Family Update

Some recent happenings:
The last time Kevin was in the hospital the girls had a four-day weekend. Because the girls have missed having a bit of fun this summer plus missed extra time with their friends during the beginning of the school year, I had each girl invite a friend over for a sleep-over. I know, I'm awesome. All the girls and friends got along and it was fun. I took the living room couch so each girl & their friend could have their own room. Because I'm awesome.

Mina & Bryn, Jessica & Alaina, Claire & Maia

All the Halloween costumes were store-bought this year. However, Claire & Bryn's, which were bought on-line, were both way too small. So I had to look at how the costumes were constructed, buy matching fabric, and add panels to the bodices and also enlarge the skirts. It was quite bothersome, but I did find a fabulous and easy circle skirt pattern that was way helpful and that I will be using more often. I wish I had it when I was making my disastrous poodle skirts last year.

Alaina is a Spider Countess

Claire is a witch - first witch we've ever had.

Bryn is a rose - oh, excuse me, an upside-down rose.

The week before Halloween, Claire had a concert at school. The name was "Mighty Minds" and it was all about how smart kids are and how they should do their homework and study for tests. A few children were chosen to be Mighty Minds in the concert and they got extra songs and lines. Claire doesn't like to do any of that, but she wanted to create her own Mighty Minds character. She chose "Mighty Cursive Mind" since she started learning cursive this year and loves it. Thankfully, I made her a superhero costume two years ago and, after much digging, found all the peices. I still had to make a new shirt and skirt and mask. It was the boots I didn't want to have to make over again. Those things took me 2 weeks and a call to my mother to make.

Notice the cursive "C".

I added a cursive "C" to the old cape.

The weekend after Halloween, Kevin's extended family planned a trip to Mason City to visit Great-Aunt LaVonne. She is Great-Grandma Beaman's sister. LaVonne usually comes up for Thanksgiving, but she is slowing down and isn't going to come this year. So we met at Bonanza for lunch to see her. (It was a surprisingly nice Bonanza!)

Great-Great Aunt LaVonne with Alaina Bryn & Claire

Aunt Debbie & Uncle Jim, their kids Ben & Chad, and Chad's family were there. Chad & Amy have a darling little girl, Gracey, who we haven't seen for over a year. They had fun playing together. Thanksgiving will be extra fun with her.

Alaina and Gracey

Claire and Gracey

Another huge event was Bryn's lost teeth. Kevin pulled the first one but Bryn pulled out the second one herself!

One tooth gone

Two teeth gone

And a post about our family wouldn't be complete without Baxter. I love him.

Baxter is waiting for Claire & Bryn to come home from school.

More Pills - Just What He Wants!!

Kevin has started back on blood pressure/heart rate medicine. As you may recall, he was on a LARGE dose (freaked out the pharmacist) before, and his blood pressure was quite low. Then, when we asked his nephrologist about it, he just took him off the Rx instead of reducing the dosage.

Kevin still has quite high blood pressure and heart rate. Dr Choi suggested we go to our Primary Care Dr to take care of it. So Kevin has that appt yesterday and his numbers were: bp 125/95 and hr: 120. Very typical of him. And very high. So he'll be on that for a while. Side effects - dizziness, fatigue, nausea.

I also got Kevin some probiotics. Dr Choi suggested Kevin start eating a yogurt every day, which he has been doing, and the Primary Care Dr mentioned what a tough combination of antibiotics he is on. So we added the probiotics, with the yogurt and probitoics taken two hours apart from the antibiotics. I'm threatening to get Kevin an hourly pill box.

Last Dr Visit

Kevin had an appointment with Dr Choi on Friday, mostly because his drain has a very low output and the stitch holding it in place came out. So the drain was stitched back in place with Dr Choi estimating it was taken out another ~1.5". He said it is about halfway out now and thinks what little is coming out isn't the leak anymore, it's the abscess. So - the intestinal leak has appeared to have healed, it's only what is left in the cavity is draining. The amount of fluid has really dropped dramatically, only trace amounts each time it is emptied. The next appointment is in a month - UGH.

Kevin just had a very busy Friday - he met coworkers for lunch and wore his pre-op jeans that he had to constantly hold while walking to keep from falling down, he helped his father install a new mailbox because our neighbor backed into it (he wanted to do the whole thing himself but I wouldn't let him - I'm terrified of him getting a little cut on his finger then bleeding out within minutes), and he showered and went to Iowa City. A lot of activity in one day. And he handled it quite well. I'm ecstatic at the progress he has made this week!

Seeing Improvement

Well, I can't get Kevin to go for a walk anywhere, but he is showing lots of improvement. Though he walks like an old man (bent over at the shoulders, arms lagging behind his torso, and shuffling slow feet) he is doing more for himself at home. He gets his breakfast, drink and pills now. He came outside to the driveway to check the tread on the tires because he was sure I wasn't doing it right. (I wasn't.) He can play with the dogs for a bit and go up and down the stairs a few times in one day. And he hasn't vomited after too much exertion since last Monday! :)

Kevin is meeting some friends for lunch on Friday (me, too, I'm his driver) and I'm super excited for him to get out. He can't eat very much at once, but the social interaction will be great.

After that we're heading down to UHIC for a blood draw to check his levels and to have his surgeon check his drain. It's outputting hardly anything - yea! - so it will be backed out by an inch or so again. I hope we're nearing the end of this one. Kevin is really looking forward to the day he doesn't have ANYTHING sticking out of his body. I was thinking about that; he has had at least one device, usually more, hanging off him for 97 days as of today. That is every day since July 18, minus the five days he was home after his first discharge. I bet it will feel great to finally have his own body back.

Getting Out

Kevin was able to come to church with us yesterday. It was tiring for him but well worth it. It takes a long time for him to get ready; shower, empty drain, change dressing on his tummy around the drain, and getting dressed easily take an hour for him. But everyone at church was so happy to see him and I and the girls were thrilled to have him with us. I brought my camera but I got busy and plus hated to ask him to pose when he was having difficulty getting around.

I'm really pushing Kevin to get out of the house and walk around a bit. It's so difficult for me to insist - I figure he knows if he's not up to it, and I don't want him to overdo it. However, he just can't increase his endurance if he doesn't get up and walk around. He does have to go to the Lab twice a week for blood draws, but I don't think that counts. I'm going to try to get him to go to the mall and walk today.

Disappointed

Spoke with a law firm on the phone today. EXTREMELY disappointed. I guess the fact that Kevin is expected to fully recover and has no permanent injuries is not good for a medical malpractice case. And since he is not fully recovered, they would like to wait until he has. Wait for what? They'll just say the same thing...not a case they want to take because no permanent injuries.

I would just have a meeting with Dr Renz and ask him if he could take care of our medical bills since he did say it was his fault, but the lady I spoke with said it isn't up to him, it's up to the insurance companies. And in her experience PCI thinks they will win every case so they take everything to court. Great.

Home Again

Kevin came home as expected Friday afternoon. His blood levels were not quite within the range they wanted yet, "supratherapeutic", but released him just the same. He couldn't wait to get out of there. While were we glad he was at UIHC, the hospital rooms are shared: double the beeps, double the nurse intrusions, double the health updates and medical conversations. It was extremely difficult for Kevin to get any rest.

That and the fact that he had to have his blood drawn every 6 hours to check Heparin levels. AND the fact that he is getting hard to draw blood from now; once they had to try four times over 45 minutes to get blood from him. Another time the nurses were sent back from the lab twice for more blood because the draw didn't have enough. The third time they finally got someone from the lab for the draw. Poor Kevin has bruises and little purple dots everywhere.

This blood clot thing has really worried Kevin. He told me he has high anxiety in bed before going to sleep because he's not sure he will wake up. While breathing is easier now, he still remembers the feeling of suffocating. I talked to him a lot about doing things that will distract him, like short visits from friends, taking drives, or anything else he can think of that's not health-oriented. I think it's time for another priesthood blessing.