We're back in the saddle...

Calle and Christian have both successfully navigated their illness, and we're mostly back to full strength. Christian is starting to walk a bit now. He'll take short strolls between Lia and me, and occasionally he'll walk between objects, such as a chair and the couch. Most of the time he finds it is more efficient to just drop down and crawl!

Calle is talking a lot lately, and while the therapists are having limited success in getting her to taste foods, I catch her tasting the TV remote and other "delicacies" that I certainly wouldn't put in my mouth. I suppose any progress is good progress, right?

Lia finally settled on a sewing machine. Her $119 Singer sewing machine that she's had for years and years finally had a problem that was going to require more than its value to fix, so she's been researching a new machine. We've both learned a lot and she finally settled on a Bernina Activa 220. The machine comes with some training classes, so hopefully she'll be able to take full advantage of it's capabilities.

Oh no, not again!

Well, just as Calle is feeling better and needing less oxygen, Christian appears to have come down with the bug. He was really working to breathe yesterday and last night, and Lia took him to see the doctor this morning. He had a couple of Albuterol treatments at the doctor’s office, but his oxygen saturation was still borderline. He hasn’t been eating well, and if his situation deteriorates any more we may find ourselves as guests again at the PCMC hotel.

Home from the hospital

Well, after three days in the hospital, Calle came home on oxygen on Saturday night (April 9). It’s weird to have oxygen tanks in the house again, and the 50ft tube tangling around everything. But it is so good to have Calle and Lia home!

Calle seems to be on the rebound. We still have her hooked up to the pulse-oximeter at night (her saturation is always worse when she sleeps) and she’s on a lower flow of oxygen than she was when she left the hospital, so that is a definite sign of improvement.

We did notice that Christian is having a little runny nose today, and we’re hoping and praying that its nothing more that that…

Adventures with RSV

Sunday evening (April 3) we noticed that Calle didn't seem to be feeling well. She didn't sleep well that night, and Monday she was quite miserable. Monday night she didn't sleep well either, and Lia took her in to the doctor on Tuesday. She was diagnosed with bronchiolitis and we started her on Albuterol nebulizer treatments.

Wednesday was our regularly scheduled appointment to get Synagis, and so we had them both in to the doctors office. At that time Calle was still pretty ill, and we were advised to monitor her with a pulse-oximeter (which we already have from when the kids first came home from the NICU). We set her up that night, and as we were going to bed we went in to check on her and noticed that she was desaturating. We watched her for a while and then paged the doctor on call. After getting her symptoms, he recommended that we get her to a hospital where she could get some treatment. While Jordan Valley hospital is close, it was likely that she'd end up at PCMC eventually, so Lia had her loaded into the car and headed into the night. By 4:00 AM Thursday, after they had stabilized Calle with oxygen and admitted her, Lia was finally able to lie down and get some restless sleep.

Sometime during the ER process they tested Calle for RSV, and the results were positive.

Calle seemed to bounce right back on Thursday. She was smiling and seemed like she was on the rebound. There was talk of discharging her and having us keep her on oxygen at home (since we're the seasoned canula/oxygen/pulse-oximeter veterans), and I was anxious to get her home. Lia was anxious to get her home as well, but she wisely decided to stay one more night. Thursday night and early Friday morning were apparently miserable for Calle, and they had to "suction out" her nasal passages several times, and increase the oxygen flow as well. Obviously she's not yet ready to come home, and when she does, we'll have her on oxygen for a while.

It's Friday night and Lia and Calle are still at the hospital. I really dislike the loneliness of leaving loved ones at the hospital and driving home alone. It is nice to have Christian home -- he keeps our spirits up as we continue our adventures with medicine. He has somehow avoided this bug and seems to be in excellent health. He’s sleeping particularly well because he’s had a couple of intensely fun days with grandparents and extended family.

We’re anxious for life to get back to normal! (As if we know what normal is)

Easter

Christian on Easter 2005

Easter

Calle on Easter 2005

Happy Spring!

Here’s a quick update from our family (from our Goldsberry family letter)

Matt is back in school. He’s only got a handful of classes to finish his Bachelor Degree. He’s taking two online classes right now, writing and nutrition. These have kept him very busy; writing draft after draft of a pick-your-own- topic paper. Taking the nutrition class has totally inspired him to change the way the whole family eats, drinks and snacks. Every meal we get the low down on what vitamins are included and that we should be getting our five servings of this or that.

Coincidentally, Lia has been creating menus with their own shopping lists. Matt’s class has helped us outline everything, not get too much red meat, more fish and vegetables. Lia’s other free time has included volunteering at LDS Hospital with the NICU Parent Group, working with the March of Dimes raising awareness about prematurity, scrapbooking the kids’ pictures through 2004 and trying to get out with Matt as much as possible.

The twins are really coming along, they are 15 months adjusted now. Christian is an all-out explorer and climber; his nickname is Mt Everest boy. His favorite thing is to climb into, onto or over anything. He is taking a couple steps with mom and dad’s help to get started, but not walking by himself just yet. Christian is the best little eater. He still loves carrots and now oatmeal, and the all-time favorite, Cheerios. He is drinking less and less from his bottle during the day and more from his sippy cup, which is great. He is learning new words all the time, but “da da” is his staple, Matt and Christian are great pals.

Calle is surprising us almost everyday. Since her surgery to help with her reflux at the end of January, she is really starting to blossom. She does not have to be tube fed at such a slow rate any longer; so her play time/therapy time has increased. She is sitting fabulously, rolling like a barrel, and is really working on her crawl positioning. Calle loves to be helped to stand by our toy piano, where she stands and plays with only help to balance. It seems as though she gets stronger all the time. It’s even funny, now she is taking toys back when Christian takes them for himself. She still is being stubborn about eating, but seems better at letting things by her mouth. We know one of these days, she’ll just wake up and decide she’s ready for chocolate cake. Calle is talking a lot too. It’s funny to have Christian talking and Calle join in, like they’re having a conversation.

Keeping up with the Goldsberrys...

We've all learned to share over the past few weeks. I think I started with a cold, and as I was starting to feel better Lia began her bout with it, and then we shared with Calle and Christian. They are about over their colds now. They have been congested and had runny noses. If only we could get them to blow their noses! Hopefully soon they will understand what we want them to do when we hold a tissue to their noses, but until then we have to wait for them to have a good sneeze and then attack!

Christian & Calle supporting the team!

Calle is in the shop for repairs

The chief mechanic has made some significant repairs, and we're hoping we'll have her out of the shop by Thursday evening!