@Cynthia12, so happy your grandson is recovering well from his bout with Covid and that youāre not coming down with it!! I was scrolling back through looking to see who it was that asked me for pics of the porch and saw your question about Kendra. Donāt know how I missed it! Pull up a chair and grab a cup of coffee!
Sheās had a rough couple of years. She had a massive infection in her MACE in June of 2020 and spent several days in the hospital in Billings. Her MACE had formed a false channel so part of the enema fluids we were using to flush her were just accumulating and her body couldnāt absorb them fast enough. Some was getting to the right place, enough to get a little waste out, but by the time the local doctors here were done dinking around trying to āfix itā, a CT scan in Billings showed that she was totally impacted with stool and infection from the exit all the way up. So into surgery she went.
I was livid. Jenny kept taking her in to our local clinic for almost 5 weeks and they kept giving her powerful antibiotic shots that hurt so bad they had to mix them with lidocaine to give them. They kept going after the skin portion of the infection with silver nitrate sticks and all they were really doing was causing scar tissue around the Chait button. So the last appointment I went with them, mask and accompanying persons restrictions or not. Kendra started crying as soon as we pulled into a parking space and never stopped the whole visit or the whole way up to Billings, poor thing! Before our local doctor could even look at it, I said, āAs I see it, we have two choices hereā¦.ambulance to Billings or I take her. Whatās your decision?ā I love Jenny but I wish she was a little more assertive and aggressive. Ken, Jenny and me took her up, I checked into the hospital hotel, and by the time I walked over to the ER Kendra was already in CAT scan. Here she is in the car on the way up to Billings, then heading into surgery, then two days post op:
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Then at Spina Bifida Clinics, her Denver surgeons determined that she needed revision surgery on her Mitrofanoff. Weād been expecting thatā¦kids grow. We hadnāt been able to get the catheters in through her belly button for weeks, so we were had to do it the old fashioned way. She hated it, the school hated it, and we hated it. Problem was they couldnāt seem to get their scheduling straight. So we couldnāt get that surgery scheduled until October of 2021. Then when she finally had it done, that got infected. <sigh> So the kids took her back to Denver, she spent a couple of days in the hospital on IV antibiotics, and they released her with another indwelling Foley. Well, you know Kendraā¦.sheās not one to just sit in her chair even if thatās what she was supposed to do until they could remove the indwelling and the catheter bag. She managed to pull it out, despite it being stitched into place, twice! There at least our local clinic could get new catheters reinserted, but it was a long darned summer for Kendra and everyone around her! Finally almost 3 months after her initial revision surgery, sheās back to old self and weāre back to using the Mitrofanoff safely, and most important, comfortably for her. Hereās our girl in Denver:
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On the positive side, she has been 100% seizure free since November of 2019ā¦none whatsoever! They have her completely changed over to just Depakote and Lamactil now and sheās doing amazingly better than she did on 4 seizure meds before! Sheās becoming a little more verbal, too. Sheās in 4th grade now and still keeping up with her class academically, even if they do have to administer all of her tests on āKendra Timeā. Sheās loves school field trips to the Aquatic Center, sledding, but most of all roller skating. She canāt get enough of that activity!
I think that should about catch you up on the major stuff.
His apt is across the street from a real nice grocery. He gets out and about pretty good except after a snow storm. Here's a few photos of him lately. Christmas, and him out shooting with family, and Thanksgiving. My mountain man with that beard.
