30 DAYS TO GO!!!

WOW!!! we only have 30 more days until we head to Orlando for Kacie's Make A Wish!!! We can't wait! We talk about it every day and usually more than once!

Veterans Day was Kacie's six month mark. She got to discontinue one more medication so no more Bactrim. Dr. Jenkins also reduced her Prograf to 7mg a day so she is only on that and Valcyte now.

Kacie had a Harry Potter movie marathon with her cousins, Taylor and Ryan. They started watching on Thursday and Jocie joined them Friday night. They watched all six Harry Potter movies and then started over watching them on the Family Channel with the deleted scenes. Kacie is so excited for the seventh movie to come out next weekend.

Happy Halloween

Brady has been so excited this year for Halloween. We couldn't get our Halloween decorations up soon enough and he knew right away that he was going to be spongebob.

After the trunk or treat it is tradition to go to Great Grandma Talbot's house and Grandma Wa and Grandpa Gerald meet us there. The kids spread out all their candy and it is pretty loud, but Great Grandma is always such a good sport:)

Lindsay, Kacie & Taylor

Kacie makes a pretty cute bumble bee and Brady makes a good SpongeBob even though Mom can't stand the cartoon!!!

50 days to go

Today was the half way mark from Kacie's paper chain of counting down 100 days until her Make-A-Wish at Disney World, Harry Potter at Universal Studios and Sea World. We are so excited!!!

We saw Dr. Jenkins on Oct. 20th and he was really pleased at how well she has done. He said that her transplant has been a textbook case. He extended her blood work to every three weeks and we are now only seeing him every other month. Back in July we sent some letters to the donor family and have not heard back from them. Our hearts go out to them.

Jump Creek

Kacie went to McCall for the weekend with Jocie so Scott, Brady & I decided to have our own little adventure at Jump Creek. Brady had a ball climbing around to all the caves and throwing rocks off the cliffs. We didn't stay up high too long due to our nerves watching Brady get to close to the edge. So we went back down to let him throw rocks in the little pond. It was a fun day. Brady can't wait to go back and show Kacie.

1st Day of School

August 25th was Kacie and Brady's 1st day back at school. Kacie is in the 6th grade and Brady is starting Kindergarten. Kacie was really excited, Brady not so much. I was really nervous for them both since they were both starting new schools. They did however have a great week back in school. Kacie was even released to take P.E. which originally the doctor said she wouldn't be able to this fall so that was a surprise. We were able to get a kidney guard custom made for Kacie when she starts playing sports and the doctor said she would need to wear it at P.E. too.

We are so glad that our life is getting back to normal. We really miss Brandon. We usually have him home for a weekend once a month and go see him at the home from time to time. Brandon starts school Aug 30th at Meridian High. We hope all three have a great school year! :)

Oregon Coast & Kidney Camp

Thursday the 22nd we headed to Seaside. On the way we stopped at Multnomah Falls. We hiked up to the bridge and then Brady wanted to keep going. It was too much for Kacie so she headed back down with Scott. Brady, Jocie and I kept going until he decided he was done and wanted to go to the Ocean. When we made it back to the falls he waved bye, bye and said to the falls, "I'm going to the Ocean and I'll be right back!" It was so cute.

The kids loved the ocean at Seaside. They also swam at the hotel, rode the carousel, ate pizza and bread sticks and enjoyed the shops. On Friday we found a wonderful candy store. They had everything including chocolate covered bacon.
Here we are on our way to the Tillamook factory and then on to the Kidney Camp. Brady loved watching the cheese get made and we all loved the ice cream and cheese curds. These are the Kidney Kids that are either waiting or had a transplant.These are the Kidney Kids plus 10 living donors and three doctors.Jocie and Kacie really liked Caroline (volunteer)

Lindsay and Allie were their group leaders. They were the Rowdy Rhinos. They had lots of fun doing crafts, playing minute to win it, making kites and swimming. The last night Caroline finally talked Kacie into dancing with the rest of us to a live band. After Kacie started dancing then Dr. Jenkins joined in. We had a great trip!!!

Kacie Update

Kacie saw Dr. Jenkins today and he is amazed that she is only on three different medications this soon after surgery. She is no longer on any blood pressure meds so that is not going to be a problem for her anymore... amazing... Miracles still happen!!!

Last weekend Kacie went with her Uncle Ron and Aunt Stacie to see Taylor compete in the Hershey track meet in Eugene. She had a lot of fun and Stacie said it was so fun to see Kacie frolicking in the water at the Oregon coast. That is what has been the most amazing thing to see is her energy level increased and Kacie acting like her old self again.

Taylor got 5th place in the long jump and the 200 meter. Good job Taylor!!! You amaze us everyday with what you accomplish with your disability.

Family Update

June 4th we got better news. Kacie's creatinine was down to .62 and we think we figured out the lab problem so we shouldn't have to go back to Portland.

June 8th Kacie saw her dialysis nurse for the 1st time since her transplant. She capped off her tube until it can be removed. Anyway, when we were leaving the nurse asked Kacie if she was going into High School next year......I about fell off my chair, I said no just 6th grade....she is growing up fast enough as it is :) Later we dropped off a care package (2 Old Navy shirts, 2 movies, Three Musketeers and Oreos) for Brandon's last day of school. I also took him a dozen Krispy Kremes to share with the home, but I wasn't able to see him because they have asked that we stay away for a month due to him being so homesick :( That has been hard.

June 9th we got more good news. We were able to bump up Kacie's surgery to removed her PD catheter to June 15th. Kacie was pretty excited about that!!!

Today I talked to Brandon's Bishop from the Meridian 1st ward and he is going to start taking Brandon to church for us. I hope it works out OK.

Brady is going to summer school. I think he is enjoying it, but early morning bus rides are a killer.

Welcome Home From Boise

Dr. Jenkins' office back in Boise surprised Kacie with a Welcome Home sign when we went for a visit today. You can't see it in the picture, but Dr. Jenkins, Terry (receptionist) and Allie (nurse) also added a little note with their signature on the sign. It was a nice surprise, they were sooo excited for Kacie.

We have hit a little bump in the road. Dr. Jenkins is having trouble getting all of Kacie's lab work so unless they can figure out a solution we may have to go back to Portland until Kacie's creatinine and Prograf counts level out. Her creatinine jumped from .57 Thursday to .81 yesterday. It can either be a result from high Prograf levels which we don't know what those are yet or it could be from low blood pressure or not enough water intake. Dr. Jenkins said it was unacceptable to not have the results back from Thursday. (I thought unacceptable was only a word Mom used, we'll see if he is as good at getting results out of people as Mom is :) Other than that he was really pleased with how well Kacie is doing. She has to continue blood work twice a week and weekly trips to see him either in Boise or Portland.

We have been blessed with some wonderful meals since we have been home. We are very fortunate to live in such a great area with so many awesome friends. Thanks so much to everyone for your continued love and support. We love you!!!

Last Full Day in Portland

Kacie saw Dr. Jenkins again this morning. Blood pressure is good and all her blood work was OK. She is still a little anemic from all the blood she lost during surgery, but her kidney function is stable. We didn't find out about her Prograf level until 6pm and that is when we got the OK to go home. We had to add one more pill a day of the Prograf. Kacie is down to blood work twice a week on Monday and Thursday. We will be seeing Dr. Jenkins in Boise twice a month beginning June 2nd. He stressed again the need for Kacie to not be around anyone that is sick for the next three months, but he doesn't want Kacie to live in a bubble either so once her PD catheter comes out she can swim and be as active as she wants. However, he said no playing in the dirt, traveling to any southern desert states and P.E. this fall.

The rest of our day was filled with some shopping, eating, a visit to the Portland temple (I had forgotten how beautiful it is) more eating and then packing to go home.

We are so grateful that Kacie is doing so well. I can't believe it has just been two weeks since her surgery. I remember how anxious and upset she was when we headed to Portland and then the morning after surgery how relieved she was when she said, "I'm so glad it's over." Our thoughts still go out to the donor family. What a wonderful gift, you will always have a special place in our hearts!

More Skype Fun!

Thanks Tami and Alan for all the laughs!

Finding Ways to Past the Time

Kacie has finished two needlework projects since we have been in Portland and is now working on her third.
We are loving Skype and having lots of fun with it!!!

Kacie showing off her handy work to Teniele.

Grandma Sue playing peek-a-boo with Joshua.

(She is going to kill me for this one:)

This morning we saw Dr. Jenkins again. Yesterday Kacie's blood pressure jumped back up again so she had to go back on 2 Clonidine patches a week. Her phosphorus level is OK now so she was able to go off another pill and her Prograf was reduced down to three 3x a day. The biggie was being able to lose her drain tube. It was very painful for Kacie, but she is so relieved to be rid of one more attachment. Only one more to go which should happen in about two weeks in Boise. We are hoping to go home Tuesday if all goes as planned!