6 months plus! How time flies

Wow... Samantha is 6 1/2 months old. At her 6 month checkup, she weighed in at a healthy 17 lb, 5 oz and 24 inches long. She's growing great and the NP was thrilled! She's eating more solid foods now and loving it! She's still a very happy baby and is talking all the time, or we should probably call it "yelling". Here's Sam and Nick in deep conversation.

Here's Samantha and Uncle Jack.. she loved him!

Samantha loves to roll all over the place and is starting to creep forward a bit. She got a new swing for the patio and loves that too, although it's so darn hot out that time in the swing has been limited. Here's video of her first time in her new swing!

Sam also loves all her toys, although a lot goes into her mouth. She's so interested in anything we're doing and tries to grab at the computer, cell phone, food, or anything someone else has. She's very nosy like her mom. We've had a heat wave here so we haven't been outside much or to the pool, but maybe it'll get cooler soon and we can venture out for more walks.

Nick's family (Dad, Theresa, and Jack) visited the week of the 4th. We had a blast with them and I tell you, they're handy to have around! Scott, Jack, and Nick fixed everything that needed to be fixed and more! And Scott "Grandpa" made Samantha an amazing bookshelf. I saw it in the Land of Nod catalog and have been wanting it for awhile. Scott looked at it and designed it by himself from good solid oak! It looks so good and matches her furniture perfectly!

We didn't do too much for the week - laid pretty low. Theresa "Grammy" was a huge help while I was at work, which I have been doing more than I'd like to lately with the business being so busy. Thankfully, Samantha is such a versitile kid and is happy with most people as long as they are giving her attention. Not sure when or if the seperation anxiety will kick in. Everyone couldn't believe how good she is and how little she cried. We're so fortunate.

Ms. Scherree (our babysitter) has been wonderful and Sam still loves her, but she got a break while the fam was here. I'll have to post a pic of Sam and Ms. Scherree soon!

On a side note, my dad is home from the hospital (once again!) Let's home there is no return back there for a long time. He's so much better now. He can't believe it's July 16th as he has no recollection of almost a month of his life. Not sure what will come back, but hopefully not the bad memories of the hospital! Let's hope he's back to 100% soon. It's night and day from before. I'm heading home to NJ at the end of next week to visit and bring Samantha to brighten his day!

More to come soon...

Kristi

A rollercoaster of ups and downs....

Well, just when I report good news, I'm back to reporting some bad news. My dad's back in the ICU as we speak. He started going downhill midweek last week and got even worse than he was before this all happened! It was very upsetting, shocking, and confusing to all of us. Finally, Saturday, my mom and Dave brought him back to Trenton to the hospital where he was very agitated, confused, and angry about being there. They had to sedate him and calm him down, but immediately began with his steroid treatment.

My mom read an article in her medical magazine that some people need to be weaned off steroids instead of stopping after a 5 day course.... these people, if not weaned, can regress to worse than their previous condition. Well, this explained my dad!

After 24 hrs on a steroid, he went from being totally out of it to being able to have a conversation again! He also read the newspaper today for the 1st time in forever! He still has a 24 hr aide by his bedside, but things are looking up again. Let's hope it stays this way.

Not sure what the plan of action will be at this point.... he'll probably go back to acute rehab at some point. They redid some tests today and are re-doing the spinal tap just to be sure he's ok.

David went home today and i'm playing it by ear as to when i'll head back to NJ after I can get a feel as to what my mom needs.

Keep your fingers crossed that this rollercoaster goes up.... once more!

Today was my parents 36 year anniversary! Although it wasn't celebrated as wished, at least we can celebrate that my dad is doing better (once again) and he remembered the day!

Happy anniversary Mom and Dad!

Kristi

Dad's at home

I wanted to post a quick update on my dad....
he went home from the rehab hospital on Saturday. My mom said by far he was the "healthiest" person at Marlton Rehab. He's getting by. He continues to try to figure out what exactly happened and remembers NONE of the whole incident. His first recollection is about last Saturday, as he says he remembers me and my brother in town but hardly.

My mom is working with him at home and trying to get him to do the things he was so good at, the firsts being the remote control and email. These things are hard for him to grasp and process. I keep reminding myself and my mom that it's only been a week, but today, my dad asked my mom when he will get better.

It's heartbreaking but we know to take it day by day. My parents decided to keep their trip to GA at the end of the month to come visit us, so that will be nice for us to see him and him see Samantha. She always brings a smile to his face.

Please call or visit if you'd like. I feel the more he is challenged, the more his brain will begin to work and hopefully remember. Just know that he's very tired by the evening, so keep that in mind.

I'll be sure to post about Samantha and her 6 month birthday soon! Heading to bed. The mean boss that I am kept the office open tomorrow so I am too, going in to work.

Happy 4th!

Kristi

VOTE FOR SAMANTHA!

My mom entered Samantha into a "beautiful baby" contest and we need your votes! You can vote once a day per email address.. pass it on to anyone you know. Here's the link. If she wins this, she moves onto a national contest and can win $5000! If for some reason the link doesn't go to her picture, the email address it's under is kestes9@gmail.com - you can search that way.

http://wphl.tribunepromotions.com/babies/tip_bb_wphl,0,4123676.ugcphotogallery?index=80223

thanks for your vote!
kristi

Continues to make progress...

What a week! If I could just stay in bed....

sorry for the blogging delay.. i'm sure everyone has been waiting for a posting and i have been trying to get back into my daily routine back home.

My dad has been doing better and better each day. They started him on a steroid on sunday night and by monday morning, he seemed a little more with it and slightly better. Today, however, he was so much better! I was able to talk with him on the phone. He figured out how to answer the phone, first off, which is huge. Then he had a conversation with me with full sentences. He still was grasping for some words, but what a difference! I said, "dad, I have to quiz you again like i do every day.... do you know your grand-daughter's name?" Before this, he could never remember her name. Today he said "I remember Kristi, it's Samantha!" Well, i started crying, he started crying and it was such a happy moment! I think he is finally realizing what is going on and it's hitting him hard emotionally.

David left to go home on Monday evening, so my mom is by herself. It is hard for us, but she knows we have work and have our families at home. She seems to be doing better with each day too.

They moved my dad from ICU to a regular room and he will be discharged tonight to Marlton Rehab for acute rehab services to include OT, PT, and Speech. He'll get all the therapies each day and will stay until he's safe to go home. We hope that he makes quick progress and that each day has drastic improvements. So anyone who wants to visit, it's close to home!

Here's a link to the place he's going. Look at that, i figured out how to highlight a link!
http://www.marltonrehab.com/Inpatient/index.html

I personally feel that the more he talks to familiar people and reminisce stories and all, the more that will come back to him.

I think well wishes and prayers have helped, so keep them coming.

As for other news, Samantha will be 6 months old on Thursday.. it's crazy how fast time has flown. She's so much fun now and is constantly laughing, talking, and moving. She kicks her legs all the time, is sitting by herself (with padding around her) is rolling all over the place and is starting to bring her knees in... not sure how long before she crawls!

We started her on rice cereal 2 weeks ago. She LOVES it! she was all into our food and I knew it was time. I go to the doctor this Friday so i'll be sure to update her stats.

She loves her cereal!


Sam's First pretzelmore to come soon!

Kristi

AN ANSWER!!!

We are so excited that the doctors have figured out what has happened.... and there is a cure! my dad had a sinus infection about a month ago and was on a sulfa drug.. as you see on the website below, that could have been the cause of it as well as the overall sinus infection.

the diagnosis is acute disseminated encephalomyelitis. the website describes it all!

www.adem.org

Dad is so much better today! he's laughing and talking so much more. Some thoughts are hard still, but it's like night and day.

They will start him on steroids today and could be a few days or weeks, but the doctors seem to think he'll be back to normal in no time. We're so thankful and are just keeping our fingers crossed!

Kristi

Each day gets a little better...

I asked him to smile, here's what I got! At least he's off most of the attachments he was on just Thursday.


My dad's spinal tap came back totally normal. So now the doctors are going to continue to run tests and they assure us they'll get to the bottom of this. The next test ordered is an MRI of his lumbar and cervical region to look for inflammation there. Yesterday the ICU had 5 new admissions, so the floor was absolutely insane and they weren't able to run tests. I think the docs are all meeting to look at the treatment plan to see what they feel will be the best sequence of events.

Dad was happier and much more alert yesterday. The PT got him up and out of bed. He still has a 24 hr aide as apparently he's been trying to climb out of bed from the sides and over the top. We feel that he is less confused and seems to understand more. He's also talking more, still the words are hard to grasp.

We have a list of questions for the doctor today and will hopefully know more by the end of the day. I told my mom and Dave to bring stuff and start to quiz him, have him read, have him carry on a conversation with turntaking, and so forth to get his brain working. That's the OT in me. Ashame i don't know much else about this area.

I'm heading back home today and Dave will be here. I know he's in good care and my mom will still have company.

More to come later....
Kristi