Transferred, yeah baby!!!

Not down to rehab like we are ultimately hoping, but to Intermediate Care. His vitals will be checked every 4 hours, instead of hourly, which will hopefully lead to some better nights of sleep and it is a good sign that everything is getting dialed in in regards to his hormone dosages. The one thing that has been difficult to get right is the hormone referred to DDAVP, which regulates urine output. Too much of it and he retains water causing his sodium levels to drop to low. To little and he literally pees like a race horse and his sodium levels become to high and he feels like he is dehydrated. His high heart rate the last few days may have been due to not enough liquids, who knows. The last few days have been getting all this figured out.

One thing I have learned is how important it is to speak up when you have ideas. I am not sure if my suggestion for the hormone dosage was taken, but the plan moving forward is what I suggested to the nurse last night. A few days back, Kara's mom had a thought about the timing of his hormone dose, which was keeping him awake at night. All that said, Levi has improved the last few days with the help of the staff, but also because Kara and I have been proactive with the things we can have control of, sharing our ideas, giving him a quality diet and "exercise". We hope our stay in this unit is short and we move to the next phase of rehab quickly, because that will bring us closer to home.

Now that Levi is stable the next focus of Kara and I is the stability of Kade, our 4 year old. He has been a champ in all this but the last few days have been difficult for him. The sad reality is that the more time he has away from mom and dad, while staying at the grandparents, the better he does. If he gets a dose of time with mom or dad it is just too hard for him to get back to normal. So Kara and I are going to be putting a lot of focus on Kade and his stability over the next few days to determine what is the best setting for him over the remainder of our time. This is a major prayer request for us because it hurts my heart knowing what he is going through.

We have gotten some glimpses of the Levi of old, he said "cheese" yesterday for a picture we took and we are starting to see some smiles. Hopefully a good night sleep for him will revive his spirits tomorrow.

Kara and I are getting anxious about each of our work situations. Both of our places of employment have been amazingly supportive, but the reality of all this is that we will need to get back into things very soon. Please pray that as our Levi stables up, that we will be able to develop a daily routine and that this will allow us to support both Kade and Levi and put our best efforts into our jobs outside of caring for our kids.

Thank you for your prayers and support. The biggest need we are feeling these days are for visitors. So again I will put forth our shameless plug for a little time down here at Rady's. The sun is always out, there are some great play grounds for your kids, and it really lifts our spirits when people stop by.

Blessing,

Dan and Kara