This post is a continuation... Things definitely improved in the fall after transplant.  My daughter started preschool again and finally got off the oxygen at the end of September. She grew a lot after the transplant and that helped her lung cavity have the space it needed so she could breathe better.  Gradually we stopped having to go to the clinic so frequently. Upper respiratory congestion continued to be a problem and we ended up getting her tonsils and adenoids out in January.  That was an incredibly miserable recovery and she got RSV just as she was starting to feel better which turned into pneumonia...it was a rough month.  Taking immuno-suppressants definitely makes her more vulnerable to illness.  Her illnesses happen more often, last longer, and seem to be worse. Last summer was great.  She wasn't sick at all and we were able to go camping together as a family in Yellowstone as well as attend my oldest son's wedding.  She even got potty-trained. It was so great

This is a continuation of my previous two blog posts... So finally we went home, ecstatic to be there.  It was great to have everyone all home together again.  Things went well that weekend but on Tuesday morning, our daughter had a low-grade fever.  We were due in the transplant clinic that day so I took her up thinking we would stay overnight.  I was right.  We stayed so they could watch her and try to figure out what was wrong. But they never did so we went home the following afternoon.  Meanwhile her feeding tube was leaking horribly ever since the transplant and we couldn't figure out why.  It was causing me huge amounts of stress because I was worried that her medicine was leaking out of her stomach.  I lost more than a few hours of sleep worrying about that.  Fortunately the problem improved when my husband figured out that the G-button balloon needed more water. This was at a family reunion a few weeks after transplant and we had to try to keep her away from all her

This is a continuation of my previous post detailing the process of my daughter receiving her kidney transplant. Because the kidney donor lived in Chicago, the kidney had to be flown in, so my daughter's surgery didn't start until the afternoon when the plane landed at the airport.  The transplant surgery lasted about 6 hours and the surgeon deemed it a success, at least from his standpoint.  He has transplanted many pediatric patients and his chief worry was that the kidney would be too large and he wouldn't be able to close the abdomen.  That had happened before and he didn't want to repeat the experience! On her way to surgery.  She had no idea what she was in for. We were able to see my daughter in the PICU shortly after, but not for long.  It was getting late and the nurse and doctors were quite busy making sure that everything was being done for her in that critical post-surgery phase. I was feeling a little paranoid about her sodium levels because the nep

This month our family got to meet my daughter's kidney donor!  So I wanted to write about the whole process of the transplant as it happened for our family. Our daughter was born very prematurely at 23.5 weeks gestation because of an infection I was not even aware I had.  On her 12th day of life, she became acutely ill and during that time, her kidneys were damaged from lack of blood flow and stopped growing.  She came home from the hospital after 5 months and at that time she had 25% kidney function.  At the age of two, her body outgrew her kidneys' ability to take care of her.  When your kidney function goes below 15%, you qualify for a transplant as long as you meet other requirements, such as being big enough (in my daughter's case) and not having other serious medical problems that would make it hard for a transplant to succeed.  There were some concerns about her lungs' ability to cope during a transplant but ultimately the transplant team accepted her as a cand

    I read 401 Ways to Get Your Kids to Work at Home  by Bonnie McCullough and Susan Monson on a recent family vacation.  I discovered that it's so much easier to get along with your children when your expectations are low, like they are on vacation!  But now we're back to real life and it's a little bit harder...   This book is a little dated, published in 1981, but I did enjoy reading it.  I liked the variety of useful ideas in it.  The premise of the book is that the parents need help getting the work done and children need to learn basic life skills so they will not be incompetent when it is time for them to leave home.  I totally agree.  They also make the point from a survey they took that children feel they should help at home.  Children might not always recognize this, but it feels good to recognize that you are making a valued contribution.   The authors are mothers who wrote this book while in the trenches.  It is clear to me that they know kids an

Today is Father's Day.  I strongly believe that fathers are very important and I wish every child had a father actively involved in their lives, preferably married to their mother and everyone living together in happiness and love!  I was lucky enough to have that and, while my father worked pretty long hours for much of my growing-up years, he was a strong influence.  I owe a lot to my parents and the good things they gave me, such as faith and love. They were kind to me, wanted to do what was right, and encouraged me to be my best.  I really wanted to please them and continue to want that. I owe a lot not only to my parents but to my grandparents and great-grandparents and all the ancestors I know about.  As far as I know, they were a very faithful bunch and were dedicated to their families.  That is a great legacy to give your children. My husband was not as lucky.  His parents were divorced when he was 3 and I can see the effects of that in his family to this day. Fortunate

This is an ambitious book that would have benefited from narrowing its focus and using more specifics.  The author wrote this book to help all the parents out there who are having trouble figuring out how to help their children learn to work and become the responsible and competent adults they need to become.  Certainly that is one of my main goals in life and I'm sure most parents share that goal. She has some good ideas such as training children in specific jobs before encouraging them to become independent.  I am sure I'm not the only parent guilty of expecting my children to figure out what they're supposed to do without adequate training.  The challenge is taking the time to do the training.  Obviously it has to be a priority.  I also liked her ideas on teaching children to be obedient.  She talks about making it a game and rewarding children when they come quickly when they are called.  This is definitely an area our family could some work.  Another idea I pl