May 24, 2008

We've had a pretty quiet week this week, although we did get some goals accomplished. Caitlin was able to meet with her astronomy professor on Wednesday to begin the work needed to complete this last semester she missed half of when she got sick. Her philosophy professor has emailed her an assignment that will take a little while to complete and she's still waiting on her history teacher and anthropology teacher to get assignments from those classes. Her teachers are giving her the summer to complete the work so she will be able to start the fall semester on track with where she would have been if illness had not sidelined her. Her doctor wants her to take the semester off stating that her full recovery will most likely take 6 months to a year but Caitlin has told her that she needs to take at least 12 credit hours to keep her Hope Scholarship. The doctor has relented somewhat and told her that she needs to take really easy classes and would prefer they be online classes. I'm not sure where this compromise will lead - it will be interesting to see. On Thursday, Caitlin had a blood draw and it would be Friday before the results were available. The doctor's office called yesterday to say that some of her numbers had gone back up, some were still going down but very slowly, and others had gone back down. She is so disappointed because she thought that with her dialysis catheter out the results would show much improvement. She will need to go back next Wednesday for another blood draw - the doctor will continue to monitor the results. She didn't need any medication changes but really needs to follow her low potassium diet more faithfully than she has been. All in all, her recovery continues to amaze all involved in her care and, while slow, is moving forward. We plan on spending a quiet weekend at home and getting Jordan ready for his six week adventure with the Northwest Youth Corp. I continue to have a few additional prayer requests for those who have touched our lives in different ways. Our neighbor died on Thursday evening after being ill for a bit of time, a church member lost his battle to stay alive after a car accident two weeks ago, and a fellow classmate of Brandon's in high school lost his 5 year old son when he accidentally ran him over. Such sadness in these families. We continue to appreciate and thank all of you for your support, prayers, thoughts, and love. Chris

May 20, 2008

It's really quiet here at 6 or so in the morning. Jordan is getting ready for school, he has an exam today and that should be it until school is finished for the year on Thursday at 11:10 a.m. Such excitement knowing that the last day of school for the year is almost here. He'll be a senior this next year and plans to take a dual enrollment curriculum. He'll be taking classes at a local community college and then come back to his high school to take some classes. Caitlin is preparing to work on the rest of the semester she missed from her illness - her teachers have all been wonderful about letting her take incompletes and then giving her the summer to complete the work. The doctor is encouraging her to take the fall semester off and take it easy - they continue to feel that for her to feel completely recovered could take 6 months to a year. She told the doctor that to keep her Hope Scholarship she has to take at least 12 credit hours per semester so it may be that she takes online classes for the fall semester. Since her dialysis catheter is out, she feels 100% cured and I am having to remind her to take it easy. It's hard to keep a good gal down!!! The yard sale was fantastic - over $3500 was raised to help pay for her medical bills and other expenses. Thanks to everyone who donated items, who bought items, or both. It was great seeing so many people at the sale and they were so happy to see Caitlin and see that she was doing so well. I am so truly blessed, as is my family, and I can't thank everybody enough for their continued love, support, thoughts, and prayers. Chris

May 17th - GOOD NEWS!!!

We have worked soooo hard to get the benefit yard sale together and today was the last day. We were able to get pretty much everything packed up and cleaned up in the church basement by 6:30 tonight. Thanks to all of you that participated by donating items for the yard sale, shopping, or both! The best news is that Caitlin's BUN and creatinine continue to be high but are still showing a downward trend. She was able to get her dialysis catheter out yesterday and does not need another blood draw until next Thursday. Her potassium is still high so she is still on her low potassium diet, but she can live with that knowing that her dialysis is done for now. We went to Murfreesboro last night to see Ryan because Brandon was leaving this morning to move back to Houston. We are really going to miss him but he left his two dogs so I know he'll be coming back - I'm sure not to see us but to love on his dogs!! It has been so nice to have him here while Caitlin was in the hospital and has been recovering. Pretty soon it's going to be quiet in the house because Jordan leaves on June 6 for Eugene, Oregon to participate in the Northwest Youth Corp program. He'll be getting back on July 20, so for that 6 week period of time, it will be just Caitlin and myself here at the house. Thank you again for all the support you have given myself, Caitlin and the rest of my family - it is so very much appreciated. God has been so good to us as evidenced by the miracle of Caitlin's recovery. Chris.
If I might add a prayer request - Chuck Dyer from our church was in an auto accident approx. 2 weeks ago and is not doing well. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers - my prayer for him is that God's will be done and that there will be peace in his brother's heart with any decisions that need to be made. Thanks!

May 14, 2008

We have had some really good last few days, read on for the reason . . . Caitlin had her blood draw on Monday and her numbers were beginning to show the downward trend that the doctor has been looking for. Then yesterday she had her appointment with her PCP - the doctor commented on her weight loss and said that she wanted to see Caitlin gain 10 pounds by the time of her next appointment in August. No changes were made to her medications and her sores are still healing nicely. Today we had another blood draw at the dialysis center and again the numbers are lower still. The doctor is going to do another blood draw on Friday and if the numbers are continuing to go down, he wants to have her permacath removed. Caitlin has been going around telling everybody that she finally has working kidneys and she is sooooo excited to see the light at the end of the tunnel!!! Of course, she feels that with this good news that she is healed and is starting to try to tackle too much - she still doesn't have the stamina to expend much energy so I'm having to play the bad guy and tell her that she needs to settle down. We continue to prepare for the benefit yard sale this Friday and Saturday - if you're in the Fairview area, stop in and say 'Hi', it's at Westview UMC. Thank you for your continued love, support, prayers. You have made this journey so much easier to bear and we (my kids and I) thank you!

Happy Mother's Day

I am such a blessed mother to be able to celebrate Mother's Day with all four of my children at home. I am so thankful because I know the outcome could have been so different - I am so blessed, God is so good!!! Sorry it's been almost a week since my last post but we're getting ready for the benefit yard sale this Friday and Saturday. Also, there hasn't been much change in Caitlin's condition in the last week. Her numbers continue to go up (BUN, creatinine, potassium, phosphates) and go down (hemoglobin) but the doctor is watching it carefully. Even though her numbers are off she has not had a dialysis treatment because the doctor doesn't want her kidneys to get lazy by having dialysis take over the filtering. I will be taking Caitlin in to the dialysis center tomorrow morning for her usual blood draw and then we'll park ourselves somewhere in Nashville for a few hours while we wait on the results and find out if dialysis will be needed or not. I will make this short because my kids are making dinner for me and treating me like a queen. I hope the same for any mothers reading this - enjoy it, we deserve it!!! Thank you for all the cards that continue to wish Caitlin good health and for the support that has been shared with me. Chris

Cinco de Mayo

Hola amigos/amigas!!! Feliz Cinco de Mayo!!! Que pasa? OK, that is all that I'm going to force upon you with my elementary Spanish. The kids and I just got back from celebrating Cinco de Mayo at the local Mexican restaurant and it was CRAZY!! Caitlin has been looking forward to celebrating and it just so happens that it's been 8 weeks ago today since she was admitted to ICU and wasn't expected to live. She lived, we celebrated!! She had to go to dialysis this morning for her blood draw and then had an MD appointment with her kidney MD. Her numbers were up higher than they were on Wednesday and Friday but they decided to wait until Wednesday to see if they would do a treatment or not. Actually, Caitlin and I were both surprised that she didn't have it today - she seems to need it every 4 days or so. The doctor is still cautiously optimistic that she will get 100% of her kidney function back and said that he is surprised that she's needed dialysis this long. He also said that if her numbers don't show much change or start trending down over the next few weeks that he will need to do a kidney biopsy to see what is happening with her kidneys. She has a doctor's appointment with her PCP on Monday and, until we get an order for out-patient physical therapy, has her Tuesdays and Thursdays free now. She's really excited about that, she said on the way home that now she can sleep in tomorrow. Please continue to keep Caitlin and our family in your prayers - it really means a lot to all of us. We're still on track for the benefit yard sale at Westview UMC in the basement on May 16th-17th, thanks to the youth of Westview and the Brison's for the help they are providing to help 'get it together!' Chris

May 2

It's been an interesting day today and one that I would prefer not to repeat. Caitlin had PT yesterday and again today. The good news about PT is that she has been released from at-home PT and is going to be scheduled for out-patient PT. We got up this morning and went into Nashville for her blood draw. Because she had to have PT, we were planning to come home, she would have her PT and then we could head back into Nashville for dialysis, if needed. While Caitlin was having her blood drawn, Brandon called to tell me that my mom needed to go the Centennial Hospital to get her eye checked due to extreme pain upon waking this morning. Brandon and I met up at my mom's house in Bellevue and Caitlin went home with Brandon and I took my mom to the doctor's. It turned out that she had corneal abrasions (very painful) and she was given some medications and within an hour we were on our way back to Bellevue. Got my mom settled in at home then headed home myself to await the phone call from the dialysis clinic to find out if Caitlin would need dialysis or not. Thankfully, her numbers were better than they were on Wednesday and she didn't need dialysis today. I have to take her back on Monday morning for a blood draw, we'll wait for the results and either have dialysis or an MD's appointment, depending on the results. Not a whole lot going on this weekend, we're just going to take it easy and get ready for the benefit yard sale that is planned for May 16th-17th. My living room is full of items donated by multiple folks with more coming in. Thanks to all of you that are donating items - they are very much appreciated. The cards continue to be delivered, reassurances of thoughts and prayers have been spoken, and again, we are so eternally grateful for all we have been given by God and mortals both. Chris