Mav is sleeping a lot today. He hadn't been sleeping much at all and his blood pressure was trending up, so last night they gave him a dose of methadone and he's been very sleepy since then. They went back up on his vent just to let him rest and gain some strength. They're on every other hour dialysis right now. I'm just ready to see him make some great progress for several days in a row.

Greg and the kids went back to Shawnee today. We had a good time together. Thanks to Heather and Anais for letting us stay at their house. I stayed there a little longer today to clean up after the bunch left and when I got ready to leave I noticed the key left for me was the key to the truck. The car was in the driveway :( My sweet sister-in-law, Shelley, and her kids came to my rescue. They picked me up and took me to the hospital. Greg is going to mail my keys down here tomorrow. I think they're all settling in well. I sure miss them. More tomorrow - jc

OK, I had to give all the kids equal pic time on the blog, so here's Carter getting ready to enjoy his ice cream sundae. He could hardly stay still long enough for me to get a picture.

Here's Maddie reading "Brown Bear" to Mav. He loves his books.

Here's a pic of Mav today. You can probably tell he's quite a bit smaller than the last pic.

"I fix him"

This is actually a post from Saturday, I guess I sent the pic on Friday and it put this update under Friday. This is Chloe on Wednesday. The nurses gave her a doctor bag and some goodies. She put them on, looked at Mav and said, "I fix him". If it were just that easy... He's doing fair today. They had changed his dialysis to every other hour and had to go back on hourly because he wasn't getting enough fluid off. He has been urinating a little bit more overall, but still has a long way to go. His BUN is still in the 60's and his creatinine is 1.4. They did a pressure support trial on his ventilator today (it's a little trial to see if he's ready to come off the vent). He didn't do well the first time, but they did it again this afternoon and he did pretty well. His vent rate is only at 8 right now. Hopefully, he'll be off the vent in the next few days. He just looks a little puny today. His fluid from his dialysis catheter is cloudy. They send cultures on it every day to check for infection (so far they've been negative - no infection), and they were sending a sample this evening to check for triglycerides to see if the drainage is chylous (from the feedings). So, we'll just see how things go. He is on his own time schedule. I'm really thinking that home for Christmas is out of the picture unless something miraculous happens. I'm praying it does, though! More tomorrow - jc

This was a close up of Mav yesterday. Sorry I haven't posted in so long. We don't have a laptop and there are only two working computers in the PICU waiting area and they have been taken every time I've tried to use them. Mav is slowly getting better. His BUN (in 60's) and creatinine (1.3) continue to slowly drop. He's still on dialysis and not making as much urine as they'd like, but some is better than none. Today they're planning on doing the dialysis every two hours instead of hourly. Hopefully that will encourage his kidneys to start kicking in a little more. His bottom is getting a little better and they've started feedings through the yellow tube in his nose - it goes directly into his intestines. We're finally getting to use some of the milk I've been pumping. He'll have enough to last him until he's three! They are slowly weaning him from the ventilator. He's still not moving much, he's just so weak from being on the paralyzing meds and from all the swelling. It will probably take him awhile to recover his strength. He's back down to a good weight - meaning they've been able to get all the excess fluid off him.

Maddie and I came up and spent the day with Mav yesterday. Greg wasn't feeling too well and stayed back at the house with Carter and Chloe. We all got to eat a good Thanksgiving meal, though. Thanksgiving is my favorite meal of the year. I love the sweet potatoes and dressing. They have a support group here called "Heart and Hands" and they provided the meal for the PICU. As Maddie and I were leaving, we picked up plates for the others from the cafeteria. The food here is pretty good. Yesterday evening the kids and I went to see "Bolt" it was a cute movie. The kids really enjoyed it. I haven't seen a 3-D movie in a long time and it was much better than the Jaws 3-D from "back-in-the-day"! We've been trying to balance our time with the kids and Mav. We've all been able to go in and see him together several times this week, but there's only so much time Carter and Chloe can take in the PICU - you know?

The Shawnee News Star did an article on Mav, and it's in the paper today. For my family and friends not in the Shawnee area, you can find it online at www.news-star.com. I'll try to update again tomorrow! Love you all - jc

Turkey day with Tim the RT. Mav is checking him out.