With great illness comes great fear

Brody recently fell ill with Pneumonia. Also, his active Staph infection flared up and complicated things. Since we are so "seasoned" in respiratory illness, we did not have to hospitalize him. We have been able to care for him at home. Its taken a little longer for him to get better without daily shots and IV's but its been worth it to avoid him picking up a secondary infection. Never knowing if "this time" is the last time, I broke down a couple days ago. I remember asking myself "Why does God insist he suffer?" We pray for Brody's health but there are also times when we pray for God's mercy. Sometimes, you just don't know what to pray for... But as of right now, he is recovering well. We've been delighted to see him smiling again. Its nice to have our Brody back, for however long it may be.

In Better Spirits

Over the past few weeks things have been going well. Brody has been relatively healthy and Kaybri has learned how to get around really well with her cast. She will still run and jump and kick with it. Nothing can slow that girl down! We are anticipating removing the cast the end of this month. I have a feeling it won't take long before there is another. . . Brody has started therapy again recently-though the school district. They have only come a couple time but Brody is already in a brighter mood. Its been nice to see him so happy and lively. This, of course, makes things a little less stressful for Joss and myself and makes the days a lot funner. As you can tell, things are going pretty well for us lately. I hope it stays like this for a while.

The Great Horrible Week

Saturday at 3 AM we took Kaybri to the hospital when she woke in the night with the worst sounding cough I've ever heard. I was certain it was RSV. The doctors didn't seem too concerned. Just an antibiotic and we were on our way. Wednesday, we got the greatest new. We recently applied for an appeal of Brody's Medicaid denial. Before the appeal was even processed, our case was re-opened and approved. We finally got insurance for Brody. It will go clear back to August 1 and cover his extensive debts. The best part is that it is totally free. We were anticipating a "spend-down" of approximately $1,000/month. But he was approved as Disability which changes the way its all figured and it just turned out great. I was so overcome with joy that I was jumping up and down. Of course Kaybri did too, simply because I was. Then she decided to take it a step further and jump on our bed. (keep in mind that our bed sits about 3 feet high). As she came down, she missed the bed and lit on her feet on the floor with her knees locked. She started crying and yelling about her foot and saying "hospital, hospital". When I took her in for x-rays, they came back ok. Just a strain they said. However, she was in a lot of pain that night. So we took her back for a second opinion yesterday. BROKEN! She is in a fiberglass splint for now. Poor thing. Its especially hard because she is a very independent, active 2 year old. And now she has to be carried around. But all things considered, things have been going pretty well for our family.

On Saturday Kaybri went to Bountiful with Grandma and Grandpa to visit Great Grandma Karen in the rest home. She has MS and is not doing very well. This is the first time Kaybri has met her great grandma and I think it was a good time for both of them... Today we made a trip to Primary's for a Trach/Vent Clinic for Brody. I was informed that they intend to start a very slow weaning process once flu season is over; probably April. They believe that as his rib expansions continue, he is going to have more lung capacity and more strength to where he can come off the ventilator. However, it is a long process and usually involves many set-backs. Nonetheless, its great news for our family.

Not much news

Brody has been doing better as the week has progressed. He seems to feel better and is in better spirits than he has been for a couple weeks. Kaybri...well, she's still a handful but I love her. She keeps me going. Anyone looking to lose 5 lbs can borrow her because she will have you running all day!! Joss' brother Skylar recently headed to Oklahoma for 6 weeks. I think Kaybri got used to having him around. She asks for him a lot. So..."Hi, Uncle Sky" I'm happy to say that I don't have much to report on today. No drama. Just the way I like it.