Four years ago ........

Wow .. this is a hard month for us.. for me ... Brandon my oldest son was born on October 4th .. almost 3 weeks early !! My water broke at work !! My always funny, sarcastic and sweet father in law passed on Oct 10 th ....  which his death lead to a series of events including discovering Keifers heart defect ..... I was given one week to prepare and be induced ... I chose my mother in laws bday Oct 29th.. she had just lost her husband so why not give her the best bday present that I could .... a grandbaby ! Here we are now ... 3 open heart surgeries later ..... and a lot of bumps along the way............ We also found out yesterday that our beloved dog Kola ...... has stage 4 kidney failure...... I dont even know how to tell the kids..... Ive been sad for 2 days now. This dog has brought so much into our lives and has loved us unconditionally. We are going to try some medicine and IV treatment but even it is beyond our budget.... after this if he doesnt respond or takes a turn for the worse we will have to put him to sleep. I am dreading this immensely. On a brighter note.... Keifer is getting a room makeover from a fabulous organization called Special Spaces ... they are coming to makeover his room and they are sending all of us to the FT.Worth Zoo for the day !! When they are done we will come back to the house for the unveiling of his new room ! They also are going to have a special bday surpirse for him and a cake !! Keith's family is flying in and everyone is coming to our house Saturday to help us celebrate and see his new room ! We miss our family very much and are very excited to share this very special weekend with everyone. Besides being a very memorable month it is also a very busy month.... school is in full swing and football season for Brandon.... Halloween is around the corner as well. And we have Breanna with her medical condition .... she is having some issues and has had bloodwork run 4 times and now will be scoped in less than two weeks. Please keep her and Keifer and Kola in your prayers........ More updates over the weekend and pics !

Percy for Halloween

Letters for his room.

Special Spaces working on his room!!

Keifer and Crew Update !!!!!!!!!

It's been a while right ?  I know .. I know .. we got super busy ever since we got home from the hospital. I had two days off then back to work.... and the two days I was off was spent taking Bre to Dr. appt and IV infusion at hospital. Keifer has been doing well .. he is still on 4 meds a day and low fat diet ... um .. except those M&M's he has sometimes.... went to cardio Dr a few times and now she doesnt have to see him for 4 months !!!!! Great !!! It is back to school time ...... even more things to do ... like I needed more ?!?  Football games , school events , football games , work , football games , Dr. appts ,,, etc ... etc .....  I did get in touch again with Special Spaces and they came to our house to meet Keifer and check out his room. They are planning on doing his room makeover on Oct  26 ! Just in time for his bday .... they send us on an outing for the day so they can make his room over and when we come back to see it complete they are going to have a special bday surprise for him !!!!! We are very grateful and are looking forward to it. Meanwhile I still need to get a hold of make a wish and get the ball rolling on that and my work who sponsors families every year wants me to try to coordinate with them and they will see about doing some wish enhancements for Keifer ...... that would be very special. Also when I went back to work .. my very kind and thoughtful coworkers gave me a card filled with money over $200 and was very much needed and appreciated. My sister and mom continue to help us as well and we thank them greatly...... new pics below... enjoy.

First Day of School

Rare moment of sleep.

Me giving back .. blood.

Cardio visit

Today we saw Dr.Kao at Medical City for follow up. Keifer screamed bloody murder every time someone came near him.... he would not cooperate for the oxygen sats or blood pressure or EKG. Dr. Kao did listen to him and said she didnt hear a lot of fluid and lowered his dosage of meds per day. We go back again in two weeks. I have returned to work and we are right back to our crazy chaotic schedule we had before. We got some very lovely handmade cards and gifts in the mail from Brett and Mindy West's children ... thank you !!! The did a beautiful job on their cards to Keifer and included some of their toys to him. New pic below.....

First day home .... next round of Dr. and hospital visits for Keifer's sister

Now It's Bre's turn ..... luckily not any overnight stays ... but for those who dont know ... my oldest Breanna has inflammatory bowel disease .. its an auto immune disorder .... she has to take IV infused Remicade every 7 weeks to the tune of $27,000 a dose .. yes we have insurance .... but I still have to pay $1750 per person max deductible every year. This time its at Cooks Childrens Hospital ... We saw the GI Dr. today .. Keifer went with us ... Dr.Keng has been both of their doctor. Tomorrow is her infusion all day .... I cant be there with her as I normally do  ..... I have Keifer ... just so happens .. Bre has a new boyfriend and he and I had a conversation this week on Facebook while I was still in hospital and I discovered that he has an auto immune disease too .. he is currently in remission and he at one time was on Remicade also .... he wants to go with her .... she wants him too also .... we have been told before she can have a friend come ... so ...   I am allowing it.... it helps me out. Due to financial reasons .. I am returning to work 2 weeks early .... I was sick to my stomach over this decision..... I am devastated I wont have any down time between leaving hospital and returning to work full time... but I will do what I have to do for my family. This whole ordeal has taken more from me than I can put into words. I will return to work this Saturday. Keith will be home on weekends to be with Keifer and Mon and Tue Bre will be with Keifer. By next week he can return to daycare. He is cleared to return 4-6 weeks after surgery.Keifer follow up with cardio is on Wed.

Home

Yes  we are home ............

Hurry before they change their mind

We got the ok to go ... waiting on Keifer's dad ... he is out on a job right now ... and he drives like an old lady. But I say we need to get the hell up out of here before they change their minds......

GoFundMe

If anyone wants to make a donation I set up a site on GoFundMe at the suggestion of a friend ... to assist in being able to provide Keifer the continued care that he needs. Some of you know I don't like to solicit help .. and if you can't I do understand ... I'm just putting it out there and see what happens.... Thanks everyone ... hopefully we will know more tomorrow. link below
http://www.gofundme.com/3m8pg0