normal when they are in the range of l0-26 ish or something like it. Makai’s are at 67, The doctor said worse case scenario is he has kidney failure and would be on dialysis for the rest of his life.

Obviously, this is not what anyone wants to have happen. Some tests run tonight said that they found an infection and are going after it with some antibiotics. They said it is a “wait and see” game at this point. They have to just try a path of treatment and see where that leads them. Hopefully, the antibiotic will clear out the infection and they will be able to tell if that is what was causing the problems with his kidneys. I think we are all prayerful that this is the solution and that this is what will work. One problem is that Makai is not using the restroom. He says he does not have to urinate, so they have him on a med that makes him go. He did go once today but they are not especially optimistic about that because they said it is the med that makes him go, so it doesn’t give much indication of his level of kidney functioning at this point.

The poor kid just looks miserable and highly annoyed. He is clearly not feeling well, but he is in the best hands possible. One big positive is that the doctors in York knew to send him right away to Omaha where they are better equipped to handle this.

All prayers would be appreciated and I will update the blog again tomorrow as soon as I hear anything.
I know Garrett and Jenna would be very thankful to have so many people praying on their behalf and on their child’s behalf.

Prayers

We are all healed over here. The kids are as cranky as ever. I guess that is a good sign?

Unfortunately, for our friends the Schwarz’ it is not going as well. Makai, who has the same illness that Hadley did, is in the hospital with dehydration. He is not doing any better and his kidney function went down overnight. They are currently in the process of talking to some Lincoln doctors to find out what tests to run. We know they would deeply appreciate your prayers.

Today I will be sitting tight trying to get our kids back to their schedules and waiting to find out what I can do to help our friends. I will try to keep everyone updated so you can be praying with us.

Trip to the ER

I’ll probably snap soon. After three days of having a sick child, and one trip to the clinic and now one trip to the ER nothing is better. This morning we woke up and Hadley’s fever was worse than ever before. It had reached 104.6 and she was shaking. She was crying saying how badly her tummy hurt and after getting some other opinions we decided that it was not smart to wait it out as previously suggested by the clinic. I took her in at 8:30 this morning and we were at the ER until 11 am. As soon as we got there she was already looking better. By the time the doctor saw her the medicine had kicked in and they were telling me her temperature was gone. I could tell from feeling her that it might not be a high fever but her temp was not back to normal.

They decided on doing x rays, urine tests and blood work. The Dr did say her stomach was tender where her appendix is, but all the tests cleared her appendix of any problems. After all was said and done, they told me that she appears fine. All kinds of counts were off based off of her not eating and she was dehydrated but they said that all of it was normal for a kid who is not feeling well.

And, just to add insult to injury, they told me that it appears that she needed to void her bowels and that’s probably why her tummy hurt…and the big thing that really made my weekend…was I sure that my thermometer was working, because I really might want to check that out. REALLY???!!!!! I politely told her I KNEW it worked because Eric had taken his temp with it since the numbers seemed to be so high, but even beyond that fact, when you touch her skin you feel like you might get burned from the contact. She is CLEARLY ill. I am not a moron. Lucky for everyone involved one of the big topics of conversation at our house lately is treating people well despite how they might treat you. I really wanted to give her a piece of my mind, but I remained calm until we got home.

They are doing a west nile virus test which does take 4-5 days. It is very likely that it is just a virus of some sort because of the other little boy who is sick from preschool. She did use the bathroom as soon as we were home, but that appears to have had no effect on her tummy.

On the positive side, her organs all appear to be fine. It doesn’t seem to be a bladder infection or appendicitis. She did perk up and eat a meal for lunch. Unfortunately, she woke up from nap and was crying so I went to her and could feel that she was burning up again. Her temp was 104.6, but again, we have to realize that the thermometer is most likely broken (sense the sarcasm). We gave her more meds and put her in a cool bath, which seemed to help bring it down, we’ll keep monitoring her and I will wake her up every three hours tonight to alternate the motrin and tylenol so we can hopefully keep on top of her fever. Let’s hope it works because if I have to take her back to the ER tomorrow we will deal with a third doctor and at this point I am not sure I can keep my patience. There is nothing like having a sick child, with no resolution to make this momma mad.

Preschool=Germs

Yesterday we had all kinds of fun plans. Nothing will spoil plans like a child with a high fever. Hadley and Zoey Belle are rarely ever sick, besides getting a cold. Yesterday I knew something was off when Hadley told me she was cold. This child would go outside in a swimsuit in the middle of winter and complain about it being too hot out. I, of course, lovingly told her to go put some clothes on. She later told me her head hurt inside when she coughed. Well, first, I never heard her cough so I thought that was weird, but then with the comment of being cold too, I figured she wasn’t feeling great. I gave her some tylenol and we called it good. A few hours later she was looking a little bit pale, and then shortly after I noticed that she fell asleep on the couch while looking at books. As soon as she woke up I could tell she had a fever so I took her temp. It was 102.8. For Hadley, that is insane. Her fever then climbed up higher to 103.6 a bit later. I had been giving her tylenol so I wasn’t sure why it was still climbing. I debated on taking her in to the ER, since it was after clinic hours, but decided we would just wait it out and see if it broke over night. After some examination, I found out I was giving her not nearly enough tylenol, so feeling like a moron I thought “no wonder she still has the fever, it’s as if I was doing nothing for her the whole time.” Lesson learned, even when you think you know the right dosage of medicine, double check anyway.

Before bed I gave her a cool bath and some Motrin and we called it a night. I checked on her a few times in the night and it seemed like the fever might have broken. I was wrong and this morning she woke up telling us her tummy hurt. When I gave her crackers she said she didn’t want them because they tasted funny. I have a feeling it’s strep. I spoke with my friend Jenna last night, and her boy Makai, who goes to preschool with Hadley has all the same symptoms. Awesome. So, we have an appointment to take her in this morning.

Hadley did enjoy watching her Barbie Surfer movie last night though. Eric and I were discussing why in girl movies they always have a ditsy friend and how annoying that is when we realized in this movie the ditsy friend’s name is Hadley. Awesome #2.

So, today will be spent first at the doctor, then probably at the pharmacy and it’s likely after that we will be enjoying watching Barbie Surfer with ditsy Hadley and our sick Hadley.

new routines

This was our first full week of Hadley having preschool and it felt kind of nice to have some semblance of a routine. I am finding that Hadley is loving preschool and is a little bit tired by the end of the day. Just in this first week her writing has improved so much! I am astonished at how well she is forming her letters. Previously she could write most letters, but some of them would only be legible to Eric or myself. Someone with an “untrained” eye might not know what it was. Now all the letters in her name are crystal clear. She is also practicing writing numbers 1-10. I am really blown away at how quickly she is improving. Her teachers tell me that she behaves wonderfully so I am proud of that as well.

Zoey Belle is also doing well with the transition. She is fine leaving Hadley at preschool, but really wants to go with to drop her off and pick her up. Lucky for her, most days she is able to go.

I am also doing fine with the transition. I am still trying to figure out when to get some things done. I try to get all my cleaning and housework done when the kids are napping and Hadley is at school, but I the little guy I babysit sleeps in Eric and my room. That rules out getting our clothes put away during nap, which is what I used to do, and since it is upstairs it makes is hard to do when the kids are awake. I am still trying to figure it all out, but I am really appreciating the time that Hadley still has at home. I know next year kindergarten is going to be hard on me, so I am savoring it all now.

Since Hadley has gone back to taking naps in the afternoon on her days at home, Wednesdays tend to be highly emotional for her. On Mondays and Tuesdays she is at preschool and by Wednesday she is a bit overly tired. This past Wednesday the girls did not take very long naps and that added to the drama. By Thursday, Hadley was exhausted and up early because of thunder. I decided it was time to pull out some sort of craft or activity of sorts. I tried to get us all involved in making a dome out of newspapers. It turns out it was a bit too difficult for Hadley still. It made the whining worse and the fighting between her and Zoey Belle escalated. I stayed patient and persevered and we ended up with our “fort”. The girls quietly played in it for the rest of the morning before it all fell apart and the Hadley was off to preschool so no big deal.

The weather finally got nice out (it had been raining for two days) and we decided to take the girls’ bikes to the tennis courts so they could ride around while Eric skated. It was beautiful weather and getting out of the house is what we all needed.

Now that it is Friday we have some “big” plans. The girls have a bedroom to clean and I have some odds and ends to get tied up before the weekend. Then we have a few crafts to do, a trip to the store and a special trip for the girls to redbox. Hadley has been dieing to see this “Barbie Surfer” movie. She sees it every time we are at the store and asks to rent it. Today is the day. She is going to be elated that we are letting her rent this and I am sure I will hear, “mommy, you’re the bestest mommy in the whole world.” It actually doesn’t take much for her to say that, she tells me that when I let her have Lucky Charms for breakfast.