Family Pictures

During the first few days that Kelsey was in the hospital I realized how much I love pictures and how important they are. For that week Kelsey didn't look like herself at all, she was very swollen from all of the fluids that had been pumped into her, and I had a very hard time remembering what she looked like. My sisters had a great idea to print out some pictures of Kelsey and make a poster for her room. This is something that I loved and brought a lot of comfort during a tough time. Being able to look at those pictures, to see her eyes and realize that this was my little girl was so valuable. Pictures tell a lot about someone and give us a glimpse of who they are. The nurses loved having the pictures in her room also because it helped them to get to know her as a person and not just a patient.

I take a lot of snapshot pictures, but it was about time that we had our family pictures updated, since it has been three years. All of us have changed and it is fun to have an updated picture of our family, all together. These are the people that I love the most and I now look at family pictures in a whole new way.

Fall Festival and Pumpkins!

The kids are so excited for Halloween this year. It has been fun helping them figure out what they want to dress up as. This past weekend I took the little kids to a festival that our local high school was doing. They had such a fun time.

Last night we decided to take the kids to the pumpkin patch to choose out our pumpkins for Halloween. We kept choosing all of the ones that we liked and soon we had filled our wheel barrow with way more than we needed. After narrowing it down we left with six perfect pumpkins.

It's a very good thing that we went yesterday to get our pumpkins, because this is what our yard looks like today.

Perspective

(Kelsey two days ago)

Tomorrow will be four weeks since we brought Kelsey home. It feels like the time has passed very quickly. I have wanted to keep everyone updated but I just haven't found the time to sit down and put everything into words. Life is starting to feel more normal each day and I am grateful for that. Kelsey has made remarkable progress since coming home. When we were in the hospital we were told and prepared that this would take months and that the road ahead was long. I knew then that we would do whatever it took to get her back to being healthy and strong.

During our first week home I wanted to be by her side all of the time. I had a hard time letting her out of my sight. I would hover over her all day and I think it drove her crazy. It is amazing how your perspective changes when you almost lose one of your children, you tend to want to pull them all in a little closer.

Kelsey has been quite persistent in trying to do everything on her own and I have been surprised to see that she can. She has regained the strength in all of her muscles and can do most everything that she was able to do before she got sick. She still gets tired very easily and has been meeting with a physical therapist for the past few weeks to work on endurance. Each day seems to be a little better so I don't doubt that within the next few weeks she'll be better. She will have a few visable reminders of this event in her life but other than that the doctors do not seem to think that she will have any long term effects. I will forever be grateful to the numerous doctors and nurses that cared for Kelsey day and night and for their compassion and kindness to us during our stay there.

This has been an incredible experience for us as a family. One day as I was leaving the hospital I was with my mom and we were talking about everything and she made a comment to me that has stuck with me throughout these past few weeks. She said "I'm not one of those people that believes everything happens for a reason, but I do believe when things happen we need to look and see what we can learn from it." I have learned many things from this and I hope that they are lessons that will stay forever. I've learned that family is the most important thing that we have in this life. I've learned that life is way to short and you never know what tomorrow brings and so it is important to tell the people that you love that you love them often. I've learned that we have a Heavenly Father who loves us and has a hand in our lives and knows the things that we need. I've learned to rely on him with more faith. Some of these things I already knew I just feel that they will now be imbeded as a part of me forever.

Please know how grateful Chad and I are for the many people that have helped and blessed our family over these past weeks. Thank you for concern and your love and words of encouragement and support. We feel blessed to be surrounded by such great family, friends and neighbors.

She's Home!!

As many of you already know, Kelsey is home! She came home on Friday. We didn't expect it to be so soon. Each day she was making the progress she needed to so it was no longer necessary for her to be in the hospital. She will need some physical therapy and a lot of rest but we know that in time she will make a full recovery.

On our way home we turned the corner to come up the street to our house and there was a big pink sign that said "Welcome Home Kelsey" with pink ribbons on every tree and street sign lining the street. I think it was overwhelming for her to see how many people love and care about her. She probably will never fully understand how many prayers were being offered for her and how amazing she is. We will forever be grateful for all of you and your prayers. We are so grateful that she is home.

Bye Bye ICU

Yesterday was a good day for Kelsey. It was moving day. She was moved from the ICU to the medical floor. She had been improving everyday and we are so proud of her progress. She is able to breath on her own now so no more need for an oxygen machine. She is down to only one IV that is just giving her fluids. She is taking all of her medications orally. She is starting to eat, even though she hasn't had much of an appetite, and she is getting up out of her bed with help.

She is now working with a physical therapist to regain the strength in her legs and a respiratory therapist that is helping strengthen her lungs. She has some tough days ahead as we get her stronger and healthier, but she is a fighter and I know that she will be ok.

She is anxious to get home, she thinks that the hospital is the most boring place to be. I am trying to keep her busy and entertained while she is awake to take her mind off of things. She has everything that a teenager would want up here. Movies, PlayStation, her iPod, laptop, books and teen magazines. Yesterday while she was awake she wanted to Facebook with her friends. She is definitely feeling better and I am so glad.

Thank you for all of the prayers and support that we have received. We feel very blessed to be surrounded by such great people.

Day of Progress

Kelsey continues to amaze the doctors and all of us. She has been weaned down on the oxygen support through her nose. She is now mostly breathing on her own and all of her stats are where they are supposed to be. She has had three of her IV lines taken out over the past few days and now is just down to two. They had a speech pathologist come today and determined that she was strong enough to swallow and therefore strong enough to start eating. She has had some Gatorade and a Popsicle today. I think she liked having some flavor in her mouth. She got a sponge bath today and got her hair washed. She even got to get out of her bed for a minute to sit in the rocking chair. My mom was here at that time and put some braids in her clean hair.

Each day there are different doctors and nurses that come by her room just to tell us what a miracle she is. They just smile and shake their heads, they can't explain it. We know that it is through the power of prayer and faith that she has been able to progress. She will probably be moved from the ICU tomorrow and into the regular medical wing to continue the recovery process. We see good changes everyday and we know in time she will be healthy and strong.

I am sitting with Kelsey at the hospital as I write this update tonight. Thank goodness for wireless internet.

One Week

One week ago today I experienced the worst day of my life. Having a child that is so sick and not being able to do anything about it has to be one of the worst feelings in the world. We all love our children and would do anything we could for them, and when that isn't even an option it tears your heart out. This past week has been something that I never thought that I would have to face and I know that I haven't faced it alone. It is by the prayers and faith and support of many that we are being carried through this.

Today was a good day for Kelsey she is continuing to fight and she is amazing a lot of the doctors that have been working with her. Today she was able to come off of the ventilator. That means that her lungs are doing most of the work on their own. I think this was a good day for her too because it meant that she was able to talk. I could tell that yesterday she was trying to talk to me but the breathing tube was in the way. She is still on some pretty heavy pain medication so that makes her pretty loopy and therefore makes our conversations very interesting. She gets irritated pretty easy when there is to much going on in the room so I am trying to help keep it calm for her as much as I can. I have told her that her job now is to rest and let her body heal. She is still in the ICU and will be for at least a few more days.

Thank you for all of your prayers. We have a long road ahead to get her healthy and strong again but I know that it will happen. I'll keep you posted.

What a difference a day makes...

Today has been a good day. The Young Women in our ward left for camp this morning and I got the opportunity to go and speak with them before they left. These girls have been amazing. Within hours of Kelsey being hospitalized they organized a fast and have been praying for Kelsey ever since. I felt strongly that they needed to hear from me how much I appreciated them and update them on Kelsey's progress. The spirit in the room was so strong I hope that they could feel it. God lives and I know that he answers prayers and I know that he is mindful of each one of us and our needs.

Yesterday they had taken Kelsey off of the medicine that was causing her to be paralyzed. They were watching to see if they could get any response from her muscles. As of last night at 11:oo pm they hadn't seen any movements. Before I left to go down to the church this morning I called the hospital to get an update from the nurses. Things had progressed significantly. She had moved her hands and feet and made attempts to open her eyes and was responding to verbal requests. This was very encouraging news for us.

When I arrived at the hospital around 11:oo am the nurses told me that she was doing well and that she was doing most of the work on her own. They had eased up on the support from the ECMO (heart/lung) machine and she was remaining stable. The doctor had decided that she was ready to be off of the ECMO machine. So around 2 o'clock this afternoon she was taken off of the support that she had been receiving. The initial thought was that she would be on ECMO for 5-10 days maybe even longer. So the fact that it was only 5 days is very good news. She is still on the ventilator and will be until her lungs are ready to work on their own. But for now we are very encouraged with the progress she is making. She squeezed my hand today and opened her eyes wide enough for me to see their beautiful blue color.

We know that the Lord hears and answers prayers and we cannot thank you enough for all of the prayers that are being offered for her. She is still fighting and we will take one day at a time but I am so grateful for days like this that send glimpses of hope to keep going.

A New Update

I know that there are so many people that are concerned about the situation with Kelsey and I appreciate the love and support that we have received. I feel bad that I cannot adequately express that to all of you, but please know that we are aware of all of the prayers that are being offered in behalf of our daughter. We feel like because of you we are being carried through.

Today was not much different than yesterday and we are learning that this process is going to take a number of weeks. She is still on life support and kept in a sedated and paralytic state. The doctors are hopeful that by the end of the week we will have a better idea of how much her body will need the support of the heart/lung machine. She is still very, very sick and we know that even the slightest bit of progress is still progress and that is what keeps us going.

No one gives you a handbook on how to handle a situation like this. It is one of those things that you never think will happen to you. We have had our ups and downs over the last few days but we are doing our best to stay positive. Thank you to all of you who care about our daughter we feel truly blessed to know so many people are praying for her.

P.S. I hope you all don't mind the crazy pictures of Kelsey. She is famous for her funny faced self portraits. I used to tease her about them, but over the past days I have loved that so many of her pictures are of just her cute face.

Update on Kelsey

We just wanted to take a moment and update everyone on Kelsey's status. We spoke with the head of the Pediatric ICU Department this morning. Our first impression of her when we met on Thursday was that she was a very philosophical woman, not too much faith. However she made the comment yesterday that she feels like if it wasn't for the faith and prayers of those around us Kelsey would probably not be here with us today. So we are grateful for all of your prayers.

The bacterial infection still is showing trace amounts in her blood stream, this is a good sign that the antibiotic course is working. She is still on the heart/lung machine and will be for the next 3-5 days depending on her day to day progression. She will remain on the paralytic medicine as well, so she can not communicate with us. We appreciate all of the love, support and words of encouragement. We know a lot of you are concerned and love Kelsey and we will do our best to keep up with the communication. We have a long road ahead of us. She is a fighter and we will get through this and be better because of it.

Kelsey

As many of you are aware our lives have been turned upside-down over the past few days. I just wanted to take a moment and update everyone on the status of Kelsey. Yesterday she was rushed via ambulance to Primary Children's Medical Center. Shortly after being stabilized in the emergency room they admitted her to the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit). About an hour later her body began to shut down. Drastic life saving measures were taken, she was put on a heart lung machine. The machine keeps her blood oxygenated and takes the stress off her heart so that her body has a chance to heal. They have determined that she has a bacterial infection that is very severe, fortunately they are treating it very aggressively. So in short, the doctors were not very hopeful yesterday. Today however we were given some very encouraging news. Her body is responding to the antibiotics very well, she is not awake so it is very hard not to be able to talk to her but I am very confident that the specialists at this hospital are the best possible care for her at this time.

Chad and I want you to know how much we appreciate all of the phone calls and messages that we have received from many of you. We feel very blessed with the outpouring of love that we have received. I will try and keep everyone updated with the blog as things progress. This way we won't forget to call anyone. Thank you for all of your prayers I feel strongly that our Heavenly Father is aware of Kelsey and knows what she needs.

10 Miles...No tunes

Yesterday was my first 10 mile run of the summer and I was really excited! Typically the night before a big run I lay everything out for the next morning and make sure that I have everything ready to go. There are a few elements that make a long run...good shoes, water, gum, GPS watch and my iPod. I had all of those things when I set out on Saturday morning. I was ready to go. About a mile into the run I decided that I needed some music so I pressed play on my iPod and nothing..I checked that the power was turned on and still nothing...so I started messing with my earphones and found that they had a short in the cord and that they were not going to work. Now the thought of running the next 9 miles with no music made me a little uneasy, I have always had my music on while I run and it motivates me to keep going. So I took a deep breath and dug in, I had to, my friend was counting on me to run these 10 miles with her.

You know there are a lot of things that you miss while the music is blasting in your ears. The birds were singing, the sun was just coming up over the mountains and I was taking it all in. There is something about running that allows you to clear your mind and think things through. We ran those 10 miles and even ran the big hill twice. All things considered it was a great run. So even though I will continue to run with my iPod and the new earphones my sweet husband gave me, I was pleased to find out that I can run without it.

Down on the Farm

I got to go with Lauren on her preschool field trip to the farm at Thanksgiving Point. We had a cute little girl from her class with us and we got to explore the farm together. It was so fun to see the girls’ reaction to all of the animals and the smells that were there. We saw all sorts of fun things cows, horses, pigs, ducks, goats, llamas, sheep, peacocks, chickens you name it, and we probably saw it. The girls loved milking the fake cow and feeding the horses. We ate our picnic lunch and went on a wagon ride around the farm. After most of the preschool class had left Lauren convinced me to let them ride the horses. I think they had a great time, I know I did. It was a beautiful sunny day and a fun one to spend together!

Race for the Cure

Over Mother's Day weekend two of my sisters and I participated in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. We thought that it would be a good experience and a fun run. We have an aunt who is battling breast cancer right now so part of our motivation was to support her. The amount of people that were there that morning proved how many lives are affected by breast cancer. Whether it is an aunt, sister, mother, grandmother, friend or yourself we all know someone who is, or has battled this disease.

Most of the participants run in honor or in memory of someone and have that information on the back of their shirts. As I was running I would read those little signs and the more I read the more emotional I became. There was a man running in front of me pushing a jogging stroller, he was close to my age, he had a family picture on his shirt that was of him and his wife and 3 small children. His sign said "I am running in memory of...my beautiful wife." That hit me really hard to imagine a young mother losing her life and leaving her family. All in all it was a good day. I ran my best 5K that day and I felt really good about the experience.

All the ladies (Kari, Angie, Me, Brynne and Cassie)

Angie and I waiting at the start line

Me and Brynne

Angie with her friend Kari

Look at that crowd waiting for the gun to go off

Kari, Brynne and Angie crossing the finish line

Exciting Times

Life has been a little crazy since we have been home from our vacation. I am not sure if I just got used to the peace and quiet for a week or that my kids are extra busy lately, either way we are getting back to normal. We had a busy month last month and I have many things that I wanted to blog about, but never the time to do it. So you might see some things in the coming days that happened a month ago but are still worth mentioning. One of the many exciting things that is happening in our area is the open house for the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. The open house started on Monday and will continue through August 1st. Today I get the privilege of helping with the open house as an usher and I am very excited to help and to be inside the temple. This temple is just down the street from our home and is along my regular running route. Over the past year my friend and I would pass the temple and watch it being built and talk about how exciting it would be when it was finally finished and we could see the inside.

Chad and I went on a walk the other night and we decided to walk over to the temple. It was after dark and the temple was all lit up and was so beautiful. I am excited to take my kids there in a few weeks and let them see the inside. They have been very curious and have asked me some very sweet questions about the temple and what happens there. We have had many good discussions over the past few months. I feel very blessed to live so close to a temple where I can see it everyday and be reminded of the promises that I have made there and take the opportunity to go there often. I hope all of you will take the opportunity to go inside during the open house and see what a beautiful place the temple is.

Cinco de Mayo Baby!

Today is Lauren's birthday, she is my Cinco de Mayo baby. She was born on the 5th of May and is turning 5 today! Usually every year for her birthday we have a fiesta with mexican food and a pinata. It is always a lot of fun.

Lauren has always been a beautiful girl. When she was a baby I would frequently get stopped by total strangers just to tell me how beautiful my baby was. She was a very good baby and would love to cuddle with anyone. She still loves to cuddle and be held. She is a little girl who loves people and loves to play if she has someone to play with (i.e. friend, brother, mom). She likes to read books, play with her doll house, be outside on her bike and color.

Lauren will start kindergarten this fall and is very excited about that. I know that she is ready, but I'm not sure that I am. My days will be very different without her here she has always been my little buddy and likes to be where I am.

Lauren is a blessing to our family and we love her a lot!
Happy Birthday La-La!

My Teenager

Totally talented
Hilariously happy
Incredibly intelligent
Radically real
Truly terrific
Endlessly entertaining
Extraordinarily excellent
Nortoriously nutty

It has been one month since Kelsey celebrated her 13th birthday, she is officially a teenager and I have survived it for a month. I cannot believe that 13 years have already flown by. I have been going through some old pictures that I could put on her birthday post and realized that my baby has grown up. It really won't be many more years until she is grown and on her own, and that saddens me. She is an amazing young lady and I thought that I would share 13 great things about her.

1. She is funny and has a great sense of humor
2. She loves music
3. She loves to dance
4. She is a good friend and she makes friends easily
5. She is a girly girl (and I love it!)
6. She is fun to shop with
7. She is great at organizing anything
8. She is a great big sister
9. She is responsible
10. She is smart
11. She is kind
12. She is sensitive
13. She is beautiful inside and out

And I love her more than she will ever know. I am proud of you Kelsey and the beautiful young lady that you are. Happy Birthday! Love, Mom