HOME TOMORROW???

Sorry that I am posting so late. Kaidence was able to get her pic line in easily for once. All went very well with that. Today her count was lower (.2). They are still trying to figure things out. She looks great. We are hoping her numbers will be up tomorrow and we will adjust some meds and send her home. If they are still low tomorrow they have decided to give her a shot that she will get every 5 days to help boost her WBC. They will then adjust meds as well and send her home. We are planning on coming home sometime tomorrow afternoon unless something weird happens. She will have a pic line and 2 IV antibiotics. Speaking from the last time that we did the pic line and antibiotics at home it was a lot of work with very little sleep involved. That's ok though, we just want her home.

A Big Thank You to those that have come to see Kaidence, those of you that brought me dinner tonight and to those that took dinner to Mike and the boys tonight just because. We appreciate all of our family and friends. WE love you all and mostly Thank You all for your prayers and words of support. We are excited to leave this place but we love the feelings of gratitude that being here again brings to us. We have learned so much as we watched Kaidence and others families endure their own trials with grace.

LOW WHITE BLOOD CELLS!

Today Kaidence threw up and her white count is down again (not good). Let me TRY to explain what they THINK is going on, but I don't completely understand it. Because Kaidence is immunosuppressed she has fewer white blood cells (WBC) to fight off infection. However, there are many different types of WBC's. The white cells that Kaidence does have are the weaker of the WBC's, the big guns (T cells) have been suppressed. So these cells that she does have are her last defense to fight off infection of sorts. They noticed that the WBC she does have are decreasing over the post couple of weeks. They think that because these numbers have been so low (as low as .2) that Kaidence was exposed to something and unable to fight it off. They are wondering if one of her medications is causing her numbers to drop. They are starting to take her off 1 med at a time to see if they can figure which one. Once they find an answer they are unsure what they will do since Kaidence does need all of these medications to either keep her heart from rejecting or to protect her against things that could be serious for an immunosuppressed person.

Other than that we are just waiting to see what happens. Ironically we are above our old room in the PICU. Same view and all. I think I am a little depressed because I would love to go home and I know that we will be back later this month for her procedure and afraid that we will have a hard time getting out of here then as well. I know that sounds so negative so that is all you will hear of that.

McCaden and Camden came up today. Kaidence was very excited to see her brothers. McCaden took part in a sort of day camp that PCMC had today for siblings of those that have life threatening illnesses. He seemed to enjoy himself and it was good for him to see that other kids like him have parents that have to stay at the hospital a lot as well. Camden and I had fun cuddling and watching movies. We had a picnic at the Rainbow Cafe as well.

For the most part things are well and we are grateful that things aren't as bad as they can be.

GOOD NIGHT, LOTS OF DIAPERS!

Kaidence had a pretty good night, but a lot of diarrhea. Most likely from all of the antibiotics. The docs are still boggled as to how she has picked up this infection. We are still waiting for negative cultures. They may let Kaidence start eating, not sure yet though.

Does anybody have any DAVIS COUNTY CLIPPERS from Tuesday? I just need the page with the baby birthday's. I placed a picture of Kaidence in the paper and was so busy with her throwing up that I forgot and never got one for ourselves. I needed a couple to put with her other scrapbook stuff. If you do have them will you please save them for us?

Thanks for all of your prayers.

FEELING BETTER!

Kaidence seems happy today. The Dr's are very surprised at how well she has handled this septic blood infection while being immunosuppressed. They are also surprised at how quickly she has bounced back. She was very sick but anybody with this type of infection would be. We feel very blessed. She is still not fully back to her normal self but we are getting closer and her antibiotics seem to be working. The doctors don't feel that she is ready to eat still and she also still seems to need her oxygen. So we still have a few things to work on. I have noticed her starting to cough, hoping nothing comes of it.

BLOOD INFECTION!!!

Yesterday afternoon Kaidence was placed on some heavy duty antibiotics and she seems to have responded well. Her fever finally broke and the vomiting stopped. She is getting back some strength but looks rough. Her blood cultures came back positive, meaning that she does have an infection in her blood and they think that is why she got so sick so fast. They are waiting for the specific infection to be identified and most likely will not know that until tomorrow. Kaidence will need to stay until they can figure the best antibiotics for whatever infection she has and have a pic line placed for going home with for antibiotics. They won't place the line however until her cultures come back negative. They will continue to watch her closely to be sure she doesn't get worse. We may go home Monday-ish.

FEELING YUCKY!!!

Kaidence is still feeling pretty yucky. Her fever is still pretty high. Her respiratory panel came back negative (meaning no RSV .....). They are still waiting for urine and blood cultures. They are very unsure as to what is going on. She has started needing oxygen and they are watching her closely and may possibly move to the PICU. Her echo looked good. Her pulmonary pressures are higher than they normally are but they don't seem too concerned about that yet. Tylenol doesn't do much for her fever and because of transplant stuff she can't ever have Ibuprofen. They have moved all of her meds over to IV and she is not allowed to take anything by mouth. We will continue to keep you posted. Coming back is a great reminder for the many ways that we have been blessed. We still have a lot of sick friends that are still here. Are prayers are with them as always.

NOT GOING HOME!

Ok, so we all know that you never go into the hospital for only a day. It just never seems to work out that way. We thought that Kaidence was doing better and that we would be discharged today. The high fever and vomiting came back about 2:30 this morning. The poor thing is just miserable. The fact that she really knows how things go here with IV's and everything else does not help. They can start getting equipment ready for something and she knows what is going to happen next. She just groans and whimpers all day long. Her heart rate and respiration are up as well. They have taken a lot of test to try to find what is happening. They also did a chest x-ray. We are waiting for the doctors and we will keep the blog posted whenever we learn of more.