mrdavidkendall.blogspot.com

Southern California Vacation Photos

2009-11-22T23:00:00.004-05:00

More photos here... http://picasaweb.google.com/mrdavidkendall/SouthernCaliforniaNovember2009

We all had a great time. We had excellent weather for our whole trip. We went to Disneyland, Universal Studios, SeaWorld, the San Diego Zoo, and a few different beaches.

Disneyland

2009-11-14T13:36:00.001-05:00

We had a great first day in LA. We saw the La Brea tar pits, then got
Wes a snack at the Farmers market and did some shopping at The Grove.

After a short nap, we headed to Disneyland. Wes was excited to see
all his favorite characters. The weather was perfect, and lines were
short. Wes loved the rides.

-dk

Blast off!

2009-11-12T12:49:00.000-05:00

Wes got to ride in an airplane for the first today. All week long he
has been anticipating the trip and letting everyone know, "I go plane".

As the plane got up to speed on the runway he yelled blast off right
on cue. As the plane gained altitude he had a smile on his face so
wide that I thought he might injure his cheeks.

-dk

Thank you

2009-10-10T22:35:00.001-04:00

Eric had a wonderful Memorial service today. It was so nice to have so
many friends and family members present to honor him.

Nikki and I want to thank everyone for their continued support
throughout the last 15 months. We drew our strength from the thoughts,
prayers and love we received from so many people. We hope Eric's life
touched each of you as deeply as it did us.

I plan on continuing to share our experiences through this blog, but
posts will be less frequent and hopefully won't include any medical
terms.

If you are a facebook user, you can connect with either Nikki or I
there:
http://www.facebook.com/mrdavidkendall
http://www.facebook.com/people/Nikki-Kendall/1181987986

Thanks again,

-dk

Memorial service

2009-10-05T22:04:00.001-04:00

A memorial service will be held for Eric this Saturday, October 10, at 10 a.m. The service will be at Celebration Covenant Church, 16868 Giles St. Omaha, NE 68136. A luncheon will be held following the service.

In lieu of flowers, we ask that you donate blood if you are able to. Information can be found at http://www.givelife.org/ or by calling 1-800-REDCROSS. Monetary donations should also be directed to the American Red Cross.

-dk

Resting peacefully

2009-10-01T18:46:00.000-04:00

Eric's struggle ended this afternoon at 4:15. He passed on peacefully
and both Nikki and I were able to be by his side as he began his new
journey. Services are pending.

-dk

Wrong turn

2009-10-01T01:44:00.001-04:00

Eric is having a rough night. He was doing fine during the day but
began having trouble breathing then his heartrate and blood pressure
dropped. They had to put him back on the ventilator and give chest
compressions. He is stable now, but needing a lot of fluids and drugs
to keep him there.

-dk

New Season

2009-09-30T00:24:00.001-04:00

It is starting to feel like fall here in Cincinnati. The leaves are
just starting to change color and the temperature is dropping. I'm
excited for some change.

Eric had an uneventful day.

-dk

Two thumbs up

2009-09-29T00:34:00.002-04:00

Eric is tolerating the small amount of food very well. It isn't enough to provide any measurable nutrition yet, but hopefully will get his digestive system gradually back into working mode.

On the infection front, things are promising. He has not had any positive blood cultures in a week. Since the test results are delayed and not perfect, I don't think we want to declare victory, but I think it is safe to say we have the enemy in the run.

Feed me

2009-09-27T01:45:00.001-04:00

Eric is finally getting some food again. It is a very small amount,
but very exciting. Right now he is getting 1 ml per hour. That is only
a drop every few minutes, but he hasn't had any food for a long time.

-dk

Still smiling

2009-09-26T01:24:00.001-04:00

Eric had another good day. He had to make a trip downstairs to get his
NJ tube reinstalled since he pulled it out a few days ago. It goes up
his nose, down his throat, past his stomach and into his small
intestine.

We are likely going to start some feeding next week. They will squirt
baby formula down the NJ tube directly to his intestines. They plan on
starting very slow, but this is another huge step.

-dk

Relaxing and smiling

2009-09-25T00:33:00.000-04:00

Eric is doing well. We were able to get him to smile a few times
today. We still aren't in clear regarding his infection. He still
doesn't seem sick, so hopefully the steps we are taking are working.

-dk

Fine day

2009-09-22T22:44:00.000-04:00

Eric had another good, stable day. His output was down so the doctors were able to drop his fluids a little. If it stays down for a while, there is a chance we could start feeding him again. - dk

Doing fine

2009-09-22T00:04:00.001-04:00

Eric is still looking healthy. He continues to be treated for his
infection.

Ice cream

2009-09-19T22:53:00.000-04:00

Nikki's parents and grandparents are in town this weekend. Wes has
been getting plenty of attention and we have all been eating well.

Eric had another great day. I think his teeth are bothering him. He is
getting all four of his first molars coming in.

-dk

Happy

2009-09-19T00:08:00.001-04:00

Eric had another good day. He has been awake quite a bit the last few
days.

-dk

Still fine

2009-09-18T00:19:00.000-04:00

Eric had another good day. He got to switch back from a hospital bed
to a crib today. He had another blood culture from a few days ago come
back positive so he has at least a few more days of antibiotics ahead
of him.

-dk

Feeling and looking good

2009-09-17T00:17:00.000-04:00

Eric is doing well. He looks a little beat up from all the poking and
prodding he has gotten over the last week, but seems to be healing
up. We still don't know if we are past the infection, but his fevers
are still gone.

His G-tube has been temporarily removed to allow the opening to
shrink. The opening was slowly stretching and was leaking. It is
strange to be able to see directly inside his stomach. He has an NJ
tube in the meantime so he can get his oral medications without them
just oozing out the opening. This is minor stuff for a medical marvel
like Eric and really doesn't worry us.

Breathing on his own

2009-09-16T00:07:00.001-04:00

Eric is breathing well tonight without the help of the ventilator.
They were able to take him off this morning and he hasn't had any
problems. It is good that we were able to get the tube out of his
lungs since that is yet another place that can harbor infection.

We found out that there is a bacteria in his blood along with the
fungus. They are stepping up his antibiotics to take care of that. The
blood cultures they use to test for these take 2 - 3 days for initial
results and than a couple more days to identify the specific organism
that is growing. So, we don't know that he still has an infection just
that he did a few days ago. He hasn't had a high fever since
yesterday, so maybe we are headed in the right direction.

-dk

Slow steady progress

2009-09-14T23:50:00.001-04:00

Eric looks a better today. He got his CT scan and it showed he didn't
have any large pockets of infection. The blood cultures are currently
showing no viruses or bacteria, just a fungus. The drugs he is on are
typically fairly effective for this, so hopefully it is something that
just needs a little more time to resolve.

They weren't able to take Eric off the ventilator today. He is doing
better though and tomorrow might present an opportunity if he
continues his progress.

-dk

Typical Cincinnati Sunday

2009-09-13T23:50:00.001-04:00

I had some Gold Star chili for lunch and then Eric and I watched the
Bengals start their season off with a loss. He had an uneventful day.
He wasn't quite ready to come off the ventilator today but they are
planning to try in the morning.

No new information today about his blood cultures. He is on some good
drugs and we hope to learn more over the next few days about exactly
what type of infection it is and how best to treat it.

-dk

Another hurdle

2009-09-13T00:42:00.001-04:00

We got some bad news tonight. Eric's blood is still infected. They did
some ultrasounds and might do a ct scan tomorrow looking for any
sources or pockets of infection. He us still on the ventilator, but
will take him off in the morning if he is doing well.

-dk

Sitting better

2009-09-11T17:12:00.000-04:00

Eric is out of surgery and now has a new central IV. It was a rough
day, but things should be better going forward.

They were not able to get a second IV this morning so we had to skip
some meds and stop his dopamine as a way to get by on one. About a
half hour before surgery the first one stopped working and we were in
even more dire staights.

Once down in the OR, everything went a litlle a smoother. He is still
out from all the sedation, so they have not taken him off the vent,
but he back in his own room. He is pretty beat up. His platelets got
really low and his skin is extremely fragile right now so he has
bruises and skin tears all over. Hopefully now that this infection is
cleared up and we can deliver better nutruition and meds this will all
clear up.

-dk

Long day

2009-09-11T00:44:00.001-04:00

Eric's potassium levels got dangerously high on Thursday morning. That
along with some other things indicated that his kidneys were not
working again. Then, his blood pressure got low this afternoon so they
had to put him on a dopamine drip.

They got quite a lot of fluid in him and it seemed to jump start his
kidneys this evening. His blood pressure has still been low though.
The nephrologist analyzed his urine and thinks that something is
causing hemolysis which is destruction of blood cells. This would
explain many of his symptoms today, but lead to more questions.

They should be able to fight through all this with extra drugs and
units of blood. One of his IV lines stopped working so we are back
down to one and they can't deliver all his drugs through just one so
they are going to try to start another overnight. Hopefully he is in
good enough shape for surgery tomorrow and we can get a central IV
back in so these IV issues are behind us.

-dk

Washing up

2009-09-10T00:44:00.001-04:00

Wes can wash his hands all by himself now. Parenting gets easier
every day.

Eric has a nice uneventful day. They were able to get a second IV line
started. It is quite a comfort for me knowing he has redundancy. It
seemed like he was one swing of his arm away from a bad situation. It
is hard to keep a one year old from squirming and IV's don't like that.

Now the plan is to get through one more full day with only peripheral
access and go back to surgery Friday to have the central line replaced.