For those of you who don't know....
On December 22nd at 4am David came into our bedroom and woke us up complaining of swelling and shortness of breath. Shortly after that he began vomiting and said he needed to go to the ER. Doug drove him to the nearest ER while I arranged things with the kids and my job. While at the ER in Stockton, Ca David was told he was in heart failure and Stanford sent a helicopter and life flighted him back.
We arrived shortly after the helicopter and Dave was in grave condition.The doctors told us he was in severe rejection and he needed to be repaired right away. They prepped him for a biopsy to see how bad the rejection was. While in the room Davids heart stopped and they brought him back fairly quickly. While in the biopsy room he coded during the procedure and the team of doctors did chest compressions for 63 minutes before deciding to put him on a heart and lung bypass machine.
He has currently been on the bypass and in a medically induced coma since Tuesday night at 9pm. Today we were told that his heart is too damaged to repair itself and retransplantation is the only option. They have relisted him at 1A severe status as of this morning. The chances are slim that he will live to receive a new heart as the doctors only want to keep the machine going for a total of 5 days, survival rate and other complications become worse after that point. Right now he does have brain function, and his other organs show no damage.
So our prayers are this, a new heart quickly, for him to be able to survive the surgery as he is so weak, and for him to recover after transplant, he is much weaker this time around.
At this time he is not awake and as I said before in a medically induced coma, for his own protection. Please pray for us, love us, and do not judge us. We love all of you, your continued support means so much to us.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
A New Beginning
Hello all!
I just wanted to post an update to all of you that still check out David's Journey... even though we have stopped blogging on this site we all still think of each and everyone of you always and what your support has meant to us this past year.
For more updates please feel free to go to our family blog, where I will posting from now on. http://www.familyofkennedys.blogspot.com/
In Christ,
Bronwyn and Family
I just wanted to post an update to all of you that still check out David's Journey... even though we have stopped blogging on this site we all still think of each and everyone of you always and what your support has meant to us this past year.
For more updates please feel free to go to our family blog, where I will posting from now on. http://www.familyofkennedys.blogspot.com/
In Christ,
Bronwyn and Family
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Adjustments....
I logged onto the blog today to finally update because it has been so long since I have! I feel badly because so many people have emailed me and called me for updates and I have been so bad about doing that!
So moving on.... it has been quite a month of adjustments for all of us! Starting with David! He is doing great by the way! I am so proud of him and this new leash on life that he has taken by the hold. He is feeling good and has had no medical upsets since July. As a matter of fact as I type this I am sitting in the Stanford waiting room with him at his 6 month post transplant check up. He is still in San Diego going through the process of being retired from the military, and that is taking a long time. He is enjoying his time there and is passing the time catching up with his old ship mates. He is very anxious to get home though, and is looking forward to that day. He has really taken a hold of this new life with a new outlook, and we are so proud of him. He has started making some great goals for the future. He hopes to start college in January and he is just started some early training for the World Transplant Games. He really wants to compete in the 2011 games in Sweden! Thanks Joe for inspiring him!
As for the rest of us, it has been anything but easy to come back home and get back into the old routine. We love being together as a family again, but that did not come without some adjusting! Doug and I lived apart from each other for 8 months! That is a long time, so it has almost been like dating again, or early marriage days! Which has its good points and bad! The kids are loving me being home, and school started for them a couple of weeks ago. It has been hard for me to be home all alone after having a constant companion for the last 8 months, but in a lot of ways it has been good for me as well. I am finally starting to really grieve for all that we did lose, but at the same time use the quiet time for self reflection and appreciation for all that God has given us.
With all that being said, I have to say that the transplant was the easy part. It is the after that has been the hardest to deal with for all of us. I think we all expected to wake up on March 12th the day after transplant and just have life be totally normal. That has so not been the case, it has been hard for each one of us. Somedays it is just easier to smile and say everything is ok, then it is to really relay the truth. I just ask for constant prayers that the Lord will continue to protect and love our family.
Again, we are all so grateful for everything everyone has done for us, even if it wasn't ever said out loud, those of you who really know us, and really know our hearts know how appreciative we are of everything you have done for us.
So moving on.... it has been quite a month of adjustments for all of us! Starting with David! He is doing great by the way! I am so proud of him and this new leash on life that he has taken by the hold. He is feeling good and has had no medical upsets since July. As a matter of fact as I type this I am sitting in the Stanford waiting room with him at his 6 month post transplant check up. He is still in San Diego going through the process of being retired from the military, and that is taking a long time. He is enjoying his time there and is passing the time catching up with his old ship mates. He is very anxious to get home though, and is looking forward to that day. He has really taken a hold of this new life with a new outlook, and we are so proud of him. He has started making some great goals for the future. He hopes to start college in January and he is just started some early training for the World Transplant Games. He really wants to compete in the 2011 games in Sweden! Thanks Joe for inspiring him!
As for the rest of us, it has been anything but easy to come back home and get back into the old routine. We love being together as a family again, but that did not come without some adjusting! Doug and I lived apart from each other for 8 months! That is a long time, so it has almost been like dating again, or early marriage days! Which has its good points and bad! The kids are loving me being home, and school started for them a couple of weeks ago. It has been hard for me to be home all alone after having a constant companion for the last 8 months, but in a lot of ways it has been good for me as well. I am finally starting to really grieve for all that we did lose, but at the same time use the quiet time for self reflection and appreciation for all that God has given us.
With all that being said, I have to say that the transplant was the easy part. It is the after that has been the hardest to deal with for all of us. I think we all expected to wake up on March 12th the day after transplant and just have life be totally normal. That has so not been the case, it has been hard for each one of us. Somedays it is just easier to smile and say everything is ok, then it is to really relay the truth. I just ask for constant prayers that the Lord will continue to protect and love our family.
Again, we are all so grateful for everything everyone has done for us, even if it wasn't ever said out loud, those of you who really know us, and really know our hearts know how appreciative we are of everything you have done for us.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Out of the hospital
David called me around 9pm last night to tell me he was back in his room and had been discharged. He sees the cardiologist at 1pm today and I am anxious to hear what he has to say to him. He sounded good last night and in good spirits. Doug will arrive tomorrow night and we will get up early and head to San Diego on Friday morning to spend the weekend with him. Please pray for all of our hearts and for the Lord to be present because we are going to have a serious talk with our son...
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Big sigh...
Apparently David is supposed to be discharged today from the hospital, but as of 7pm he still hadn't been... his white count and other blood tests were elevating at a good pace so they feel comfortable letting him go back to his room with some conditions. They are still running tests and waiting for test results for what could have dropped his white count and other items, but we have not gotten those results back yet. It could have been something to do with his medicines as well so they have messed with those and have lowered and changed some of the medications around.
Doug gets to my mom's house on Thursday night and we will all leave again on Friday morning to be down in San Diego with him this weekend. Doug wants to meet and talk to some of the staff down there and we all want to sit down with David and have a serious talk with him about his future and managing his care from now on. It is imperative that he gets a handle on it and stops fighting the changes that this new heart has brought to him. I know through God's grace it will happen, he has an awesome support system around him to help him and guide him.
Doug gets to my mom's house on Thursday night and we will all leave again on Friday morning to be down in San Diego with him this weekend. Doug wants to meet and talk to some of the staff down there and we all want to sit down with David and have a serious talk with him about his future and managing his care from now on. It is imperative that he gets a handle on it and stops fighting the changes that this new heart has brought to him. I know through God's grace it will happen, he has an awesome support system around him to help him and guide him.
Monday, July 20, 2009
July 20th, 2009
David will be in the hospital for a few more days... his white count went up last night but then in went way back down this afternoon. Stanford and the Navy hospital just does not feel comfortable with him leaving the hospital until the white count gets under control or until they have some answers. There are a lot of things that it could be and they aren't ruling out anything at this time. In some ways it feels like we are back to square one but on the upside he does have that awesome heart on his side this time.
I am hoping this will be a humbling experience for him as he sits there by himself in that hospital room. He has taken a lot for granted these past few months and I am hoping this is the reality check that he has so desperately needed. It is killing me not being by his side right now, and I will probably go down there by weeks end, but I also strongly feel that he needs to fight this fight in a different way this time. He knows that I am there to support him in any way that he needs, but he is having to do this in a different way this time.
As always I will keep the blog going as we get new information....
We do have a phone number for him, but we have asked that only people call him that we give the number to. If you have taken it upon yourself to "look" him up and call him please don't. We are getting back into a situation were too many people are calling him.
I am hoping this will be a humbling experience for him as he sits there by himself in that hospital room. He has taken a lot for granted these past few months and I am hoping this is the reality check that he has so desperately needed. It is killing me not being by his side right now, and I will probably go down there by weeks end, but I also strongly feel that he needs to fight this fight in a different way this time. He knows that I am there to support him in any way that he needs, but he is having to do this in a different way this time.
As always I will keep the blog going as we get new information....
We do have a phone number for him, but we have asked that only people call him that we give the number to. If you have taken it upon yourself to "look" him up and call him please don't. We are getting back into a situation were too many people are calling him.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)