DAANT

How my week went: Part 2!

2011-12-16T18:17:00.002-06:00

Hello. It's Natalie again. How have you been doing? Well I will tell you about my week! On Monday I was sick so I didn't do anything but...well...be sick. On Tuesday I went back to school but I was still sick. I didn't have to redo any thing though! On Wednesday, I...uh..I...well I don't remember Wednesday so lets skip to Thursday! Thursday was AWESOME! Mrs . Miessner said that Sophie, Rylee-Jo, Paige, and I (all are my classmates) all have been over-the-top awesome so we all got to have lunch with her :)! And then Friday (today) was simple. I went to school (did pretty much nothing), went to dad's work, ate awesome cupcakes (by moi) and now we are here! So have a nice happy (GREEN! for now :( ) Christmas!

1st time posting!!!

2011-12-10T19:20:00.001-06:00

Hi its Drew dad just showed me how I can do my own posts, which i think is pretty cool, if you ask me, i know you didn't ask but i felt like saying.Now you'll be hearing a lot more out of me (i know ,you're lives just got better) well, that's about it so Happy Holidays.

How My Week Went

2011-12-09T23:14:00.001-06:00

So every Friday I will do an update on how my week went. On Monday I had my spelling test. I was supposed to give the words to the class but turns out that Mrs. Masek's class skipped me so I will do the week after next week. ( I have spelling vacation next week). On Tuesday again not much happened all we did was do an essay on our shoes. Wednesday and Thursday were the same, reading test after reading test. Today we pretty much did nothing but drawing and spelling. The main part of my week was I found this really cool book in the library called 'Curiqe De Freak'.

My D.A.R.E Graduation

2011-12-06T18:00:00.000-06:00

The D.A.R.E symbol!

Okay, so Hi again. My dad already posted about this but I'm adding more! The picture my dad posted was when I was shaking hands with Deputy Tina Anderson. Mrs. Miessner was saying that we were done with the names and now Mr. Weber, my principal, was going to talk! That is it so go look at my dad's post to see what he has to say of it. Peace out!

2011-12-06T14:22:00.001-06:00

Natalie's D.A.R.E graduation.

First snow pictures

2011-12-03T16:49:00.001-06:00

Here are the pictures from the first real snow of the year.

Here's Drew using the new snow-blower. He's very happy to use it instead of the old shovel process.

Here's the front of the house looking all cold and white!

Natalie's First Post

2011-12-03T16:36:00.001-06:00

Hi, I am Natalie and I thought that this was pretty good so I am putting it here! This was an assignment I had from school this week.

The Most Important Thing

I am thankful for my mom. The reason I am thankful for her is because she is a miracle!

This all REALLY started in 2007 when my family and I where in Hawai'i. My brother and I were hanging out at my neighbors house when dad told us that mom was going to the hospital. Our mouths dropped when dad said she might be there for a long time. Dad told Drew and I to stay here or go to another one of our friends' houses but stay together!

The next day mom went to the hospital again. When dad got home he told us that mom and him had to go to Texas. " Grandma Peggy is gonna fly over here," dad said, "Grandma will take you guys to her house, then to Aunt Ann's house, then she will take you two to Aunt Jeans house so then we all will meet together." he said. "Now be on your best behavior and be safe!" And then he drove off.

Like dad had said Grandma Peggy came. The next week or so Drew and I flew to her house and got some (but barely any) swimming lessons and we were home schooled!

About three months later we went to Aunt Ann and Uncle Brian's house. All we pretty much did there was get spoiled rotten!

At last we got to Cairo, Nebraska to stay with Aunt Jean, Renée, and Scott! We actually had to go to school. Once Thanksgiving crawled around my mom came home! Dad was back at the hospital cleaning up I think. When dad got home we had Thanksgiving dinner. Then we headed for Lincoln, Nebraska to have Christmas with Husker Grandma and Grandpa.

Eventually we went to Bellevue. In 2010 my mom got diagnosed with kidney failure. She doesn't have a new one yet but hopefully she will soon. In 2011 she lost a lot of blood so she got rushed to the hospital. She was there for more than one month. She is still recovering (it's a slow process but don't rush her) but she is finally home!

And now obviously you can see why I'm thankful for my mommy!

2011-11-29T18:26:00.000-06:00

Here is our house with our decorations all up and shiny!

Vet's Day Wall

2011-11-28T16:06:00.000-06:00

Before Veteran's Day Andrew had a project in his history class to send in pictures of his family that has served in the Military. He sent his emails and then combined the pictures he received into a Power Point for his instructor to post. We "ASSUMED" that the pictures would be edited from what he sent in but they were not so the display's aren't the best but it shows Andrew's Great Grandpa Vasser, Grandpa Jerry, Uncle Bryan Cooper and Uncle Steve LaVoie and then me. The local newspaper came by and interviewed him about the display just before Thanksgiving. We should see the article in this Wednesday's Bellevue Leader. Hope you all enjoy the pictures.

Christmas Decorating 2011

2011-11-25T23:41:00.001-06:00

Here's Drew on top of the house getting the Christmas lights strung up! Glad he isn't scared of heights like I am!

Drew and Natalie listening to Aimée give directions on how to put the hookers on the ornaments!

This year we "thought" it would be a good idea to pull off the old lights on our pre-strung tree instead of fighting with the burnt bulbs like I did last year. Well that added about 4+ hours to a "simple" project. Can you see the blur of the train running around the bottom of the tree? That means the tree is done if the train is running. It also means Aimée is resting in the other room while the kids keep hitting the horn!

The Tree is all done and looks just perfect if we do say so.

And here are the kids CRASHED out no more than 15 minutes after we told them to sit down and relax after the tree!

TIRED!

2011-11-24T13:58:00.001-06:00

Thanksgiving directing is hard work! Here is Aimée taking a nap before the bird came out of the oven. The great part was that "Fun" Mike also napped out with her. I also like that she was able to hold onto her glasses while napping!

Here is our bird all completed with it's 5 hour vacation in the oven. 28.98lb bird just waiting to find it's way into our BELLY! We had a great time with everyone and we enjoyed our day.

Here is Drew catching the football after we enjoyed a great dinner. This was a great way to end the day.

Soliris Treatment

2011-11-23T09:25:00.001-06:00

Aimee getting her Soliris treatment. This was the second at full dose. You can see the port that is her access point. It's the same thing that Chemo patients. Makes life very easy for her.

Which one's Drew?

2011-11-19T10:29:00.001-06:00

Drew and Husker Grandpa getting ready for the Husker Game today. I am not sure which one is Husker Grandpa and which one is Drew but I think the haircut points to the shorter one being Drew!

2011-11-11T18:33:00.001-06:00

First full Soliris!

2011-11-11T09:29:00.001-06:00

Today Aimee got her first full dose of Soliris. Now we go to every other week treatments so that means more time for her to not be at the hospital. Today's Hemoglobin was 11.1, which is normal. That is the first time we are seeing her level at normal since July! This is a good sign. We will see what the doctors say in two weeks once the full dose is settled into her body.

We finished Home Care PT and OT and are just waiting on the paperwork to settle out so that she can start going to the outpatient clinic. That should start this week.

Kids are doing well. We got through the little bump with Natalie and she seems to be doing well now. Drew is a 12 year old boy and acting accordingly!

I started work again. Waiting to find out exactly what I am going to be doing, but for now I am getting my new computer accounts and all that fun stuff taken care of while leadership decides what to do with me.

All in all, things are going well.

Don't vandalize!

2011-11-08T15:58:00.000-06:00

So yesterday Aimée got a call from Natalie's teacher. Apparently Natalie didn't want to be at school so bad, she decided to write it out on her desk instead of listening to her teacher! "I wish is wasn't ____ here" She actually had a blank space, which saved her from seeing the principal and getting suspended! OH YEAH, vandalizing government property! Part of her punishment was writing a letter to her Teacher and then coming back today and washing all the desks in her class room. Good times, good times!

Christmas Dreams

2011-11-07T18:18:00.001-06:00

Well we have been asked and here you all go. Here are Drew and Natalie's Christmas wishlists. You can click on the image to view it bigger. Enjoy.

Drew

Natalie

Vet's Day Parade

2011-11-06T17:59:00.000-06:00

Natalie signed up for a cheer leading event with Bellevue West High School and at the end of it they got to walk in the Bellevue Veteran's Day Parade. In this video you are looking for the Blue Hat that is starting on the left side. I was walking along the sidewalk as the girls were doing their chants and that is why it is so bouncy and not very steady. Enjoy.

Last half dose of Soliris

2011-11-04T08:19:00.001-05:00

Aimée is doing amazingly well folks and that is the theme of today's update.

This week she saw her Liver Doctor who was almost emotional about how well she was doing. It was a great appointment for Aimée because she is taking primary on answering all of her issues as she is clear headed and off the strongest of the pain meds. She won't see him again until February and the Kidney Doctor until December. She is about 95% mentally back and that is huge. She is running the kids homework and events again and is able to answer most of the medical questions for the doctors and therapists (Physical/Occupational). She still has some patches of rough memory but she is at least able to repeat the answers I'm giving if she doesn't remember for herself. This is all part of getting me out of her hair and back to work since she can take care of herself.

This week she is climbing the stairs and taking care of all of her daily tasks with very little (to no) assistance from me. The Physical/Occupational Therapists are telling me to back off more and more and let her do her thing to help her recovery. She might be released from home Occupational Therapy to outpatient soon (she still needs PT at home for a while). She has cooked 3 meals this week for the family and that is a huge marker for the OT.

Today's Soliris treatment was the last at the half dosing (here's her picture while we wait for the treatment to start). Next Friday's will be the first at full dose and then she is every 14 days (plus or minus 2 days) forever. She also only sees her Hematology Doctor every other week so after next week she will have her first week of no UNMC visits (KNOCK ON WOOD) since this crap started. Once we get to a maintenance level things should continue to improve. Today's hemoglobin was at 9.9 BEFORE the Soliris and that is the highest she has had pre-Soliris yet. Things seem to be getting slowly better.

As always, thanks for the thoughts and well wishes. We are very grateful and it is so AMAZING to see Aimée up and about kicking butt and returning to her old self everyday!

2011-11-02T14:08:00.000-05:00

This message has been sent using the picture and Video service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, Quicktime@ 6.5 or higher is required.

2011-11-02T13:31:00.001-05:00

first snow

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime� 6.5 or higher is required.

Pumpkins 2011

2011-10-26T20:09:00.001-05:00

We got our pumpkins done! :)

FINALLY School Pictures 2011

2011-10-26T09:49:00.001-05:00

We finally have both kids School pictures! Grandparents, these will be in the mail in about a week. I'm going to try and also burn a CD full of other pictures and videos and send together. Enjoy!

Another week down

2011-10-25T21:29:00.000-05:00

We have done another week of medical junk and things are going well. Today (as you can see from the picture) Aimée had her Plasmapheresis (actually dialysis) line removed and had a Port installed. Since she has been switched to the Soliris treatments she doesn't need the dual line to take and return her blood so we went to something that allowed her more freedom and less funny looks when out in public.

With this new port (it's the one they use for Cancer patients) it allows quick access and she doesn't get any more sticks in the arms for either blood draws or the Soliris treatments. It will make Aimée's life better/easier and that is priority one. I "borrowed" this picture from a blog and is a picture that matches the literature we got. It is a line that connects to major veins but puts a point of access just under the top of the skin so she doesn't have to have those huge needles jammed into her arm all the time.

Other than that life is going along pretty well. Both kids had back to school nights last week and that went okay. A few minor hicups due to all this extra stress but nothing that any of the teachers thought was a big deal. All of the teachers were impressed with how well they are handling all of it and still keeping focused at school. I couldn't be happier with my kids, they are amazing little buggers! We had a nice talk about all of it and things seem to be improving already.

This Thursday BOTH kids have concerts at 7pm. Husker Grandpa and Grandma are both in town for it so we are figuring that Husker Grandpa and I will go see Drew play Husker Grandpa's 50 year old Trombone at the Middle School. Aimée and Husker Grandma will get to watch Natalie in a play and signing 10 songs at the elementary school. Both kids having a good time and family to enjoy it, again, all things considered life is pretty good.

Today I was notified about my new assignment to STRATCOM here at Offutt for the next few years (RNLTD 30 Nov 11). This means we are going to get to stay here where Aimée has the best medical care we can get right now, the kids have great schools, we have a great house and we are very comfortable with family support and knowing the area. Can't really ask for too much more right now. For those keeping count that is actually the 5th assignment I have had this year (I beat Broomy and that is saying something!). I will report next month when my current set of leave ends. Then we will figure out if I need to take more leave or can go back to work. That is a call that Aimée and I will make based on PT/OT and the doctors suggestions to us. I have enough leave stored so it's not a big worry for us either way.

Between the Air Force and Tri-Care (our insurance) we could not ask for better support financially! The amount of effort and support we have received from the Air Force in the last year (two commanders, CHIEF you rock man, two Shirts, and all the amazing support from the guys) is AMAZING. Hell over the last 4 years we have had amazing support and I can't say thanks enough to all of those who helped us out. I could not imagine any job being as supportive as the Air Force has been. On top of that we haven't had to pay a penny in medical (except a few bucks per pill bottle) and that is better than 99% of the rest of the country. I was told by our case manager that if we had Blue Cross or something else we would have already hit our lifetime cap and Aimée would be uninsurable so I'm pretty damn happy with Tri-Care! Life is good.

We still get to see PT/OT, Hematology and have a Soliris treatment this week. Here's to hoping it all goes smoothly!

2011-10-25T08:21:00.001-05:00

getting ready to take out plasmapheresis lines and insert port for Soliris treatments.

Soliris is working against aHUS

2011-10-18T14:38:00.000-05:00

Things are on the uptick folks. We had a great appointment today with the Hematology team this morning and the Readers Digest version is things are doing really good. Now to get long winded...

Aimée had a Hemaglobin of 7.1 (low is anything below 10) on Sunday as it was still traveling down from last Monday. The Plasmapheresis wasn't doing it's job holding off the aHUS-TTP to much other than a slow decline of Hemoglobin and red blood cell loss (I've been told by the Doctor to just say aHUS {link} as it is more accurate). However, we finally got that drug Soliris on Friday, but becuase Aimée was so unable to sleep all week becuase of the worry of all of this, we didn't see the Soliris start working until Monday's blood draw. Without taking any blood products her Hemaglobin JUMPED up to 9.4 all on it's own on Monday's blood draw (THAT'S HUGE FOLKS). Today's appointement with Hematology showed that ALL levels are coming back to normal levels without any extra medicine/treatment.

So for the next 3 weeks she will have the Soliris treatment on each Friday. Note: I've been saying shot, it's actually given to her in an IV at the hospital over 35 minutes and she has to be monitored for 1 hour afterwards. After the next 3 weeks, she will change to bi-weekly treatments (it does not spread out any further than that). They MUST be at UNMC and can't be done at home due to the precautions to make sure her body doesn't have any issue with the medicine. If we are ever away from the hospital for more than two weeks (or when it is due) we have to work out a way to find another hospital to give her the medicine and then get it approved through the insurance (I think this just means we are going to have to plan anything REALLY well). The company ships a supply to the hospital and we just HAVE to get her there on time each time.

She can never stop the medicine until they find a cure for the aHUS. The Doctor today explained it really well. 'The aHUS is a fire, the match is the transplant drugs and the gasoline is her blood (the hemoglobin). The Soliris works as a cap between the blood and her transplant medicine. It just keeps the two apart from each other, it does not cure it. Until there is a CURE for this, we just have to keep taking the medicine. She can't stop taking it because both the match and the fuel are still there and they will come back with a vengeance.' The Doctor explained that during the trials one patient didn't take their medicine due to a vacation and it caused severe issues, other than that it has a 100% success rate.

So the Soliris (aka eculizumb), the doctors told us it was expensive but I was surprised how much. According to Forbes Feb 2010 article (link) it is the SINGLE most expensive medicine in the US. It will be billed to the hospital for $20k a treatment which comes to more than $500k a YEAR. UNMC still has to bill the insurance so we will see what that turns out to be, but each visit is a new car. I sure do love me some Tri-Care because we have no co-pay for this! So totally worth all the TDYs/Turkey/Afghanistan trips to get Aimée better!

Other than that we are just relaxing. The last hospital stay took it out of Aimée so we are just taking it easy. Kids each have parent teacher conferences tonight and tomorrow so we are going to do that.

Take Two: Day Six part Two

2011-10-16T22:03:00.000-05:00

     We made it home after waiting the 6 hours to get discharged. Luckily we got to watch my 9ers in a GREAT game. We also got to spend 3 hours with Steve and Laurie and that is always fantastic. I got Aimée home and got her meds sorted out and the kids got some time with Mommy.

     Tomorrow we will do the blood draw in the morning as was previously scheduled and then sit and wait for a phone call from the teams with adjustments/comments on how her blood is doing. Her Hemoglobin is still pretty low so she is working with a great deal of weakness and being tired. We see Hematology on Tuesday and hopefully some face time with the brains behind this entire thing will start getting the stage set for how the next few weeks will work out.

     Thanks everyone for all of the support and good thoughts. We really appreciate it.

Take Two: Day Six

2011-10-16T12:53:00.000-05:00

Ever have to just have patience? Aimée got more than 24 hours of sleep starting at 5am on Saturday unitl this morning. She has been awake a couple of times this morning and when she is, she is very alert and doing much better. She just needed some rest. All of her pain is much lower when she is awake versus how it was before Friday. Liver Team is very happy with their end of everything. Hematology is pretty happy. It looks like everything is holding stable with no Plasmapheresis so that is also good. No great bounce back of levels but steady is GREAT for us right now! The only reason we are still here is because of the lack of sleep and the fact that she ran a tempreture last night. She currently has no fever and is napping again. We are waiting for Liver and Hematology to decide on if we stay or if we go today. So, how much patience do you have for this?

Take Two: Day Four

2011-10-13T21:56:00.000-05:00

I apologize for no update yesterday but there really wasn't too much to say. Labs and plasmapheresis and hanging out in the hospital was really it. Aimée is having some pains (feels like fire she says) in her legs due to low calcium and magnesium due to the TTP doing it's craziness (they are working those issues and should be fine in a day or so).

Today we continued to work between the Hospital/Insurance/Drug Company. By 4pm I finally got a call from our Tri-Care case manager saying it's done and she was going to personally call the hospital to get the meds ordered ASAP. Our case manager is really kicking butt for us and always has the time to explain the bigger end of things and as an RN it really helps that she is the outside voice of reason on things. She pushed the PT/OT thing for us and a really keeps me asking the right questions at UNMC.

Tomorrow morning we will find out (HOPEFULLY) when the drug shipped or will ship. Once it ships (24 hour shipping is standard) we will get it in Aimée and then we have to see how her body reacts to the damn thing. It has a 100% success rate during trials (on patients) and everything else but it's only been approved for her type of TTP for 40 days so there is a some nervousness for both of us. She seems to be doing pretty good holding up (all things considered) and the kids are doing pretty good (same caveat).

With any luck we will all be back home and watching Pop Up Video by Saturday night. Did I mention that VH-1 finally brought back Pop Up Video and Aimée have been loving it?

Take Two: Day Two

2011-10-11T18:14:00.001-05:00

So we are back in the hospital again. The blood work did not hold as the doctors were hoping and the liver levels jumped up indicating the liver was in distress. So yesterday night the team called us in for more vacation time at UNMC! She is doing daily plasmapheresis again while we work on a different treatment because the last one didn't work. There is a drug that they wanted to try last time but couldn't becuase her body was in such a bad state. So now we are going to run it, but it takes some serious insurance work to get going. I spent the day on the phone with the company who makes the drug, Tri-Care and the Hematology Nurse. We should get our answer in the next day or so. It is a rather new drug that takes 5 weekly doses (each takes 30 minutes) and then bi-weekly doses for the rest of her life. It also runs VERY expensive for each month. Talking to everyone today, it shouldn't be too hard to get approved if we all do our part. If not then she has to do the plasmapheresis every week for life. Once the insurance and details are worked out it takes about a day to make and ship the drug and then they will administer it. The next day we should escape again if everything goes well. Really hoping this is all done by Friday night at the latest.

She feels okay for the most part. A little more tired today than usual but that is because the body is losing hemoglobin and red blood cells again. I spent the day with her but I was mostly bothering her with all of the phone calls.

I came home toninght and the kids and i just finished up dinner. Kids are doing well. Just hanging in there really. I'm fine and actually going to be doing some school work tonight. Aside from the medical roulette we play, life is pretty boring!

First AIMEE home cooked meal

2011-10-06T12:08:00.001-05:00

Aimée is cooking some chili for her Occupational Therapy today. I think OT should come every day! For a follow up on this post, it was the most amazing Chili I have had in a LONG time. Got to love some Crock-Pot Cooking!

End of Week 4 Update

2011-10-02T11:23:00.001-05:00

It was a pretty interesting week to say the least. I went back to work so Aimée was on her own for the very first time. We had Plasmapheresis on Monday and then headed back home for some relaxing time. On Tuesday I went back to work and the hospital called Aimée saying her Hemaglobin was low. During Monday's Plasmapheresis we got a copy of the lab results and damn near everything was right where we needed it except the Hemoglobin. So in preperation for another bag of blood, the PT and OT ladies took a little break on Aimée.

On Thursday we went in for the marathon (Hematology and Liver Team). Now, don't get me wrong, we really like the teams of doctors and nurses we have but HOW IN THE HELL does two 20 minute appointments end up lasting almost 5 freaking hours? The Hematology team was really happy with Aimée's levels in spite of the low Hemoglobin. They stopped the Plasmapheresis and have switched her over to a weekly shot if the Hemoglobin is low. This will induce the body into recovering on it's own. Her Red Blood cells are doing great and things are on the mend from their point of view. We have a Venus Doppler in a few weeks to follow up on the clot and we don't see the doctor for about 3 weeks so that is a nice break for Aimée!

The next step was getting the first shot and then moving on to the Liver Team. Now for the story line, the first appointment was at 11am and the second was at 1pm so we would have time to have a lunch in between. By the time we left Hematology it was a little after noon, and we had to get a new prescription change and the shot before the 1 oclock and HOPE we could get some food. We also have Drews Football game at 4pm back in Bellevue to get to with Husker Grandma and Natalie.

So we get the new meds dropped off and get the shot she needed and walk into the Liver Team at 12:58 on the nose (that's called timing)! We then ended up waiting for an hour and a half to see the nurses for the Liver Team (between the waiting room and actual room). The nurses were great and responded to all of Aimée's concerns and we seemed on track. Then we find out that the worst doctor on staff is the one we got to see. Once we got done with old man river and set him straight after he wanted to stop the pain meds things improved. We got Aimée's meds and then made it to Andrew's game with Grandma and Natalie just in time.

On Friday Husker Grandpa made it out to spend the day with Aimée and they enjoyed some relaxing time. Aimée had her Occupational Therapist out and Gary got to watch the fun that is OT.

Natalie had her Saturday Choir and is enjoying that. Drew has his last week of Football this coming week. We still haven't seen our School Shirts so we haven't had a chance to wear our Purple to support him. (NOTE: All of the Bellevue Middle and High Schools colors are PURPLE and WHITE {except Bellevue West High Purple and Yellow} I really don't freaking get it!).

End of Week 3 Update

2011-09-22T10:58:00.002-05:00

We are finishing up week 3. This week has been fun and we are still seeing steady improvements.

We had Plasmapheresis on Monday and lab draws. The lab draws showed her Hemaglobins low again so after the plasmapheresis she had to get a bag of blood. Other than that we had a follow up on Wednesday at UNMC. She had visits from PT and OT and things are improving on those fronts. She gets stronger with each day. Next week she has Monday Plasmapheresis and a Hematology follow up. On Thursday she has the bi-weekly liver team follow up just to see how things are going. All in all everything is improving slowly and that is just fine. The one great thing we got today was a call from our favorite nurse coordinator and she said that ALL of Aimée's levels are at Aimée normal (kidney's are still low but that is her standard). That is really good.

My parents came to town on their way back to California from their summer vacation road trip. It was great spending time with them. It's always great to see family. The good thing was they got to see Drew's game. The Husker Grandparents will get to see a game next week.

This week Drew had his second football game. I was mistaken when he told me originally, he is the back-up MLB (middle linebacker) for the JV team 1. Not a lot of game time but he is working hard and trying to get to be a starter. The best thing is he is running around and learning and that is great. Makes for long school days but he is having fun and that's what matters.

Natalie auditioned for a school play and is working on that. She has a couple of lines and is also in the chorus. She's pretty excited about that. She seems to be enjoying school as always. She's doing Saturday Chorus with the school district. This last Friday night she did the "lock-in" at the youth center and stayed up ALL NIGHT and then went to chorus. Needless to say, she slept Saturday away after the all nighter and singing for 2 hours.

We got most of the grades from the schools and the kids are doing well. Natalie is getting Straight A's and that is great. We had a couple of hiccups with her attitude with her teacher but that seems to be straightened out. Drew got his first B in FOREVER! He's a little upset at himself over that so he's working on that class a little harder. We are very happy to have two kids that self correct when they have minor issues at school. We didn't really need to parent too much except to confirm that we are proud of them and to do better!

I go back to work next week. Aimée and I are curious how she is going to do all alone for a whole day but the good thing is I have a VERY understanding work and I am only 3 miles away. Just another step in her recovery.

Considering everything life is going pretty well for the Vasser Family.

End of Week 2 Update

2011-09-16T19:03:00.000-05:00

Well we have finished our second week home from the hospital with even better news. We are now down to weekly Plasmapheresis appointments. That means the hemoglobin and red blood cell counts are doing better. We will do a couple of weeks of once a week to see when we can adjust from there. The liver team said her liver levels are perfect and that the kidney levels are back to pre-TTP levels so we are pretty happy about that also. We don't see those jokers again for 2 weeks. Hematology has us at 2 weeks between appointments also! That means a lot less trips up the UNMC!

Since Aimée is getting around better we also stopped the home nurses. Besides the annoyance of a new one each time and each thinking they are a freaking expert on Aimée and not listening to us...we just didn't need them to come and why waste everyone's time right? That means we have to go to the hospital for blood draws but that gets Aimée out of the house more. We were at 3 times a week and now we are down to 2 a week draws. One of those will be with the plasmapheresis on Monday's and the other will be on Thursday's at Bellevue Medical Center (the UNMC satellite that is <2 miles away).

Physical and Occupational Therapy visit EACH 2 times a week. She is making great strides with both of those and is walking more and more each day.

I will be going back to work on the 27th unless something changes. Aimée actually told me to head back a little quicker but it's nice to hang out at the house a little bit more and putter around.

Good news

2011-09-13T21:15:00.003-05:00

We saw Hematology today and the news was good all around. All of her levels are improving. We will see on Thursday's blood draw if we can drop to once a week Plasmapheresis. The Kidney levels are also improving and they seem to be working really well according to Aimée's walking to the rest room trips. She has also been walking more including between some parts of the hospital and that is getting the fluid off of her body. All in All things are improving more and more each day.

Week 2 home update

2011-09-12T21:33:00.001-05:00

We have been home for a week and change now and it has been pretty busy. Last week we had between 2 and 3 appointments per day at the hospital. Tuesday was the worst by far but they were all a little tiring. She also had her first Physical Therapy appointment in the house. She has three pages of daily tasks to do and we work on them together.

Her Kidney levels jumped up through the week and they are going down so far. The blood levels seem to be going in the direction we want also. Tomorrow is Hematology after another venus doplor to verify her blood clot hasn't moved. Hopefully tomorrow we can find out that we are down to weekly plasmapheresis. That would make the week easier. We also have a follow up with the liver team this week.

Tonight we all went to Target so Aimée can see something outside of the house. She walked for stretches in the store and that has WIPED her out. She is crashed out next to me right now after that fun.

Tomorrow is Drew's first football game for the Jr High. We have about 2 hours between the start of our last appointment and the game so that should JUST be enough to get home and grab Natalie so we can all go to the game.

Natalie is doing well also. She's doing weekend choir and enjoying it. She has also tried out for a play at school and we are waiting to hear about that.

Our orders to DC were cancelled with all the stuff going on. Right now I am "assigned" to Aimée's bedside. Then I will be taking a little leave as I help get Aimée back on her feet and running and just recover from this experiance. We will figure out what's next for work later. Not the priority right now.

That's all we got going on in the Vasser household for right now. You all take care out there and be safe!

Starting MLB for Lewis & Clark JV 1

2011-09-09T18:27:00.001-05:00

Introducing the starting Middle Linebacker (MLB) for Lewis and Clark Middle High School JV team (7th graders team 1)

First follow up day

2011-09-06T21:19:00.000-05:00

So we did our first follow up day at the hospital. It was a freaking day folks!

We started with Hematology for an 11:40 appointment. Aimée was able to get down stairs fairly easy this morning. We saw our home nurse for blood draw and then eventually headed out. The Doctor explained that all of Aimée's levels had improved or held still except her kidney level and calcium. So when we did our plasmapheresis he added some calcium and had us double her calcium intake at home. They added a new medicine to start prepping her so that she can go back on the blood thinners in the next few weeks because the blood clot is still there. So, I got to spend an hour at the pharmacy as they tried to fill the script.

We then hit the cafeteria for some lunch. That was the first time Aimée had enjoyed that. Now the entire time we are doing this first two hours worth of appointment and food, the fluid the kidney's haven't been cleaning out have flooded into her feet and legs. This makes it harder for Aimée to get up and down out of the chair. We then headed to plasmapheresis. Luckily they had a nice chair that let her sit back and get her feet up so the fluid would flow back into her center.

When we were supposed to start the plasmapheresis they figured out that nobody ordered the plasma. So it needed to thaw for an hour. I headed home to check on Natalie. Our friend Laura picked Drew up from Football and Natalie made them both some dinner. After giving Natalie some hands on teaching for cooking up some dinner, I headed back to Aimée. The liver team decided to add some fluid to Aimée after the plasmapheresis so that added an hour to our stay.

We finally got home about 7pm (we should have been home by 5pm). Well that is done for day one. Tomorrow is just one appointment (please no additions team!).

Day 26 Update (LAST DAY)

2011-09-02T21:27:00.005-05:00

Well today took longer than they/we thought but we did escape. We didn't get home until about 7pm. I finally have Aimée and tucked into bed after a hard walk up the stairs but she did it! It was a good day and we got soo much taken care of. They did the last plasmapheresis in hospital and they gave Aimée two more bags of blood to help top her off before we headed home. We have 2 appointments on Tuesday (Hematology and plasmapheresis) and then another 3 for the rest of the week.

I would like to thank everyone who kept Aimée in their thoughts and our family also. Thank you to everyone who sent flowers and cards. Thank you to James and Mandie for taking the kids to the Air Show. Thank to my Commander and his lovely wife for a cooked meal when we got home. Thank you to the nurses and staff of UNMC for such amazing care. Finally I would like to thank Sally for taking care of the kids with all of the daily tasks that Aimée and I usually do and leaving a bunch of leftovers in the fridge to make the first couple of days that much easier!

Day 25 Update

2011-09-01T19:08:00.002-05:00

Well not a very eventful day today (THAT'S GOOD). The levels are steady and all teams are still talking about discharge tomorrow. Coordinators are already working new meds and home care nurse options (hey Fun MIKE!). We are all VERY excited to see her get home. She is doing really well. She was walking around and doing everything on her own so there's really no reason right now for her to stay in the hospital any more. As long as levels hold she should be sitting in our home TOMORROW!

Day 24 Update

2011-08-31T10:37:00.009-05:00

We just got our visit from the Hematology Team just now and I was waiting for the blog post for this team because they hold all the cards. They are good with all of the numbers except one. It's called: Plasma Free Hemoglobin. This is basically the rate at which the Hemoglobin is away from the Plasma. This can be caused by many things to include the TTP/WUS. They think (and hope) it's from the blood that is in her belly and the TTP is on its retreating state. Again, they are hoping the body will take the blood back into the vascular system as she continues to heal which will correct this. With the exception of this number we would be talking about going to once a week Plasmapheresis and about getting out of this damn place (yes the stir crazy is settled in for Aimée). The plan for now is to continue the every other day plasmapheresis but "HOPEFULLY" skip the weekend. Then on Monday morning talk about going to weekly plasmapheresis which would be the trigger for the Liver Team to discuss discharge.

The Kidney Team is so happy with her levels they are not even going to be seeing her while we stay unless things change (one less team!). Her levels are at the levels before all of this so they are extremely happy and are just going to see Aimée post discharge for standard Kidney Care. Now, this means her kidney's are back to the 30% she usually is at. She will still need to be careful and look at transplant after she slips into the sub 30% range but that is not in the next week or months.

She is very alert and very active. We are taking more walks each day and she is making a point to tell each and every doctor how much she is doing of self care so they will let her get home. She REALLY misses Andrew and Natalie and our home and seems very dedicated to doing whatever it takes to leave this joint.

1800: So we got some great news. The Liver Doctors want Aimée out by Friday. That is the agreement that Hematology and Liver worked out today. So as long as all of the levels hold or improve we should get to escape by Friday's Dinner. We are very happy about this. Sally is going to stay at the house until we do dinner Friday night to make sure I learn the new routine she set up for the school year. I'm spending the night tonight and tomorrow at home because Aimée is doing that well. Last night I didn't even help her and she was able to do everything on her own. So all things are going great and we are pretty damn excited about being home as a family for the weekend!

Day 23 Update

2011-08-30T08:36:00.003-05:00

We had a pretty good end to yesterday. The Hematology folks decided that Aimée can go to everyother day plasmapheresis. That is a great step for her and tomorrow's blood work will tell us how things are going. All of her blood levels are still stable and that is also good for us also. Today's plan is to get out of the room as much as possible and walk around and even put Aimée in the wheel chair and tour the hospital some.

Day 22 Update

2011-08-29T09:03:00.004-05:00

We are doing just fine today. Aimée seems to have cleared out most of all the fog. She knows when she is confused over things and seems to be dealing with everything pretty well. We haven't seen too many of the teams yet but the levels still seem to be tracking back well. There are still some broken Red Blood Cells but we are waiting on Hematology to tell us how long the plasmapheresis will continue. Other than that things are doing well and today should be pretty quiet.

I went home last night when Aimée went to sleep. Drew and I cleaned out the garage and put the football game on TV while we cleaned. It was really great to hang out in my home for a little bit with him. The kids both seem to be looking forward to us returning. I think this whole thing of not seeing their Mom at home is wearing on them. Husker Grandma is doing a great job taking care of the kids and it makes my life so much easier knowing they are taken care of. That's all I got for now until we hear from the rest of the teams.

Day 21 Update

2011-08-28T09:49:00.006-05:00

Well here we are still. We just saw the liver team and yesterday's CT Scan showed no change to the blood clot in her belly. That is actually good. They want to see no change or shrinking. They feel that the body will just take back the blood as she grows healthier.

The broken Red Blood cells are decreasing and that is a great sign that the plasmapheresis is working. She seems much more clear today. She knows when she's confused. For some reason she thinks we are going to Hawai'i after this hospital. She's able to recite her name and birthday correctly for the first time since Monday and that is really good. There is more light in her eyes but she is still tired and we are happy to have her keep sleeping this crap off. There is no real plan for today besides having her rest.

1800: So after a nap earlier Aimée woke up pretty awake. She has been coloring and watching TV and talking since then. She's ordering food and seems pretty alert. She's still a little out of it from the last week or so and is asking questions about what happened. It looks like she is at least 80% back mentally and getting clearer by the hour. Now we just need to get the other medical stuff fixed. There is no thoughts yet on escaping here but hopefully we can work on that issue this week.

Day 20 Update

2011-08-27T08:57:00.006-05:00

She is doing good for all of her levels. Everything is still slowly tracking to where it needs to be. It's going to be a process but we are getting there slowly and that is good.

Yesterday her Dad, Brother and Sister-in-Law came by and sat with her. It was Steve's Birthday so we also did some cake back at the house. She was much more calm then the day before and that is good. Yesterday and today (so far) she is just sleeping. This is what we want is for her to relax and let the body heal right now. She is answering some questions correctly but I think it's mostly just from memorization and not from actually knowing. She keeps thinking there is a doctor who is going to come by and let me take her home and she thinks that the garage is just outside her room here. When she is awake she seems a little more alert each time. The teams seem to think that the more rest she gets the better she will be and that trend seems to be true. But as Gary can confirm, it's not an easy time for anyone! We keep the blinds open and lights on during the day so she knows it's day time outside and I keep Friends on a constant loop in the room. During the Texas stay she told me that while in the coma she tried to rationalize everything she heard. During that time Benazir Bhutto was coming back to power in Pakistan and there was some large fires in San Diego. She had an entire dream about all of the females from my side of the family taking care of her in my Dad's house in San Diego but had to evacuate due to the fires. She also thought someone had something to do with Bhutto and that scared her. Basically, because the news was playing in her room she made it part of her coma dreams. She also watched HD-TV and had dreams that Vern Yip was going to redecorate our house. That she liked but the news she hated. She told me after that to never let the news play again if she isn't doing well. Since the selection here is not very good on the TV (no home design channels), I picked out Friends and after 3 days we are into season 6.

The good thing for me in this is that with her this asleep the hospital provides a sitter and I have been able to go home for the last three nights and sleep in my own bed. After 2 plus weeks in the hospital chairs that really makes a difference. Plus I get to see the kids and remember there is something outside of this room. Some of our friends are taking the kids to the Offutt Air Show today. They are both pretty excited about that. They should have a good time and the weather is looking perfect for it today.

1000: The teams want to do another CT Scan of Aimée's stomach to see if the clot in her belly is changing at all. The Red Blood cells are steady but they would like to see them climb so we are going to check the belly again. The "FUN" part is going to get her to drink the damn liquid when I am having a hard time just getting her to eat a banana!

2000: So she seems to be doing better. She is more rested and keeps sleeping. When she is awake she seems more and more alert. Still doesn't know for sure why she is here but I think she finally believes that she is at UNMC in Nebraska. She has been saying it all day but then tells me she's actually in Hawai'i! She has eaten a little bit off and on. We did another CT Scan but won't get the results until tomorrow.

Our Friends took the kids to the Air Show and they seemed to have a really good time. I am going to go home in a minute and get the full story but here are the two pictures of their face painting!

Day 19 Update

2011-08-26T07:45:00.002-05:00

Well she is still asleep as I get back to her room. She had a very restful nights sleep. She seems a little more alert but still very tired. We are about to do the plasmapheresis again. Liver levels are great and kidney levels continue to keep getting better slowly. Looking forward to seeing the rest of the teams and clearing up more of the confusion she is having.

Drew Football

2011-08-25T18:30:00.003-05:00

Drew has signed up for Football at Jr High. Here he is in a picture that Sally took at home and one I took at his practice that I stopped by at yesterday.

Day 18 Update

2011-08-25T17:07:00.003-05:00

Well today is all about dealing with the mental fog. They are thinking that it is either from this one specific drug they gave her from the infections that might have been on her brain. They have changed the drug but it takes about 48-72 hours to clear out of her system and she got her last dose yesterday at 4pm. They also feel that it could be a combination of being in the hospital and all the high levels of different medications they have given her. They are trying to adjust all of those levels to just what we need. Psychology also came by and has prescribed a medication the help her sleep tonight that works on patients who stay in the hospitals too long and don't sleep. Since she hasn't slept for crap they are hoping that the combination of all of this will have her sleep and then clear up her mind. She doesn't know where she is and has a hard time communicating. The good thing is that all of her levels are holding and doing well. We are going to keep the plasmapheresis going to ensure the blood continues to make it's strides. We have a sitter with her now 24 hours a day now because she tries to pull at her wires I need the help taking care of her. I also took advantage of it and went home and slept in my bed last night for 7 WHOLE HOURS!

Day 17 Update

2011-08-24T10:47:00.002-05:00

Levels are all pretty stable today. Nothing on that front is changing and that is good. However, she had the procedure last night and they had to sedate her. Now she is VERY confused and doesn't know why we are in the hospital and what is going on. We are hoping it's a product of the anesthesia from last night with all the meds but we are not sure. She is having a very hard time with all of this. We are doing the plasmapheresis now.

Day 16 Update

2011-08-23T12:30:00.004-05:00

Well we have had a busy evening and morning.

First: Labs seem to be stable. Some things are improving and some are not but it is all within daily tolerances for staying the same. No big gains or drops basically. We will still need to give her another 2 bags of blood (the third day straight) but they really aren't too concerned and seem pretty happy that we are staying steady. The kidney levels are doing great and the liver levels are actually in the normal range (oh yeah that's nice!).

Last night they did the second CT scan on Aimée's abdomen. The second CT scan has shown what "could" be a clot in her abdomen. They "think" it is from late July and early August and when her Hemoglobin was so low that there "could" have been some small amounts of blood leaking into her belly. This has grown as they have given her more blood products to what is causing her really bad tummy pain right now. I used "could" and "think" to show this is their theory right now for why there is all the pain in her tummy. They are going to let it sit for a little bit and see what happens. They will continue to check on it but don’t want to do anything invasive right now. If it grows we go from there, however they “think” the body will just recapture the blood automatically as everything continues to heal.

They also ordered a Spinal Tap and Head MRI for a couple of reasons. First is that infectious disease folks are watching her EXTREMELY close since they found the infection from the Central Line and Dialysis Line last week. There was an infection in all of her blood and that is what has taken the Plasmapheresis so long to start working. They just don't want another bug creeping up on her. The second is that starting Saturday night she has become less clear on what is going on and very aggravated and it is not getting better. We thought at first it was because she had been given both the Morphine and Ambien at the same time but it looks like there is a virus in her blood that could be in her spine and on her brain that is causing this really bad confusion and frustration. They are pretty sure of the specific bug and they ordered the tap and scan and the antibiotics all last night and started all three up. If they are right the antibiotics will already have 2-3 days in her system and should have her cleared up by the end of the week when the results come back. However, you need the tests to confirm. She is having a very hard time keeping up with everything and it just makes it worse when this morning in a period of 20-30 minutes we had 2 teams do pre-rounds, the plasmapheresis start and they inserted a new PICC line for blood and medicine access. Luckily the infectious disease nurse is a freaking Angel and sat down with Aimée for about 40 minutes and went over everything with her at least 6 times until she felt comfortable. Patience is amazing and compassion is even better at times! Aimée did get some sleep yesterday and last night. Now that she knows she has a medical reason for the confusion she seems to be taking the interruptions and people a little bit better. It’s a work in progress and the amount of frustration she is experiencing is VERY high and you really can't blame her!

Today they are going to take Aimée to do some more procedures. We want to make sure that the original bleeding source doesn’t come back so they are going to take her for a minor procedure but due to all of the pain that she is experiencing they are going to sedate her. So they will take her about 3:30 and the procedure takes about 1-2 hours.

I guess the big thing from all of this is that we are just going to be staying here for a while and really don't know when we will leave. Everything they are finding is treatable but it takes time and patience, good thing Aimée has both!

Day 15 Update

2011-08-22T10:05:00.006-05:00

Two steps forward and one step back. The platelets are still jumping up VERY well each day. However, the hemoglobin is falling back down (bad). They had to give her two bags of red blood yesterday and they are going to do it again today. Hematology thinks it's because we started back on the anti-rejection drugs for the liver (still aren't giving her the kidney anti-rejection that she usually gets to just protect the weak kidneys). All other levels seem to be trending nice and easily back to where we need them. However, since the hemoglobin is falling they are going to keep the plasmapheresis at daily for a little while it looks like.

Now the other step back is that Saturday night she was given her Morphine and Ambien at the same time and it threw her through a loop. We had done it before with no ill effects but not this time. We had a VERY long night and it just hasn't ended yet. She did well yesterday with the lunch but that was the best I had her mentally. Now she is very foggy and does not know how or why we are in the hospital again. They "think" it is because the body has been given so much medicine that it is just fighting back at the narcotics a little bit. We are going to try a new medicine for the pain and see how that does. She also developed a severe abdominal pain late yesterday that resulted in a CT Scan of her tummy but did not show anything. We are just riding it out for now to see what happens.

She's asleep right now for the first time since Friday night and we are just trying to keep her that way as much as possible in between all of the other pokes and prods they are trying to do. So basically the big stuff is improving but now we are fighting smaller things.

1400: It looks like last nights CT Scan showed a new blood clot in her left abdomen around the bottom of her ribs. They are going to do another CT scan to verify its size and location. We should be doing that by the end of the day.

Lunch on the Garden

2011-08-21T13:02:00.002-05:00

So here we are having lunch on the 4th floor patients garden. We got to enjoy some fresh air time after the plasmapheresis. The best part was that Aimée and the kids took a little private walk around the little pond and had some alone time for the first time since we left the house on the 8th. I think each one of those three really needed some private time together.

Day 13-14 Update

2011-08-21T11:45:00.004-05:00

Well folks I took the day off with the kids yesterday and Sally and Gary sat with Aimée. The doctors put in the new dialysis line and that was a fun experience for everyone. They took a while to get Aimée and because they were putting her under she couldn't eat until it was done. Somehow the fact she could have ice was lost between day and night nurses so she was pretty miserable by the time they took her down for the procedure. Then they ran the plasmapheresis late last night and then we went to bed. We had a little issue with the nighttime meds and that caused some not very good sleeping and bad dreams. We are doing better now as we just finished up today's plasmapheresis. All of the teams are thinking we can escape this place by Friday as things are looking now. Granted this could all change for both sooner and later but this is our goal for right now.

We are about to have lunch with Sally and the Kids on the garden patio rooftop here for the patients. That should be nice to eat and enjoy the outside. We will talk to you all later.

Day 12 Update

2011-08-19T08:11:00.008-05:00

Well today we have some really great news. Her platelets JUMPED up to 63 from 39 yesterday. THIS IS WHAT WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR! All other levels are slowly moving correctly still and that is just fine. We needed the platelets to start moving. It shows the Plasmapheresis is working and the virus is not slowing things down anymore. We are still elevated across the board for the organs but now they can start talking about doing things to help them out. We still have a lot of work to go but it seems that we have turned the corner on the TTP. They have revised the diagnosis to TTP-HUS (link) which basically adds in the kidney end of the problems we are having.

She also was able to give up more than 3 liters of urine yesterday and that is taking some of the fluid off of her body that has been storing up while the kidneys were taking their nap. She took 4 walks, 2 hours in the chair and 4 breathing exercises and that is also helping. She's MUCH more awake/alert and Gary can tell you that she talked his head off now that she was able to finally start peeing like she should. All in all things are looking much better today

1100: We just saw infectious disease and they are saying that the virus in Aimée's blood is also in the dialysis line. They will be removing that shortly and then talking about when to put a new one back in. It might be a day or two but we will have to see. This means we won't be doing the plasmapheresis for a day or so which will be a nice break for Aimée.

Day 11 Update

2011-08-18T09:17:00.004-05:00

We have the plasmapheresis running right now as we watch "How I Met Your Mother" Season 4 to pass the time. We have seen Hematology and Nephrology this morning already.

The Kidney Team is happy that the creatinine is still falling slowly (good news). The billirubin hasn't got the message but isn't moving too much so that's good. She is having a good deal of ascites build up on her and that is making it pretty damn hard to move but she is pushing through. She got out of the bed yesterday and I found her a new chair and we sat and played cards for an hour. We also did a lap around the floor. Today's plan is a little more than that and keep picking up the exercise.

Hematology is happy with the levels. The Hemoglobin is stable at above 9 (right where we need it between 9 and 10). The platelets are now just below 40 from just above 40 yesterday. The team explained that this is okay. For Aimée a slight loss here is considered stable and with how her numbers have gone over the last week and a half this is still considered a victory. In the blood there are no new levels of red blood cells breaking up. The blood cells that are still broken are left over from earlier. The reason the platelets are still not jumping back is due to all the damage done by the transplant drugs, swelling in the blood cells from this entire damn thing, and that DAMN infection that we are still fighting. The levels of the virus are falling so that is good. All in all the blood team is very happy with what they are seeing and think we should see steady but slow improvement for the next day or two and then things should take up speed. Once we see the platelets start climbing then we can talk about moving the plasmapheresis to every other day. As of now that's all we got.

Day 10 Update

2011-08-17T07:12:00.006-05:00

So we had an okay night. Our nurse didn't understand the "let the patient sleep" theory but we did get some sleep in between the interruptions. On the good front we only had one clot last night (freaking happy dance). Also the following levels moved to the good side slightly: Hemoglobin (red blood cells) up, Creatinine (Kidney Function finally below 4) fell, Bilirubin (Liver function) fell. However her platelet count has fallen again (not good and it with Hemoglobin are the TTP indicators we need both to climb). Her blood pressure is up from 2 days ago when it was pretty low. It looks to be holding stable and that is another good thing. So we had some good and some bad but mostly good.

An update from yesterday I forgot was that because of the infection in her blood they are taking a few extra vials for research. They asked her if she would like to donate her blood to research on infectious diseases and we decided why not right? We also now have Infectious Disease folks along with the research folks doing rounds on Aimée (that makes team 4 and 5 after liver, kidney and hematology). It makes her lose a little sleep but the more folks trying to figure out this stupid blood bug the better so that the TTP can be allowed to take hold and fix the main problem so we can then tackle getting the liver and kidneys back and running as much as possible. We have plasmapheresis starting at 8am again today. Other than that we have no real plans besides trying to get Aimée to rest.

1030: We know the bug and how to kill it! Infectious Disease Team just came by. They know the bug that she has and they have the right drugs started as of late last night. So now we have a regiment to work on and they are expecting 14-28 days of the meds to get it cleared out. We still need more tests and everything to ensure that we keep it gone and it doesn't morph. Now we just keep attacking the TTP and we "should" see some levels (hemoglobin and platelets) starting moving with more strength in the next day or two.

1600: We know that the bug is at least from her central line. That is the line that she gets all of her meds and blood draws from. This and the line for the dialysis (which is used by the plasmapheresis) are the two areas they thought of. The tests for the dialysis line are still a day out to see if it also has the bug. Today they will be taking out the central line. They are also increasing the frequency of the antibiotics to help fight off the bug. Hopefully it will be the only location for the bug starting and we can then just keep going on the healing.

Day 9 Update

2011-08-16T08:35:00.006-05:00

It finally happened, we got a good nights sleep! I think we only had 3 interruptions between 11pm and 6 am. That is very good for hospital sleeping. For today we have the plasmapheresis again and no dialysis again. The kidneys are making slight improvements still. The urine has tapered off and she is getting the ascities (fluid the kidneys/liver aren't cleaning up) is building up around her hips but as I've said the kidneys and liver are not in the top 2 priorities right now. We have had no fevers in the last 18 hours or so. Her blood pressure is climbing slowly and her hemoglobin is back up to the 9's again after yesterdays 7s (we want 10 and low is BAD). We are still waiting for the plasmapheresis to really start working. It's only made very slight to no gains on a few fronts but that "most likely is because of the infection" (head blood doctor yesterday). The 2 things we need are the infections to go away and not come back and for plasmapheresis to start really working. We need the platelets and red blood cells to start climbing. If we get a couple of days in a row of the platelets and red blood cells climbing, we can start to exhale a little bit. That's all I got for now. She's back to napping and the machines are almost hooked up to her. We will talk to you all later.

1000: Just saw Hematology and they are feeling a little better today than yesterday. The platelets and red blood she got yesterday held steady over night and did not drop and that is the first time for that since we have been here. That folks is a first step in the right direction we need right now. They are going to play with some of the meds to help minimize some bruising she is having on her legs and body. We are still not allowed to give her any anti-rejection meds because they will interfere with the TTP. We will work that issue out later once we get her blood to do it's job then we will go back and readdress the liver and kidneys.

Day 8 Updates

2011-08-15T14:16:00.007-05:00

Sorry for the delay for first post. I ran home this morning for back to school and when I got back the Red Cross Nurse had the Plasmapheresis machine was in the area I stay "out of the way" spot. So here we go: we had a very long night last night. She was fighting the fever off and on all night. We also had issues with oxygenation of the blood and then her blood pressure was pretty low. Today we are working on the infection that seems to be the current priority one. Her levels are pretty much staying put or falling slightly. The plasmapheresis isn't doing too much yet. The levels that should be rebounding are just not moving yet and they are blaming the infection for that. So we are fighting the infection with a group of antibiotics and we will continue to work the plasmapheresis so we can clean up the blood when it's ready. The Liver and Kidney Team are just standing by for when they get their turn to play! Here is the picture of the plasmapheresis machine in case you care!

First Day of School 2011

2011-08-15T13:25:00.004-05:00

So today was the first day of school and we (at least one of us) is always there for first day. So here are the outfits that the kids and I got yesterday (they got 3 each) and then Aimée picked out based on the pictures I took. The kids are very excited.

This is what happens when you let Dad take the first day of school pictures!

Day 7 Updates

2011-08-14T07:37:00.005-05:00

The best laid plans sometimes.... We set up last night for a great long evening of not being bothered and some good sleep. She took meds and did all labs and vitals between 10 and 11pm. We weren't going to be bothered again until 5am (ahhh a good night sleep for Aimée). Oh well, we did the clot dance again then we had oxygen level issues and then her dialysis port started leaking and then the morning crew started showing up. So not much sleep tonight but we were prepped for it. Now we have a good system for the possibility of a good nights sleep and we will try again tonight. Right now they are prepping the plasmapheresis machines and we are waiting on rounds.

Yesterday she got a bag of calcium and potassium to help with the leg pains and it seems to have done some good. Her pain levels are lowering and the doses are spreading out a little bit so that is good. This will also help with knowing what is going on because she won't be taking so many drugs. She provided a SOLID LITER of urine yesterday so we are VERY happy about that also. The theory that is running now is that when the Hemoglobin's were so low and the TTP was really kicking the bodies butt, the body started pulling blood and support from things that weren't as important (everything except Heart/Lungs/Brain) so the kidneys and liver were deprived of blood. It is the current theory that as we are cleaning out the blood and we are working on a few minor things that everything will slowly start come back to working order. Now that we are seeing urine coming out and her getting a little stronger each day, it seems their theory might be holding true.

Today's plans are just the plasmapheresis and then visits from Steve (brother) and Laurie. Yesterday she had a party up here with Gary (Dad), Jean (sister), and her mom and our kids. Natalie did some fingernail painting and Andrew just stood next to the wall looking cool. However, in the end he went over and went over and rubbed Aimée's hand while she slept as we all talked. Both of the kids are doing just perfect and dealing with this crap in their own little ways. I will be heading home today to grab them and buy their back to school outfits because school starts again tomorrow and we GOT to have new clothes on Aimée's kids for first day of school.

I will provide updates as we go along today but we are hoping for a nice relaxing day!

2000: Steve, Laurie and Fun Mike sat with Aimée while I ran home to get the kids "back to school" outfits (pictures tomorrow). It was a perfect weather day and getting some original air was great. It was so nice to breath in fresh air I thought I was at the beach getting real fresh air!

While I was gone Aimée's heart rate jumped and then they noticed a pretty good fever (104 deg). She's had to have one of her ports changed 4 times today because the blood is just not clotting and that is the site that they do the plasmapheresis (and dialysis if required) at. They are running a few test to find if there is an infection which it looks like there is. They will start giving her some antibiotics and some red blood products very soon (actually 'cause it has taken me an hour to write this they are hanging them as I finish this up). It looks like a few of her blood levels (clotting, red blood, liver) are starting to trend in the wrong direction since the 4am blood pull so that is why the red blood products. Now we are just trying to relax and think positive thoughts. So that's about it tonight, hope you all have a good evening.

Day 6 Updates

2011-08-13T07:48:00.004-05:00

So last night was kind of a long night. Aimée really didn't sleep too well. We had 4 blood clots to deal with plus the usual beeps and blood and vitals. We are waiting on the primary team right now for the reasons on the blood clots but so far the Doctors we have seen are pretty sure it's because of the blood that she got last night. Since they are adding blood it's going to flow back out until we get this TTP crap fixed through the plasmapheresis. On the good news front she produced 275mL of urine last night (in just 8 hours). And that gave us a total of 500mL for the last 24 hours and that is a GREAT thing. Her total kidney production is still right about 10% and they are debating dialysis again for today but the prevailing thought is trying to let the kidneys bounce back on their own. They are also hoping that the plasmapheresis will help the kidneys bounce back. Other than that we don't have anything planned for today besides relaxing and seeing what happens.

1300: We have had a couple of more clots but we also have a GREAT deal of more urine. Kidney Doctors were pretty happy with the numbers. None are getting worse and there are slight improvements starting to form. Liver team said about the same but between the two they have decided to increase the Rapamune (steroid that protects the Kidney's from the Liver steroids). We finished plasmapheresis for the day and have another round tomorrow but no other procedures today. The Hematology folks were not happy with their numbers but blame it mostly on the 2 bags of blood last night. SO, no more blood for Aimée while we try and get this TTP crap in check. Right now she's doing the lunch thing as they prep to giver her some pain meds (nap is coming).

Day 5 Updates

2011-08-12T07:14:00.005-05:00

Good morning folks. We had a pretty good nights sleep. Between 11pm and 6am we only got woke up 4 times and that's damn good around here. Our night time nurse for the last two nights Lea, is amazing. She plans out the events (blood, vitals, etc) to hit as much at one time as possible. It really helps out with letting Aimee sleep. The other cool thing is the Lea was an RN at Methodist Transplant the year after Aimee got her liver there. Pretty cool talking to someone who had been there and doesn't treat them as a competitor like the transplant doctors do.

Today's schedule (SO FAR) is 8am Plasmapheresis and then see about dialysis. The kidney functions are still getting a little worse each day but the urine is doing about 100mL. Still not enough but it is some. So we will see.

1330: This morning's Plasmapheresis went well. It took about 3 hours. During those three hours we were visited by Hematology and the Kidney Team. It looks like her levels are stabilizing (not getting worse). We need to wait about a half a day or so to see how the two Plasmapheresis' work on her system. From that we can then assess how the Kidney's and Liver are doing minus this TTP thing. Currently the Kidney's are producing some but not enough Urine and the Liver is in a form of rejection. However all of that is secondary and tertiary to the TTP. She is scheduled to have daily Plasmapheresis until otherwise decided. They cancelled today's dialysis to see what the kidneys will do on their own after two rounds of the Plasmapheresis. We are hopeful that the Plasmapheresis will continue to stop and then reverse everything. Aimée is doing good but still very tired between the procedures and medicines she is taking. She has a row of flowers from her brother Steve, her sisters Ann and Jean and from my work. You can smell the flowers down the hall and she has had other nurses stop by to check it out. I had a couple of questions about our assignment to Washington, basically for now it is delayed for 30 days while we work these things out. Really isn't a huge concern. The Air Force and our move will get sorted out in due course. Work has been outstanding about taking care of that end so I'm really not going to sweat it.

1700: So the evening blood pool showed her Hemoglobin dropping again. This is a sign of the TTP still eating up blood cells. So she will getting 2 bags of blood tonight. Other than that it's time to relax until tomorrow morning. Sally is bringing the kids up here for a quick hello. Seems like our little girl misses her Mommy a little bit. Drew of course is Mister Tough Guy and is being a trooper.

This should be the last update for today unless something changes. See you all in the AM.

Day 4 END

2011-08-11T21:01:00.003-05:00

What a day folks. It's been a real blast! So Aimée completed her first Plasmapheresis. It took about 3 hours from beginning to end. She will have another round tomorrow morning at about 8am and then wheel on over to do some dialysis and then back to her room for some relaxing time. She's pretty tired and sleeping right now.

I ran home for a couple of hours and took the kids to Back to School night. Natalie is VERY happy with her teacher (it's the one who has more patience). Andrew is STOKED to get to have 8 classes and he and Husker Grandma walked around checking the route for him to get from class to class. Both kids seem to be looking forward to class starting Monday.

That's about all I got right now. You all have a great night.

Flowers

2011-08-11T15:24:00.001-05:00

Aimee wanted me to post a picture of her flowers for everyone. Thanks (from Left to Right) 20th IS, Ann and Bryan, and Steve and Laurie!

WTF is Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura?

2011-08-11T13:57:00.006-05:00

So we just saw both the Hematology and Liver Team in a marathon 1 hour meeting. Hematology is saying that the cause of all of our problems is a thing called Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (TTP for now on). There is a link on the name I posted there for those who really want to read. For the simple folks out there (people like me) it is where the platelets clump together and run into the Red Blood Cells and then that group runs into the walls of the veins and all are destroyed. It is caused by a few things but the one of concern is that the liver transplant drugs caused this. Now the Liver Team is skeptical of the cause because why now and not over the last 3.5 years of taking the pills. That is being worked on by both teams now.

Now the fix is a process called Plasmapheresis (A little wikipedia link for all). The process (run by the Red Cross and not the hospital) is to remove ALL of Aimée's plasma and give her all brand new plasma. This will be done through the ports they have already installed for dialysis. We hope to start this in the next 6 to 12 hours but we are waiting on the Red Cross and a few things here. It is a 2-3 hour process that is done once a day for 4 to 5 days from her room here.

Once the Plasmapheresis is done it will take about 2-3 days to see if that has corrected the problem. We will need to see her platelets climb and her Red Blood Cells stabilize.

For the liver itself: her billirubin is climbing and there is a little bit of yellow on her eyes. However, not the primary concern right now we need to fix this TTP thing.

For the Kidneys: they are producing some urine but the creatinine is still too high. However if the TTP is corrected that might fix the kidney's and we can reassess those little buggers later.

They have cancelled all other actions for right now until we get this sorted out. So the Liver ultrasound and OB GYN stuff is postponed. Those will be dealt with when the time is right.

For now she is just relaxing and eating some watermelon and trying to just focus on this. She says "thanks for all the good wishes and prayers."

Day 4 updates

2011-08-11T08:07:00.007-05:00

So I am going to do a single post for the day like I did yesterday and just put time marks for each update. I hope you all can read it well enough.

0800: Talked to OB GYN team and they are going to wait on the tests they want to run. The lab results from overnight show her platelets falling (she can't clot very well) and her creatinine climbing (kidneys getting worse). Urine is still not near what we want to see. We are waiting on Kidney Team to decide if they want to start dialysis again. If so we go back to ICU where we have a dedicated nurse. That's what we are waking up to.

1100: Kidney Team just stopped by. They are talking about giving her platelets so that OB GYN can do their tests but hematology needs to come look at why the platelets are changing after the transfusion.

1200: Liver Team is adding a liver ultra sound to just make sure we are good there. Then we should get the OB tests while the blood is coming back from Hematology.

Day 3 Rounds

2011-08-10T13:46:00.006-05:00

We just finished the Liver Team Rounds (imagine 12 people squeezing into a little room to talk about you, IT'S FUN for Aimée). Basically they are waiting on OB GYN to finish their tests later today and those results won't come until tomorrow. They are going to order Physical/Occupational Therapy to work on her to hope that maybe they can clear up the pain in her right leg (the opposite side of the clot). That was really it from them.

The urine is flowing slowly. Not as much as they want but really the OB has lead for the next day and then they will tackle the Kidneys.

So really no news but sit and wait.

1430 update: KIDNEY Team Rounds The Kidney doctors just stopped by and said that she is not producing enough urine. They are concerned because the creatonin is climbing again. They have ordered some bags of fluid to help push the Kidney's since the food and fluid intake isn't working yet. She is eating much better with each meal and now can slowly progress back to adult people food but she needs to go slow to not hurt the intestines. We are watching this closely and will be the decider on how long we vacation at UNMC room 5805.

1630 update: They are delaying next OB GYN procedure until after we do some fluid by order of the Kidney Team. This means we won't start it until tomorrow but we already have fluids running right now. Occupational/Physical Therapy came by and visited Aimée. It wasn't too bad and now Aimée is resting after all of that fun.

Morning Day 3

2011-08-10T07:23:00.004-05:00

Well it's the morning of day 3 and we have some improvements. Aimée is getting stronger and was able to stand up for a minute last night to get weighed. She is also able to see now (that was really freaking her out). She is able and willing to eat but they have restricted her to see through foods. We are actually waiting on "breakfast" to show for her (Beef Broth and Cherry Jello). Her current confusion is going away. However shes got a good deal of pain in her abdomen and legs so the pain meds aren't exactly making it easier for her to talk with the doctors.

We don't have any answers still. The OB GYN came by late yesterday and asked a few things and they are going to do some procedures following some of their tests yesterday. There is a little bit of urine coming out but not very much. We haven't seen Kidney or Liver Teams yet today since it's 7:30am. They rounded yesterday around 1:30 to 2:30 so we really don't expect too many answer for a few hours.

I have TMO pre-look at the house to see what special stuff we have. So I'm going to time my daily shower and change with that and Aimée has asked me to bring the kids up here after that to see her. That to me is a great sign.

That's all we got for now. You all out there hang in there and we will talk to you later.

Kidney Team update Aug 9

2011-08-09T14:30:00.003-05:00

So the last update was from the Liver Team. Now we just saw the Kidney Team. They are happy with the levels of the Kidneys. Not as good as before all of this but getting there. However she hasn't produced any urine in a little bit. So they are going to bump the Kidney's into producing some urine. This will tell us how bad they are and see what's next. The urine they did have from yesterday did not show LARGE amounts of protein but we need to see what they are doing now with fresh blood flowing.

Basically we sit and wait and see what happens.

Changed rooms

2011-08-09T13:59:00.004-05:00

We just moved out of ICU and saw the doctors in the same 20 minutes. They are still working a few things out and we don't have any good answers yet. She is stronger and allowed to have clear liquids (soup and jello which is better than just ice chips) but that's it. They are going to try and get her out of bed in a little while also and see if she can sit up.

However, she is having a really hard time seeing. They did a CAT scan but showed normal. The immunosuppressants are VERY high in her system so they are going to work that and the "cause" of the bleeding before they deal with the lesser things like vision. She is also very confused and doesn't remember why and how we got here but again, that's to work on AFTER we make sure she doesn't start bleeding again and then get the immunosuppressants lower.

We may not still have answers for another day or so. I will update more when I know more.

Hospital Update #1

2011-08-09T10:22:00.005-05:00

I finally have my computer in the hospital room. Which one helps me pass the time as she sleeps but also you all get more details:

So what the hell is going on? You can see from Aimée's last post that they had her on blood thinners due to a blood clot. Then she got a bad cold and a monthly reminder of no more kids. Well those two combined with the blood thinners for some bad business. The very short version is that she basically bled out. I took her to the doctors yesterday saying WTF is going on with my wife folks and they said "crap". So 24 hours later I am sitting here in her room while she is off getting more scans. They had to do 6 bags of blood, 2 bags of platelets, 12+ hours of dialysis. She is bouncing back on all of her levels but we are not out of the woods yet. This might cause the kidney transplant sooner and it might not. We really just don't know today. We are moving out of ICU (last I heard) soon and moving to the transplant wing for her care now that she is getting medically better. She is not very coherent right now and is having issues talking just due to how bad her body was.

Sally and Gary have the kids and they are all doing just perfect. I have to have the worlds best kids, they just seem to take this all really well. I'm sure there will be a Thanksgiving Dinner in 15 years where the truth will come out but until then they seem to be doing well.

I'm sure Aimée appreciates all of the thoughts and prayers. A special thanks to Steve for the flowers and little stuffed puppy. The flowers are being enjoyed in the waiting area but she's got her little stuffed puppy in her hands.

You all take care out there and we will talk to you later.

update for all: she's asleep

2011-08-08T20:16:00.001-05:00

update for all: she's asleep now. 4 bags of blood. 3 more plus 2 of plateletes. 12 hours of dialysis. more info tomorrow.

Kidney Update #2

2011-06-29T21:37:00.007-05:00

We went for the follow up with the kidney doctor here and found out that the swelling in my left foot was NOT normal and were referred for a "Venus Doppler" the next Monday to check for a blood clot. You'll NEVER guess what they found! A blood clot, score another one for Team "I'm Sick of This BS!"

I was put on blood thinners, both a pill and a twice daily injection of Lovenox to up my anti-coagulation levels. Today my levels were actually too high, so I was take off the injection (FINALLY!) and told to eat a couple of spinach salads (which is NO problem for me, I love the stuff!) -- Anyway, we took a couple of pictures of the bruises caused by the injections. It has been really hard to sleep because of these, since I sleep on my sides.

Right side tonight

Right side a week ago
Left side tonight

Left side a week ago

Omaha Summer Arts Festival

2011-06-12T16:55:00.002-05:00

Today Aimée decided we needed to go to the Omaha Summer Arts Festival. Andrew had his second date with Tessa at the baseball game so we took Natalie and her friends Paige to the festival. The weather was perfect despite the weather guessers calling for storms and such for today.

In the front left you see Aimée getting her face painted. At the top of the screen on the left you see Natalie getting her face painted and at the center on the right is Paige having her face painted! Here are the girls all completed with their face's looking perfect.

End of Flag Football Season

2011-06-12T16:49:00.003-05:00

The Flag Football season came to an End Saturday! The team had a good year of learning. (yes that's code for they have more to learn) Coach Jeff did a great job with the team. Here he is wrapping up the season with the boys. You can see our boy there with the blue hair #11.

Here's Drew getting his trophy from the Coach. He mentioned something specific for each boy and he said was the first kid he coached to get a safety in flag football. He also commented on Drew's infectious laugh! Drew's really pumped about the season and wants to try tackle in the fall!

Kidney Update #1

2011-06-06T11:15:00.000-05:00

I just got off the phone with the coordinator in the kidney transplant office. Specifically, my coordinator. That's right, kids! We are starting the transplant process now at the urging of the nephrologist.

My next appointment is the 17th, and I'm hoping to get a lot of my questions answered now that I have had some time to think about things and get my head in the right place. I have to say that going through this now is much different than my experience with the liver. For one thing, for now I have all of my mental faculties which I didn't even before I turned yellow with the liver. Going through this completely aware of everything, able to ask my own questions, find the place in my head and heart that I need to be, even updating the blog on my own, it is all new and different.

I'm sure you miss Dave's Liver run-downs, but I've decided that I'll be the one to update the blog about everything to do with the kidneys. Of course, I'm sure that he'll chime in every once in a while, you know how he is.

We told the kids what is going on when we found out that they wanted us to go ahead with the transplant process. Understandably, they were upset and we are working through that with them. I will say that I get a lot more hugs since then, though - which, I will gladly take!

As for Dave and me, I think at this point we are both just waiting for "what's next" and taking things one day at a time. He still has to work and I am doing my best to stay away from google and bing (my best isn't that great, as it turns out!) I'll admit that I am scared, but mostly of the unknown aspect to all of this. It is scary to think of the living donor, especially since some people I love very much have already offered to get tested to see if they are a potential match. Knowing someone would do that for you is beyond humbling.

The symptoms so far aren't terrible, but they are increasing as the days go by. The most noticeable to people outside of my body is the swelling of my feet, particularly the left foot. After an hour or so out, it swells up quite a bit and is doing so more and more as I go on. For me this is pretty embarrassing and annoying, although now my toes have started to tingle sometimes as well. Also, it is summer and swollen ankles and feet do NOT look hot in sandals and flip flops. Oh well.

I've noticed that I'm bruising even more easily than I did before and that I have a general exhaustion that is altogether different from the normal "I'm tired because I haven't slept in 24 hours" feeling that I am used to. It is the kind of tired that reaches your bones, and even if you can't sleep, you don't want to do much of anything else. I've felt this kind of tired before - any guesses when?

I think that sums everything up for now. I'm trying to keep myself in good spirits and to make sure God and laughter are a big part of this new chapter in my life. I know that we need both. And you! Thanks to our family and friends for all of your support so far. Just knowing that you're thinking about us, that you care, means the world to us. I'll keep you updated!

Driving Home...

2011-06-02T19:56:00.002-05:00

sunset over Nebraska from Iowa

Kansas City

2011-06-02T17:09:00.002-05:00

I had to go to Missouri for work today. While that is always a blast, the best part was stopping at a Diners, Drive-ins and Drives joint afterward.

So this was South Kansas City as we drove around looking for this joint.

This is the sign from Woodyard BBQ.

When we got there the parking lot was empty and we were a little nervous because it looked just like a house. WHICH IT WAS.

However, we ordered our 1/2 rack of ribs.

As you can see they were AMAZING! It was really worth crossing Kansas City to find this joint.

Leany Smurf

2011-05-29T11:58:00.003-05:00

For doing a good deed someone got his summer reward of a new hair color. Since his new habit is to lean on damn near anything he can we have named this kid "Leany Smurf".

Good Deed

2011-05-28T08:45:00.004-05:00

I was asked to help clean up the base cemetery for the Memorial Day Celebration on Monday. I figured it would be a good thing for Drew to do with and he said he would love to. So we got up at 7am and had a little snack and headed over. All of the Private Organizations on base sent their leadership (groups for the different enlisted ranks that work to better the base) and as part of the Top-3 (The top 3 enlisted ranks {Master Sergeant, Senior Master Sergeant and Chief Master Sergeant}) we had 3 of our board members help out. Turns out that all of the orgs turned out in great form and with the largest team ever, we cleaned all the headstones and put a flag at each headstone in under an hour. Past years it has taken hours so this was great. Here are some pictures for everyone to enjoy!

Kobe Steakhouse

2011-05-27T19:50:00.002-05:00

We went to Kobe Steakhouse to celebrate Drew's completion of 6th grade. The kids had a blast.

Natalie vs. Mommy

2011-05-22T12:47:00.002-05:00

How long do you think it will be until Aimée is the shortest person around here? Anyone?

From Our Front Porch

2011-05-21T19:37:00.002-05:00

hello nebraska weather. you are a tempermental one, aren't you?

A Tale of Two Kidneys

2011-05-20T14:43:00.002-05:00

So, the good news is that my liver is looking great. All the levels are where they are supposed to be.

The bad news? My kidneys aren't doing so hot. The last couple of times I've gotten my blood draw results, the creatinine levels have been elevated. I was referred to the Nephrologist (kidney doctor) at UNMC and had my appointment today.

When I was in liver failure, my kidneys also shut down which is why I was on dialysis in the hospital. While the kidneys did regain their function after the transplant, we were told that they would never come back to 100%. As of right now, they are at 30%, when ideally a person of my age should have kidneys that work at 90%.

The doctor we saw today was great, and I really appreciated her honesty. I asked her how bad this is, and she told us that it was pretty bad. So bad, in fact, that we're looking at a kidney transplant in the next few years, probably.

While I am feeling great right now (physically), I guess it is only a matter of time until I'm not feeling so great.

So, this is your heads up that things are going to start to get hairy for us again. Stupid kidneys.

It Does Happen!

2011-05-14T12:15:00.002-05:00

He's finally full people!

Farmers Market

2011-05-08T11:11:00.002-05:00

After breakfast in bed we took Aimée to the Omaha Farmers Market for a little walk about. She's been asking for this for a while and we had a good time. She picked out some good things to go with the Chicken I will BBQ for her tonight for dinner. As you can see we had a great time and she was really happy that we all went to do something she REALLY wanted to do.

Aviators?

2011-05-07T13:39:00.002-05:00

Should Drew rock the aviators?

I THINK SO!

Little dude is growing up

2011-04-30T13:37:00.003-05:00

Figured it was about time that Drew needed to do some more heavy lifting chores around the house. So I busted out the weedeater and here he is. He actually did really well AFTER he learned to keep the house and ME behind him so he didn't shoot stuff at those of us sheltering him at night or paying for his FOOD!

LOBSTER is for dinner!

2011-04-22T22:18:00.004-05:00

So here is our lobsters before they took the plunge!

Drew and I discussing how to eat the Lobsters.

Aimée explaining to drew not to eat boiling lobsters!

There's my LOBSTER!

There's MY LOBSTER!

In you go DUDE!

Here they are taking their bath!

Is bath time over?

Bath time is OVER!

Here the Lobsters are waiting to find our bellies!

There we are with the Lobsters, Crab Cakes and Clam Chowder.

Joey enjoying his new fence

2011-04-22T17:04:00.002-05:00

Joey enjoying his new fence!

What's for dinner?

2011-04-22T12:52:00.005-05:00

So Aimée and I decided for a treat at the end of my leave to get some Lobsters. Mike (slow as molasses) had bought the same ones for Alan (yes I can grow a beard now) when he retired. So we got 2 Lobsters, 1 Qt Clam Chowder, 2 Crab Cakes, 2 Boston Cream Pies and crackers and other stuff. You get to pick the exact date for delivery so you can plan when you are going to enjoy your amazing dinner!

Here is the box that we received today for tonight's dinner!

Here's Aimée pointing at the box. Her and the kids are LITTLE scared of the Lobsters!

Here's the seaweed in the box to keep the Lobsters Happy until they take the great plunge in the boiling water tonight.

Here I am with my Lobster (see old references to this theme in our blog or just Google Lobster Friends) Aimée while I hold our dinner!

Natalie Haircut

2011-04-17T14:09:00.002-05:00

Locks of Love is about to get a great donation!

Husker Spring Game

2011-04-16T20:37:00.006-05:00

Andrew and I went to the Spring "Red vs White" Husker game with Husker Grandpa and Uncle Steve.

Husker Grandpa got the four of us tickets in the 9th Row and right on the isle, on the 25 yard line. The seats were outstanding!

Look at Uncle Steve and Drew with Miss America (Miss Nebraska link) Teresa Scanlan. She even posted the picture on her Twitter page (link) after she asked for the boy with the Corn Hat! I love how he is just trying to act too cool for this! You also see Uncle Steve in the background being proud of doing his Uncle duties!

This is a picture of Uncle Steve and Andrew right after Uncle Steve took Andrew to meet Ms America.

Drew standing next to the south goal post when we went on the field at halftime for the "Say NO to drugs" pledge.

They had a fly over of 2 B-25 Mitchel's and 2 P-51 Mustangs. This was part of the Doolittle Raider Reunion that is going on at Offutt AFB right now. (link)

As you can see it was a really great day and we had a blast.

5 Guys Burgers

2011-04-09T12:28:00.000-05:00

Celebratory burger from 5 Guys Burgers and Fries. This might be in the Top-5 Burger Joints EVER!

Flag Football

2011-04-09T12:17:00.001-05:00

Drew had his first Flag Football game today. His team one and he really ran his heart out. Played almost the complete game Iron Man style. They are short 2 kids to have a good switch between Offense and Defense. He said he really enjoyed himself and it sure looked like he was having fun. Two of his buddies from the Youth Center are on his team so that makes it even better for him! Here they are lined up in "Trips Right" Here's Natalie taking a picture of Drew. Drew warming up before the game. Drew lined up waiting for the hike.

Here's Drew lined up as the Left Wide out before he went into motion. Unfortunately they didn't throw to him. He did very well for his first game and coach was impressed. He only had the ball thrown to him once and the pass was a little short. He did get a tackle on the Running Back from the Corner Back position when he saw the hand-off play and reacted.

Practice

2011-04-08T18:22:00.002-05:00

drew at flag football practice

So much for that

2011-04-03T08:48:00.004-05:00

Ever wish that you got pranked on April Fools day? I do. On 1 April we got an email from the Air Force saying "MSgt David Vasser: this is to notify you that your assignment has been cancelled"! First there needs to be a LAW that emails like this never go out on 1 April, but second NO! Aimée and then I have talked to the kids and we are all taking it well for the most part. 2 assignments in 2 months, let's see if the 3rd one is a winner! We don't know what's next besides that we will get something and we are going to try and keep the Air Force from sending us somewhere we REALLY don't want (yes Melissa I heard you request, and I will give it the due attention it deserves, hehehe). That's all I got to say about that.

Trier Germany

2011-04-02T10:50:00.004-05:00

Well I had a day off today. After sleeping for 12 hours straight I decided to head over to Trier Germany. For those who know him, this is my little bit of a tip of the hat to Mike and his "outings". About an hour drive and was told that it was the oldest German Town (Wikipedia link). The drive was amazing. It's in the mid 70s today and clear sky's. The town was pretty big and I didn't get to find anything of any real interest. Walked around a little but took most of my pictures while driving around. Hope you all enjoy the pictures.

Here is a picture from within the village on the north side of the river. Just kind of liked these buildings.

Just thought this looked cool from across the river.

This is the Cathedral from across the river.

Germany

2011-03-12T10:36:00.005-06:00

Well I'm doing a little work time in Germany and thought I would share some pictures of the base and the village just outside the gate. I got here the other morning and after flying all night landed at Frankfurt. I got my rental and with my wicked cool Google Map (listed in Kilometers and not miles thank goodness) got down to Ramstein in short order. Was pretty wild driving a stick in rush hour traffic while reading a Google Map and no clue where I was. LOVE IT!

Here is the view from my hotel room. You can see a C-5 landing in the background and other jets on the ramp.

I also promised Drew some pictures of some Kebab's. I didn't find the EXACT Kebab shop I wanted until I was driving out of town so I will have to go back and get the good stuff. This was okay but not perfect.

Got to have the Garlic sauce and the peppers!

Here are some photo's of the Landstuhl Village. You can see an old castle on the hill above the village. Notice the little park on the left.

Here is the view up the street towards the Irish Pub. You can also see my little black Ford rental.

This is the Blarney Stone Irish Pub. Had a beer here when I was TDY from Turkey to Ramstein back in 2005.

This is the little park you saw in the first picture from the village and I kind of liked the lion looking through the trees.

Here I am waiting for a light to go green. Just thought it reminded me of driving in England. Actually it looks very much like England except the language is different.

Here is McD's in Germany. Don't know why you would care but I had Kebab's in my belly and thought "why in the hell would I want McD's".

Here is my hotel from the outside. I'm on the left side somewhere in the middle of all of that.

Rubbing it in Aimée's Face

2011-03-02T18:49:00.002-06:00

dinner at harpoon larry's