Update on Chad's Dad

Well, here is an update on Kent. After the scary crash a few weeks ago, he had started to improve a little. However, our concerns about his care at St. Mark's, were growing. They were pretty much just letting him lay there and waste away. He was not getting any PT and was losing weight drastically. His basic care was also horrendous, as when we visited him, he hadn't been bathed, washed, shaved or any oral care for several days. His Meds mere hanging empty and was laying on bloody sheets. So between us and the doctors, we decided to move him to LDS hospital. After about a week of red tape and waiting for a bed to open up, we finally got him moved this morning, and tell you what, his improvement in just several hours has been astounding. They Drs and Nurses at LDS were floored that he had been sedated like he has for so long, (we think St. Marks used the sedation as a kind of restraint, he was easier to take care of when unconscience) they couldn't believe that he had not gotten any kind of PT and they even said he looked terrible when he came in and they had him cleaned up and looking like new in no time. And now as I writing this, he has been there for six hours and they have gotten him off the sedation, he is now pretty much awake and aware and able to let his wants known. They have gotten him up in a chair, done physical therapy (afterwards, kent was trying to do leg lifts in his bed, the nurses had to tell him to knock it off :-) ) and have set the respirator to the wean setting, and thier goal is to get him off the ventilator as soon as possible. Chad was there several hours as every department you could think of met with him to discuss his dad and get any background information that they could. The dietician was floored when he realized just how little calories Kent was getting in the day and plans on doubling his caloric intake to try and get him to gain some weight back. The hospital staff has been very open and communicative and are much more tolerant of family visiting. We are just feeling very optimistic about this and we are very grateful this move went through. It is scary to think of how long Kent would have laid in bed, wasting away at St Mark's, until he would have been able to go home. Anyway, thank you for your thoughts, I think we can finally be optimistic about Kent's recovery!

It had been too long since we had seen Grandpa U, so this last weekend, he made a quick trip up to see us and "play babies". We had a good time, Annie Pearl really took to her Grandpa, and was not very happy when he had to go. But they had fun at the state park picking rocks, looking at the river and just hanging out. At home Grandpa got a kick out of teasing the poor girl, however, she could give it back in spades! I am just so excited this summer to have family so close and to be able to spend time like this with everyone!!

Afternoon at the Zoo

Talk about a beautiful day!! The Temperature reached in the 70's today, and there was no way you can stay inside on a day like that!!! It was Chad's birthday yesterday, but he had to work, so today he got to choose what we did today, and anyone who knows Chad shouldn't be surprised he wanted to go to the Zoo, so we packed everyone in the car and took a trip to Hogle Zoo. We were excited to get to show Annelise all the animals in her story books. But we had a good time, the animals are always fun to see, and there had been alot of changes as Hogle zoo from when I went there as a kid. The park is not very big, but it is the perfect size for kids, they can see everything but not be exhausted by the end of the day. We are definately going to go back this summer and visit again.

Chad's Dad

This is for anyone who hasn't heard, Chad's Dad is in the ICU at St. Mark's in SLC. So I am asking for people's thoughts and prayers right now. This is a very unusual situation. Kent was up Skiing about a month ago and fell and ran into a tree with his leg. He broke his femur in four places, but was unhurt in any other way. They plated and put a rod in his leg and everything looked like it was going to be okay. However, after leaving the hospital and going into a PT clinic, he began having difficulty breathing. He ended back in the hospital for awhile, but they released him again to the clinic. He again had breathing problems and they rushed him back to the hospital and had to intubate him. For the last three weeks he has been in a drug induced coma and about a week ago they replaced the breathing tube with a traech tube. On Monday, Kent had a major crash and three of his organs shut down and we came very close to losing him. He is now on continious dialysis because his kidneys are not working and is still on a respirator.
We had a sit down with the doctors on Thursday and got the full story on his condition. The heart and lung doctor said there is only two things you can really do with lung patients and that is steroids and antiboitics, and they are using both, but he is not responding.They cannot find any infection in his lungs and are basically at a loss as to what is going on. Basically his lungs are full of fluid and stiff as a board and they really don't know why. At this point the only thing left to do is wait. Right now he is on a rollar coaster and has not shown a general trend towards getting better or worse. The doctors say once a trend starts, that is probably the way he will go. But if he does start getting better, they believe everything else will start to heal also, including his kidneys and liver. So if you have a minute, give Kent and the family a thought. This has been very hard on everybody, especially the not knowing.