Look what Callie Did!

WAY TO GO CALLIE!!! We are so PROUD of you!!

The BIG 40!

Zak hit the BIG 40 this week!! And no that is not a Birthday.. that is his weight. He has gained back all of his weight that he lost from the hospital and more.

It has been a crazy week. On Sunday Zak's face did not look right. His left side was not moving at all. We called the Neurologist on Monday and was in on Tuesday. He has Bell's palsy, which is a disorder of the nerve that controls movement of the muscles in the face. Typically this happens with illness (we are thinking from him Influenza A). It should just go away on its own. Just to be sure there was also nothing else going on he saw the eye doctor today. Thankfully that was also normal.
Also, on Tuesday Callie was at the eye doctor as her left eye surgery broke.. again! UGH. Very disappointing. She will be having her third surgery on this eye in the middle of May to fix it. Today she also saw the Neurologist from her sleep study. They decreased her settings which is great. The tonsils did help her sleep apnea significantly, however she is still apnic.

Spring Pics in Callie's bedroom

Another Year Older

It is hard to believe our baby boy is 7 years old! To think all he has been through the last 7 years. We are very grateful to have been blessed with such a sweet boy!! It was a relaxed Birthday this year after the month we have had. We are thankful that Zak is doing much better now. We think the pneumonia is gone. He is still on nebulizers though. His blood work looked good on Friday. He still needs oxygen from time to time over night though. The doctors are going to do a sleep test in May or June since he has not had one since he was 2 or 3. Thank you again to everyone for all the support.

Today was spent running a few errands that did not get done yesterday. This is the first time in over two years that we ran around with both kids. Callie is such a big girl now - finally sitting in a cart. Zak has always been good in a cart as long as you can sneak everything in the cart (he likes to help take things out). It was not even stressful!

Home Again!

Zak got home on Friday morning after a very long week in the hospital. He came home on oxygen and needing to be monitored very closely. He was still very week and had a low grade fever. Friday night was still a little rough, however as the weekend progressed he gained more energy and his personality was back! We have such a wonderful team of nurses that help us with the kids while we are at home which made the transition home easier.  

Callie was so excited to see him. I only wish I knew her language. She went on and on like a typical girl telling him everything he needed to know. I can only imagine what things she had to say – “ Where were you I wanted to play” and “Don’t ever do that again!”

 Today was a good day with both kids. We were able to take Zak our for a short walk and get some fresh air. He will have a good amount of energy and then just crash and need to rest. The fever has finally broke which is a great sign!

Thank you again for all the prayers while we were in the hospital. Please continue to pray for his health as we are not completely healthy yet and that no one else ever gets this illness, it was just terrible experience.

Now that we hope this is behind us I can honestly say I have never been so scared in my life. When the kids go in for surgery I expect it to be a rough ride and we know they may come out intubated and it will take some time to get back to "healthy". Seeing Zak with more energy during the day than he had for the past week and then having a good doctors appointment that Monday afternoon was refreshing. I thought he was finally feeling better. To suddenly see him turn for the worst and end up intubated for 2 1/2 days was terrible. We still do not know exactly what happened that evening when he turned, nor do I think we ever will.

Thank you again to all of the support around us!

Every day is a better day

Zak is doing a little better today. He is more alert which means more sedation medication. His co2 has gone up slightly from 45 to 49. His fever has finally broke!!!! Lots of prayers are needed tonight for a good night. If he continues to do well they will consider removing the tube tomorrow.

The staff has been wonderful here. We have had some very good nurses, many that we remember and a few new ones along the way.

A sick house!

Last Monday evening Callie woke up with the puke flu and on Tuesday Zak followed. Within 2 days it turned into the nasty cold that is going around Central WI. Callie seems to be getting through it doing well. Zak was not doing well by Saturday and took two trips to the ER. The first one for dehydration, the second to get oxygen at home for pneumonia. On Monday morning Zak was perking up and looking much better. He was playing with Callie a little. He went into the clinic in the afternoon for a follow up and was doing well.  

At 5:30 on Monday night he was sleeping and started to choke – we knew something was not right and took him to the ER again. He was not responding when we got there – later to find out his C02 levels were way to high. They were 104. He did become responsive in the ER, but they had to intubate him for transported him to Marshfield to the PICU. They did leave him intubated over night and sedated him so he was comfortable. His CO2 has dropped to 45 (which is very good). He still had a fever of 103 and the pneumonia. They have been doing lots of blood work, swabs and other tests to see if they can find anything. This afternoon we were told he has Influenza A. Since he has been symptomatic for a week they cannot give him anything else. Meds would need to be administered within two days of onset. So for now they are slowing decreasing vent settings and see how he does. So far so good! The fever is starting to decrease. He is very comfortable and doing much better than 24 hours ago! Thank you for all the prayers - They are helping!

Zak did have a busy day today with the doctors and nurses checking in on him. He also had a PT session to work on stretching to make sure he is not falling behind any ( he was not- he did great). Also our Pastor came to visit, Jessica - one of our nurses, and Grandma Kathy. Zak has a HUGE monkey balloon. I can't wait for him to wake up more and play with it since we always call him a Monkey.

Since Callie is not 100% they suggested that she also gets swabbed so she was in today and will follow up with the doctor tomorrow.

We will update more when we can.