12-24-2022 AppenDEX (pun credit Nancy)

 Christmas Eve 2022

The Christmas Pageant.  

Miles was a shepherd, Nora was the Inn Keeper, and Dex was Joseph.

They did a great job.  We were able to watch in on a Marco Polo.  Such a fun Christmas Eve.....

Christmas morning, Dex was starting to get sick.  

Mike and Amanda had planned to spend the Christmas break up at their cabin, 3 hours from their home.

Knowing that Dex was feeling "under the weather", they figured he could rest up at the cabin as well as he could at home, so Dec 26 the drove up to Emira, Michigan.

Dex just kept getting worse.  Dec. 28th  at 5 a.m., they took Dex to the emergency room in Gaylord, Michigan.  He had appendicitis, and would need to have his appendix out as soon as possible.  It was too risky to make the drive home to Ann Arbor.  He came back to the cabin that evening after surgery.

 

Dex continue getting more and more sick. 

 Mike took Dex back to the ER the morning of the 29th.  He had also tested positive for the flu (influenza A,) Dex was throwing up, and had some diarrhea.  Since they knew he had the flu, those symptoms were not abnormal.  The ER dr suggested they head home to Ann Arbor. 

Amanda and Mike loaded up their family and headed home to Ann Arbor on Friday, Dec 30..  Dex continued to decline.  Amanda took Dex to the ER at St. Joes hospital.

A CT scan showed a blockage in the bowel.  Dex was transported by ambulance to the University of Michigan Medical Center.

At this point, I decided I should fly out to help with the twins.  I was able to book a flight for Saturday morning.  I feel lucky I as able to find a flight on a holiday morning, especially with all the delays with the airlines from a previous storm that disrupted holiday travel.  I arrived in Detroit at 5 pm on Saturday.

At the U of M, a NG tube was inserted.  It suctions neon green bile out of his stomach, which should give him relieve some of the pressure in his stomach, and hopefully keep him from throwing up.  They put dye in him, hoping that would show where in the bowel there may have been a blockage, but that didn't work, so at 6 a.m. on New Years day, Dex went back into surgery.

The fluid coming out of this tube is supposed to be clear.

Dexter's abdomen was full of fluid, floating infection, random staples, and who knows what else.  Skinny Dex should not have a tummy looking like this!  

Happy Birthday Amanda!

 There was a kink in his bowel that they were able to fix.  They put a drain in his abdomen, they watch the color of the out put to see if there may be a perforation in the bowel and drain some of the infection.  It was a mess in his abdomen, lots of infection and some floating staples. They weren't able to see clearly because of all of the infection.  It looked similar to what they would expect if the appendix had ruptured.  This is one sick kid!

He has antibiotics given to him through an IV.  He cant have strong pain killers because that would slow down the bowel, which they need to start working.

This is how Amanda spent her 40th birthday.

Miles, Nora, and I watched the NY ball drop on TV, and went outside to bang pots and pans at midnight on New Years!  Oh yeah, it is freezing cold, and they are in their underware!  Thats what happens when Grandma is in charge!

I think the twins and I are having a little bit better time that Amanda, Mike and Dex.

We play video games, put puzzles together, eat lots of junk food, and stay up late watching Brain Games.

"Slumber party"  every night!

Hanna sent Dex a book to give him ideas!

Dex's bowel is not working.  We are hopingfor a bowel movement or passing gas.

On days that Dex feels ok, we visit him.  Some days he isn't up to visitors.

Dex had been without food or drink since about Christmas Eve. On Wednesday, Jan 4, Dr's decided that the need to insert a PICC line so they can give him some nutrition.  He will be receiving TPN, which if I understand will give his organs some nutrients, it goes into his blood stream, not into his stomach.  They weren't able to put him "under", since that causes the bowel to slow down, and we need the bowel to start working.  While they had him drugged, the took out the drain in his abdomen.  I guess that's a good sign, they no longer feel they need to watch the out put from that drain.

That was a rough day for Dex.

Thursday, evening Dex had a couple of nose bleeds, and more nausea.  Things aren't moving in the direction we wanted, nor is going as fast as we wanted.

They measure how much output comes from the stomach drain.  It needs to decrease, which I think means something is making its way into the bowel.  So far, there is not a decrease in the output.

Friday and Saturday, were more of the same.  Not much improvement.  A little discouraging.

Sunday, the surgery team decided to test and see if Dex can go without the suction that empties out the stomach and not get nauseated.  Even though this isn't a change, it's testing where we are.  If he doesn't throw up, we are closer to getting the NG tube out.  If he can't go without the suction, they will continue suctioning out his stomach, and test another day.

So now you are up to date.  We are waiting to see how things go today.  I believe their goal is to have the suction off for  6 hours.

I have tried to make this accurate, but there is a lot that I don't understand.  I do know Dex is getting pretty skinny!  He doesn't love the NG tube.  Amanda brought him some real clothes, hoping that may help him feel like a real boy.  

Today he was chatty, so we are getting glimpses of the old Dex!

2022-12 December in Utah

 Dean and I flew into Utah, planning to stay until sometime in March. 

 We shut down our Commerce house for the winter, and flew to Utah on December 1st.

Friday, December 2nd, we took our turn staying at Bob and Mary's house, but first we stopped by the Festival of Trees.  Our friends son, Eli, had a tree made in his honor, and we needed to stop by and see the tree.  We also saw our friends, (Eli's cousins and aunts and uncles) at the festival.

Then off to Bob and Mary's  

I had to leave Bob and Mary's early Saturday morning, because that day there was a bridal shower at my house for my niece Savanah.  I still had my fall decorations up from before we went to Michigan.

So down came Halloween and Thanksgiving, and up went a little bit of Christmas!  Then act like I have everything under control and enjoy getting together with family on the Jenson side.

After the bridal shower it was time to decorate for Christmas!  I was looking forward to it this year, since last year we didn't even put up a tree because we were busy with Caitlyn and James' wedding celebrations.

I had help from Lucy decorating for Christmas, which made it magical!

Help from Deaner made it magical too!

James and Caitlyn were in town and we got to celebrate Braden's and Jesus' birthdays with them.

Always sad to say goodbye.

Every year we attend the Special Needs Mutual Nativity performance.

Some of my most favorite people in the world are there!

There were lots of cookies made during December!

As a family, we decided to all watch the same Christmas shoes on agreed upon evenings.  It kind of made it feel like we were all less than 2000 apart from each other.

Dean participated in the Stake Christmas Choir.  Love listening to Christmas music.

Me and my mom.

Ej and Lucy

Livy showing off her new beanie

Matching beanies for everyone!

Walter, Dex, Mike and Miles acting out "5 golden rings" at a church Christmas party.