Hospital Update

My next post is going to be full of pictures. I had so many pics I wanted to share, but this update is coming from the hospital and I am on Alex's computer!

Let me back up to where I left off. Mimi and PopPop left on Saturday the 8th. It is always hard to say goodbye. The kids loved their time playing with Mimi, especially Maddy who wouldn't leave Mimi alone for a minute.

On Sunday, the 9th we were privileged to attend a Texas Rangers Game in a Suite thanks to Cook Children's. It was such a fun time for all of us. Alex brought his best friend and Maddy loved on Ralphie the whole game!

On the 10th, Maddy had her cast removed. When they repeated her x-ray they found she actually had 4 fractures! Poor girl. No wonder she was in pain. We left orthopedics and headed to the Golf Club to meet up with our "family" from the Cook Children's Health Foundation and speak about what Cook's and Children's Miracle Network means to us.

On Tuesday, Alex had an appointment with his endocrinologist who adjusted his medication in hopes of helping with how fatigued and cruddy he has been feeling.

Wednesday, the 12th, Grandpa flew in!We actually enjoyed a few days of just regular activities before the craziness started again!

Thursday we had to do another X-ray as Alex continues to struggle with GI pain and nausea. It looked worse then his baseline terrible X-rays and it was decided that we needed to see our GI the next morning. Friday we say Dr. O and he said his pain and nausea is definitely a flare-up of his chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction. He talked about how significant Alex's GI dysfunction is and us not having a whole lot of options to improve it.

Alex has been participating in an acting and improv class since January. He has really enjoyed it and the Spring Recital was last week. Alex had a dress rehearsal Thursday night and performances scheduled for Friday night and Saturday afternoon. I was able to attend Friday's performance and was so incredibly proud of Alex. He did a great job and really enjoyed himself. He was really struggling with anxiety regarding his performance and I was so proud of him overcoming that anxiety and pushing himself to perform. His kind spirit came through as well. The center where his acting has taken place has a neat tradition of offering flowers that can be purchased during intermission. Yu write a note and the flowers are delivered to the performers at the end of intermission. Alex received three flowers (2 from me and 1 from a classmate). He noticed that one of his classmates didn't receive any. He quickly ripped a note off one of his flowers, stuck it in his pocket and presented it to her. She wouldn't accept it, but I told him that gesture means more to me then any acting performance or play. It is these little moments when I see his kindness, his love, his heart that make me so thankful I get to be his mom.

We were both heartbroken when he woke up Saturday morning with a fever. Bruce, Alex and Maddy were all supposed to attend the performance with me. Alex was so worried about letting his classmates down. When he called me up his fever was 100.9 and I was hopeful maybe he had just overdone it with two late nights in a row. Unfortunately within 30 minutes it had climbed over 102 and before we left the house was up to 103.8. By the time we were getting in the car I knew it was not good because he had really bad chills and was complaining of having visual disturbances. We got to Cook's ER and were immediately taken back. They couldn't even get an initial blood pressure because his chills were so extreme he was moving too much for the machine to register a bp. They called a sepsis alert and we had about 12 doctors, nurses, paramedics and respiratory therapists in our room. They jumped in to action and worked feverishly to stabilize Alex as he decompensated. He looked pretty scary for a bit, but we were able to get him to a point where they felt it was safe to send him to the floor and not the PICU. Before the end of Saturday we knew he had a line infection. He was still feeling really bad and some of his labs did not look good.

Yesterday we woke up to the scary news that he was growing the same bacteria that we nearly lost him to in 2010. Klebsiella Oxytoca is a bacteria that translocates from Alex's GI tract into his blood stream causing scary infections and sepsis. In 2010, he went into DIC (bleeding/clotting disorder), kidney and liver failure and was intubated on a ventilator. Luckily, this time we were able to treat quickly and he did not wind up quite as sick. It was still scary for my Mom heart knowing how serious this infection could be. He did ok yesterday, but he continued to have low blood pressures and was not creating urine like he should. He was also extremely pale and puffy. They ordered labs to be repeated this morning and luckily overall his labs are trending in the right direction. He looks and feels better today. The only negative today is his blood work showed his pancreas is flared again. However, he appears to be out of the woods. The doctors are hopeful that we can go home on IV antibiotics in a few days.

Those of you who know us know that we love our church and our church family. Our praise Band has been playing a song that has really spoken to me over the past few months. I want to leave you with the lyrics and the hope that Alex and I always use "our story" in a way that gives back and honors God.

"Life is short; I wanna live it well

One life, one story to tell
Life is short; I wanna live it well
And you're the one I'm living for
Awaken all my soul
Every breath that you take is a miracle
Life is short; I wanna live it well, yeah

I got one life and one love
I got one voice, but maybe that's enough
'Cause with one heartbeat and two hands to give
I got one shot and one life to live"

Thank you for all your prayers and thoughts.

Ali

Update on Appointments and some EXCITING news!

This was a crazy week! We were supposed to be heading to Houston on Sunday to start a long week of appointments. However, mother nature had a different idea. We had severe storms here Saturday night into Sunday morning and Houston was expecting "damaging storms" later in the day on Sunday. After talking to friends and watching the news we could not find a window that seemed safe to get on the road. So we wound up leaving at 5:00 Monday morning in order to make it to our first appointment.

Monday: We started with Pulmonary. Alex's pulmonary testing is never great and he has one test in particular that is consistently very concerning. It is a test that measures the strength of your inhale and exhale. Alex has extreme weakness of his chest wall muscles which makes taking good breaths difficult. That coupled with his extreme GI bloating really effect his Pulmonary status. After we explained to our Dr. how fatigued Alex has been lately, it was decided that we needed to try and offer him more support. Our pulmonologist feels like it is very likely that he is working so hard to keep his O2/Co2 balanced that he is exhausting himself. He wanted to ordered a Trilogy Ventilator that can be used with a cannula to deliver positive pressure and help ease the load of his breathing. We completed some other interesting testing on both kids and set up a time to meet on Wednesday before moving on to our next appointment. next we saw our beloved, Dr. Pacheco. She is so much more then a Doctor to us. She loves the kids like they are her own and she is a doctor I can be completely candid with. She felt great about the pulmonologist's plan for Alex. She doesn't feel like his immune dysfunction is adding to his current struggles, but did add some labs to be sure she cannot help in any way. She gave me some advice on some concerns with Maddy and what she thinks we need to do. She also ordered labs on Maddy as she is watching her immune system very closely. We finally made it to teh hotel at around 4:00 Monday afternoon! Alex and I had to make a really quick turnaround for our rescheduled sleep study! I was so glad to have Mimi and PopPop with me to entertain Maddy while I quickly re-packed what I needed for the night and kept her happy while I was gone!

Tuesday: We saw Dr. Koenig, our mito specialist. Overall, she is happy with how Maddy is doing. She wants us to continue aggressive therapy to try and help with her hypotonia and myopathy. She was concerned about Alex. She increased his seizure meds (he has been complaining about feeling like he is having seizures) and checked a slew of labs to be sure nothing else is off. She also agreed with the trying to help the fatigue by addressing his pulmonary issues. This is another appointment where our Dr and her incredible staff are so much more then our medical professionals. They love my babies so much and it is so nice to be at an appointment where everyone knows you and your kids so well that you can just be you! Maddy entertained the "girls" with dances and lots of surgery, while I was able to focus on the appointment. We headed out to Kemah Boardwalk after our appointment for some fun! Unfortunately, most of the fun attractions were closed, but we had a nice lunch on the water before heading back.

Wednesday: Another busy day as we headed to the hospital early to complete labs before our appointments started. I was able to draw all of Alex's labs off his central line. I had my blood drawn (we are repeating some genetic testing). Maddy was the difficult one as they stuck her three times and couldn't get any of the labs. The lab was concerned about how dehydrated she was and wanted us to call our doctor to get some fluids for her. We just tried to convince her to drink more! But we left Houston without getting any of the labs ordered on her. We were already running late after the lab to meet up with the pulmonologist and supply company to pick up Alex's new machine, fit his cannula and adjust settings. From there we rushed to cardiology for both kiddos. For now we are just status quo there, but both kids will have echos when we go back in October.

Thursday was Alex's yearly MRI of his spine and we were excited that for the first time ever his syrinx appears a little smaller! This was awesome news.

I am always proud of my kids, but I was especially proud of Alex this week as he endured test after test that normally cause major anxiety and handled them all like a champ. The maturity he displayed was awesome to see.

I am so grateful to my Mom and Tom for all their help this week as this would have been really difficult without an extra pair of hands. They kept Maddy entertained and happy through countless appointments and long hours at the hotel.

Now for the EXCITING stuff!!!!

Alex was nominated in February for the first ever Kidd's Kids Teen Trip. It is a trip to Disney, Universal and Seaworld the first week of June. We returned from Houston to the exciting news that Alex was selected as one of the teens to attend this trip. We will be travelling to Orlando and staying at Give Kids the World. We are so excited and so happy that once again he is being honored for the incredible spirit he shows despite his challenges. We are so grateful to Mimi, Karol, the Tagordas, and Pastor Molly for writing letters in support of him. We can't wait to share more as we find out the details over the coming weeks.

Our craziness is not slowing down as we say goodbye to Mimi and PopPop and then greet Grandpa this week as he comes to visit for a few weeks! Not too many pictures this week. Hopefully more next week!

Ali

 Love how much these two love each other!

 All tests are easier when you have your sibling to help!

 Not sure he is the one who should have devil horns!

 Sleep Studies= Awesome Hair

 Appointments are Exhausting!

 Maybe the first time I have a smiling picture from Pre-Op!

 Maddy and Mimi at the Park!

 We even found some animals to pet!

Home to our sweet Mia!

Heading to Houston

This will be a quick post as we are so excited to leave in a bit and pick Mimi and PopPop up from the airport! I just wish it was for a fun week and not to tackle a crazy week of appointments! Heading to Houston is always a mix of emotions for me. We are so very grateful for doctors who have walked this very rocky path with us, who have loved us like family, and who are so very knowledgeable about Mitochondrial Disease. But I dread the long drive, the long appointments and the exhaustion from a week of appointments like this. This week I am hopeful for some "help" as Alex has not felt well in months and Maddy is having her own struggles. Prayers for safe travels, good appointments and lots of time to enjoy Mimi!

Maddy and Atticus

Atticus is a service dog who works at Maddy's therapy center. When Maddy checks in she always says she is there to see her therapist and Atticus. Sweet Atticus comes running when he hears our voices. These two have grown up together and really are sweet together.

 Alex loves his violin instructor/mentor/friend, Sonny. I am pretty sure they spend as much time chatting as they do playing violin. It is fine with me. Sonny is the kindest, most genuine person I know. If Alex learns to be half as kind as Sonny, he will be doing good!

We said goodbye to our Zoey on Thursday, as she headed to her trainer for a month. These two are really going to miss each other! Hopefully, Zoey is a good student and comes home with even better manners then when she left!

Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers this week,

Ali