Happy Halloween!!!!

Wedding!

...and here are the wedding photos!!!!!

Bridal Portrait

A few shots from a bridal portrait I did of Tara back in August. I just got permission to upload!

Funny Dance

FINALLY...we are all well again! I am so glad to be done with the sickeness. Kamalee took her last dose of meds last night. I think she is happy too...that tamiflu didn't taste good! Since the flue, she has learned to do her own little funny dance. It is so cute! Notice she stops one song in the middle to turn it to a different one and jam out again. Sorry it is so shaky. I was trying to dance to get her to go again. Then at the end she gets distracted by the TV.

As for other news, Justin's sister was moved to Sanford hospital. This is good news because it means she is stable. We don't know much else right now but will be going down on Saturday so I will have an update when I get back!

It never ends...

I have learned that there is always something! :)

Friday afternoon I had to call Kamalee's doctor. She was kind of holding her breath, working hard, had a fever again and her hands, arms, legs and feet were getting purple. When we got in there her O2 sats were at 89. Our dr. took a listen and sent us for bloodwork and a chest xray. Turns out she now had developed a small touch of pneumonia. After a neb treatment her O2 sats did rise to 97 so thankfully she wasn't hospitalized. BUT...when my doctor realized that sunday in the ER she was not given tamiflu, she was upset to say the least. She stated that Kamalee should have been given it that night since she is high risk. It also seems that a few of her other high risks patients were seen in the ER and not given tamiflu like they should have been. She is looking into it to see if it is just one dr or what happened and taking it up with the hospital board. GO HER!!! I wasn't happy when Kamalee didn't get the tamiflu but then when I heard others did that didn't have problems or anything I was even more upset. Well, now she is on the tamiflu. Normally it is supposed to be given in the first 24-48 hours of symptoms but the FDC has been seeing signs that it keeps kids from getting worse if gave after that timeframe. So she was finally put on it, along with antibiotic and nebs every 4-6 hours. The next day she was 10x better and looked so much better. I am so glad she finally got treated with what she should have. Our doctor recommended that we also write a letter to the hospital so they know. I doubt anything will be done about it, but at least I will feel better :)

I feel like I lost a week...

How is it another friday again? I guess I shall resume where I left off...

Saturday, we spent a majority of the day visiting Kathy in the hosptial again. Sunday, Kamalee woke up with a fever! CRUD. So we packed things up, stopped at the hosptial for a quick goodbye and headed home to our own beds. We made it as far as Brookings and had to pull over. Kamalee had to poop so we took her out of her seat. That's when I felt she was burning up! Temp 103. So we ran to walmart for some motrin as tylenol didn't seem to be doing the trick. She was finally hungry so we let her drink a bottle too. 45 minutes later, we were back on the road, finally. We were very much glad to be home. Kamalee took a long nap and woke up happy. Later that night, she was burning up again and the meds weren't helping. A friend of my sister's is a dr. so we got his advice and he thought she was a perfect candidate for tamiflu so we brought her to the ER. After a 2 1/2 hour wait (in the waiting room!!! yes I almost walked out) we finally got to see a doctor. After another hour and a half we were told that she had swine flu...and there was no treatment. (sigh) I asked about tamiflu and the dr. said it would no longer help since she has been infected??!?! WHAT! I really thought that was weird since I researched it and it said that it can be given to reduce symptoms quicker but is for high priority cases. Kamalee having heart problems I thought (as well as the dr. friend) that that would be her. Wrong, I guess. Whatever. So they sent us home with a neb. I guess at least our trip wasn't completely useless. What makes me even more upset...I found out later that the watertown ER saw 70 some patients that day for swine...0 were given anything! TELL US NOT TO COME IN THEN!!!! The news has hyped this flu into a 'deadly thing' but then the er basically laughs in your face. Although I did hear one of my baby cousins got tamiflu on Tuesday from the same er when she went in with it. ugh...just dont understand. Well..anyway, she has now been put on a list that the clinic has made of patients that should get the vaccine...but I don't understand why you would get the vaccine if you have had the flu...so if anyone knows more about this or has thoughts...please share!!!

It seemed that Kamalee was starting to feel better Monday, but I started downhill. Tuesday I was hit HARD with every symptom possible. Finally today I am better and moving. I just disinfected our entire house and opened windows. Hopefully all the germs are gone and we keep it away from Justin. So far all he has gotten is a headache and sore throat, which I hope leaves soon...BECAUSE...we got great news yesterday!!!!

Justin's sister, Kathy, woke up!!!! We have truly seen how God works through Kathy. We don't have a lot of detail yet, but we know that she seems to understand that she is in the hospital, recgonizes her husband and has even kissed him a couple times! She had a treck and g-tube surgically put in yesterday to make her more comfortable and hopefully will allow her to speak soon! AMEN AMEN!!

Here are a couple of shots of Kamalee doing her neb treatment. She actually sits really well and just breathes it in. She tries to eat the air coming out... :o)

Showing God's work!

We are currently at the hospital visiting Kathy and we just got some fantastic news that I wanted to share. They have removed the monitor in her head, that was measuring the pressure of her brain. She is maintaining a 'normal' status! Also, the neurologist read this morning's CAT scan and said it looked good and is showing improvements. They will be letting her wake up somewhat today as long as she is comfortable! Thank you God.

Thank you everyone for your prayers.

News on Kathy and Kamalee

Kathy

It seems that Justin's sister is doing better. She keeps surprising her doctors. The CAT scan came back with no regression. Which is awesome. Most trauma patients tend to get worse before they get better, but Kathy just keeps pushing forward. Her meds were lowered slightly today and she responded to her husband's voice. She is scheduled for surgery on her collar bone tomorrow and then they are planning to reduce the sedation meds; while controlling her pain. Hopefully she will wake to see her family! They expect the next couple of days to be pretty rough but we are thankful to have her!

Kamalee

She is really learning to imitate and is also learning her father's tributes. She just learned the itsy bitsy spider!!! She does the spider part and then the rain, but then gets so excited and claps for the rest. But it is so cute. I was surprised when I saw her do the spider and then rain right after without me even singing the song. She was trying to get me to do it. Also, on Monday she learned to stack blocks inside each other. She has these cubes that stack on top of each other or inside of. She was pushing two of them together and just concentrating so hard. After about 10 minutes, she finally got it. One inside the other...and can do it all of the time now. The OT was impressed. As are we!!!!

Thank God for all the good news.

Justin and I will be going to sioux falls tomorrow and staying througout the weekend. We are really praying Kathy will wake up and we will get to see her!

Kathy

We heard a good report from Justin's Mom today. Kathy has stayed stable and strong. This morning she squeezed her hand and wiggled her toes!! This shows response and is such great news!!!! She is still very far from being 'out of the woods' as people say, but she is showing improvement and that is the most important thing. Justin's brother, David, works only a mile from the crash site so he went there today. He said it was difficult to walk the hill even as it was so steep. He was able to recover a few of Kathy's belongings like a CD, an mp3 player, a hat (which she had bought on her trip to Alaska), a stuffed puppy and a small sewing kit. He can not wait to be able to return the items to her. We are still praying and thank all of you that our praying for her as well.

This is a prayer chain we have started....

Caringbridge

My brother in law, David, has set up a caring bridge site for Kathy. Please free to follow on any updates for her progress (which is starting to come along, Thank God!!).

Thank you all for your continued prayers!

Asking for prayers...

Last night, Justin's older sister, Kathy, was in a very terrrible car accident. She is in critical condition in Sioux Falls with an unsure outlook. The doctors are optimistic; however, we are all praying strongly and abundantly for improvement. I am asking anyone, please please pray for my sister in law and my husbands family! Any extra prayers are needed and so appreciated by our family!

Kathy, you are strong and a fighter. You will get through this!

We love you!