Anna Maria Island (aka Our New Favorite Place)

Kennedy and Jack,

Wow! Do we love Anna Maria Island, or what?

We found this this new place, AMI, about an hour South of Tampa. The beaches are amazing and the small town feel is awesome. This is our new regular family vacation spot and we look forward to the fun times that we are going to make here.

During our first visit, we were able to spend some time with Dell and the Lavoie’s. It was awesome!

You guys especially liked putt-putt and ice cream (so did Daddy). We played and jumped in the waves of the crystal clear water of the Gulf of Mexico. What a place. Here are the snaps from our vacation.

love,
Mommy and Daddy

Happy Fourth of July!

Kennedy and Jack,

We spent the day celebrating the birth of our Nation at Aunt Kate’s house in Tampa. We had a lot of fun swimming, eating, playing, and lighting sparklers. Uncle Frank backed it down this year and went with sparklers instead of Theme Park quality fireworks, so no was was scared this year. As Florida July’s go, it was a hot one. Here is our family pic that we snapped during the fun times.

We also caught some pretty cool shots of the sparklers that we lit at night. It was a great way to celebrate the Fourth.

love,
Mommy and Daddy

KJ’s Surgery: Day Four

09:00 AM
Good Morning! KJ had a decent night last evening. She was up a couple of times with some fussiness. Which is to be expected after all she has gone through.

Julia and Kyle pulled the overnight again so Mommy and Daddy could get a little more rest at the Ronald McDonald House. Much, much appreciated sleep.

KJ has been doing great. She now had both eyes open and is able to sit up. Her swelling has subsided significantly. It is still puffy and that will continue for a few weeks possibly.

At this point we are waiting for a decision about being discharged. KJ has pooped, has both eyes open and her vitals all look good. We are hoping that when Dr. J makes her rounds this morning that she’ll say we can go.

We have come so far and experienced so much in just 72 hours since it all began. It been quite the physical and emotional roller coaster.

We will update later on today when we get some news. As always thank you for the continued thoughts and prayers. Words can not describe our appreciation.

Go Pats!

12:00 PM
We are getting discharged! More info later.

07:30 PM
Well… after a long, long 72 hours we are finally home. The docs checked KJ out this morning and again this afternoon and decided that it was time to go home. We were discharged just before 2:00 PM this afternoon.

We are very excited about being home and continuing the healing process. KJ is doing great. She is still trying to get back to normal – she has a little cough, it teething still, and recovering from one hell of a surgery. We are going to take the time to focus on resting tonight.

We will be posting some of KJ’s story through some of the images that we took throughout the process in the coming days.

Before I close out the surgery posts – I want to take a moment to truly thank all of the people that helped us out over the past few days. We have amazing family and friends that provided Ang, Jack, KJ, and myself with more support than you could even imagine. We also want to thank all of those who contributed thoughts and prayers to our family during KJ’s surgery. You will never know how much they helped us cope through this experience.

Thank you.
Mike, Ang, Jack… and KJ

KJ’s Surgery: Day Three

07:00 AM
Good Morning. Let’s start off with giving thanks.

Mommy and Daddy got some rest last night at the Ronald McDonald House. Julia and Kyle took an overnight shift last night and we would like to thank them graciously. Also, our entire team of support here, Ang’s Parents, Mike’s Mom, Frank, Kate, Kyle and Julia, have been a godsend for us.

We also have to shout out our nurses Megan and Cathy – who have been amazing! The staff here at Florida Hospital for Children have taken care of KJ like she was one of their own.

KJ had another great night. Like we stated in yesterday’s update, KJ has only one IV line in right now. She also her heart and oxygen monitors on, but that is all. So she (and Mommy and Daddy) is more comfortable now.

The swelling is still pretty intense and we are hoping to see some improvement today as the swelling begins to go down. KJ is also fighting a tiny cold, which is viral so it will just run it’s course. She did have to get suctioned a couple times and was not happy – but who would be? Her temp has been perfect too. KJ did have some blood drawn this morning, and she was not a big fan of that. The good part though is that when she does cry she sounds exactly like her old self (loud).

We will begin to move to Tylenol today, so we are expecting her to be a bit more active (and possibly fussy) today. We will have another update some time this morning after 8:00 AM rounds.

11:00 AM
KJ is doing great. Dr. Johnson came by to visit for a while and checked her out. She is hoping that we will begin to see the swelling go down starting today. We are optimistic.

Everything else looks great. He incision is healing nicely and her vitals are all in the place they should be. KJ does have a little viral cold so they suction her every few hours which makes her extremely mad.

We are off of morphine and on to Tylenol for pain management. We will see how that goes.

KJ’s appetite is back and she is slowly working on taking more and more ounces per feed. Also another great sign.

We will have another update later on tonight. Again thanks to all our family, friends, and friends of friends for all of the positive thoughts and prayers. Please keep them coming.

07:00 PM
Well, this update brings some great news. KJ was able to open one of her eyes this afternoon.

KJ had had a pretty tough day through the early afternoon. As we had stated earlier she shifted away from the good drugs and on to Tylenol. So the transition was a little hard for her to take. Not really due to pain, but because she was more alert she was getting frustrated not being able to open her eyes. So she had a pretty crummy first part of the day. Her swelling slowly began to subside. Sure enough KJ was finally able to open her right eye halfway.

We were excited, she was excited… and like a bunch of goofballs we were being silly in her face. In the excitement KJ had some projectile type vomit. Needless to say the celebration was short-lived as we went in to clean up mode – serves us right I guess. KJ was in great spirits after being able to open her eye – in fact the vomit did not even bother her a bit. So as I write this her swelling is continuing to get better. The next few days swelling will come and go, but should not get to the point where her eyes shut again.

KJ was also able to go #2… which was awesome. If you don’t know anything about hospital stays – pooping is a pretty big deal. So, we are happy as sh**!

If she continues to progress we may be able to go home tomorrow. We also realize that KJ was a lot more mobile and active today, which means that she is going to be a lot more sore tomorrow. So we will wait and see. Monday was our initial projection for going home, so that would be just fine too. We are just happy that she continues to progress. Just as KJ continues to progress we need your continued thoughts and prayer for no setbacks.

You have no idea how much we appreciate the support. This is most likely the last update for the day as we are all going to try to get some rest. We will begin a Day 04 update in the morning.

KJ’s Surgery: Day Two

07:30 AM
Good morning. KJ had a great night with the help of her friend Morphine. She was able to get some much needed rest. The swelling has gotten significantly worse (which is normal) and will probably continue to increase for the next 24 hours.

The plan this morning is to remove some of her “lines” to various things that she is hooked up to and just leave an IV line… they are also monitoring her red blood cell count to see if she may need a teeny bit more blood (which is also normal). KJ has a little bit of a cough which is making things a bit more difficult.

The plan for the day is to begin feeding her Pedialite and then on to formula. There will be some time to hold her today too and continue monitor her progress. We will make updates throughout the day, but not as many has yesterday.

10:00 AM
The medical team has decided to go ahead with another little blood transfusion. This will hopefully get her blood levels back to normal. This is normal after a surgery such as hers, but we want those numbers to come up by tonight. If the levels come up they will be able to remove to of her “lines” that are currently a hindrance when holding her – so we are hopeful that they will come off too.

They are going to take her off of fluids so that she can begin to eat by bottle, which is also great… we are hoping that she will be able to keep everything that she eats down.

It’s just waiting… lots of waiting at this point.

07:45 PM
KJ has had a great day today. Other than being in some pain she made a couple key strides.

Her main arterial lines (which carry blood products into her arteries) were disconnected. After her last little transfusion her red blood cell counts came back up.

The swelling at this point is very significant and is making her uncomfortable. She is doing good with pain management and the docs and nurses are amazing!

In the last 24 hours we’ve gone from KJ being intubated to having just one IV line left. If we can just get this swelling down that would be great.

This will be the last post for the night. Ang and I are going to get some rest at the Ronald McDonald House while our amazing team of family keep watch through the early morning.

More updates tomorrow.

KJ’s Surgery: Day One

05:30 AM
Arrival at Florida Hospital for Children, in Orlando, Florida.

07:45 AM
KJ went to the OR with her team of all-star docs, nurses, and anesthesiologists. It’s going to take a while to run IV lines and prep for the actual surgery.

09:30 AM
The medical team started KJ’s Cranial Vault Reconstruction surgery, the docs are predicting a 3-5 hour procedure.

10:42 AM
Dr. Steig, the Plastic Surgeon just came out to the waiting area to let us know that KJ is doing great. The procedure to this point is “very boring” up to this point. He said just the way you want it to be.

12:00 PM
The medical team updated us that everything is still going well. They still have a ways to go until we are able to be with her. So, that’s a little bit of a bummer.

02:00 PM
The medical team completed surgery. Mommy and Daddy met with Dr. Johnson and we were briefed on the surgery. The surgery (known as a Cranial Vault Reconstruction) was far more extensive that previously thought. Originally KJ was diagnosed with Sagittal Craniosynostosis – however, she actually had Sagittal and Metopic sutures that were both fused.

KJ lost a significant amount of blood (for a baby), but was transfused with blood from Mommy and Daddy. She only needed one additional unit.

03:00 PM
KJ was sent up to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), which is standard procedure for surgeries such as hers. A team (of about 20) docs and nurses were present to get her stable and comfortable in the PICU.

Due to the extensive nature of the surgery, KJ came to the PICU intubated (on a breathing ventilator). They did this to keep her comfortable and ensure that the transfused blood got her blood pressure back up. Which it did.

06:10 PM
The PICU medical team decided to go ahead and extubate (take the breathing tube out) KJ. They did this without a hitch and KJ did not make a peep. She transitioned back to breathing on her own with no issues at all.

07:00 PM
Dr. Johnson (neurosurgeon) and Dr. Steig (plastics) made rounds and checked KJ’s new head out. As we talked with the surgeons they informed us that they reconstructed her entire skull above the ear line. Her “new” head looks absolutely amazing… and we did not realize how bad her skull actually was prior to surgery.

KJ had some pressure on her brain that was significant. Dr. Johnson could actually see her brain “breathe” when room in her skull was made by the surgery. (Amazing!)

09:00 PM
KJ is doing tremendous and resting peacefully breathing on her own. The swelling (which is 100% normal) has begun to set in and will continue to get worse over the next 48 hours. This is not brain swelling, but rather the fluid being absorbed by soft tissue in the head. It is really weird to see.

10:00 PM
KJ is resting comfortably with a morphine drip. She will continue on that pain management plan throughout the evening. She should be able to rest for most of the night. We will work tomorrow on holding her a bit, maybe eating a bottle or two, and pain management. Her eyes will swell shut over the next day or two, so talking to her is going to be a priority.

Ang and I want to thank all of our family, friends, people we know, and people we don’t know for their thoughts and prayers. We have some ways to go and recovery will be slow… so continued support would be greatly appreciated.

Before (left) and After (right)

We will begin updates for Day Two tomorrow morning sometime (as Mommy and Daddy are hoping to get a little shut eye tonight).

Thank you again for your support!

– The Meechin Clan

To Kennedy

Kennedy,

This post is about your surgery which you had on January 16, 2014. You were diagnosed by Dr. Johnson with Sagittal Craniosysnostosis, which means that your teeny tiny head needed to be fixed to allow your (very smart) brain to grow.

I am writing this post sitting in the operating room waiting area at Florida Hospital for Children. You are currently in surgery and Mommy and Daddy want you to know a couple of things about this whole adventure.

This was one of the toughest things Mommy and Daddy have had to go through to make a decision to put you through surgery. I think it was harder on us than it was you. You are a rock and were amazing all the way up to surgery. Every single doctor and nurse commented on how pretty, how smiley, and how smart you are. You are one loved young girl. In fact, all around this country there are people praying for you; family, friends, and friends of friends that we don’t even know. Everyone has been praying for you, thinking of you, and wishing you a super speedy recovery.

Mommy, Daddy, and Jack are so proud of you for all that you have endured up to this point, and we love you so much. We are going to document your journey through this process, so that you can look back at it some day and be proud of all that you have overcome.

We love you.

love,
Mommy and Daddy

Four Months

Kennedy is four months old.

Summer Swimmin’

Kennedy and Jack,

This past summer (2013), one of your favorite activities was swimming at Aunt Kate’s pool. Jack, you are like a fish in the water… however, you were a little bit scared of jumping off the edge of the pool and into the water. You love throwing things into the pool and then having people get them for you. You were still swimming with your floatie vest and were beginning to be able to doggie paddle on your own.

KJ, summer of 2013 was your first time in the pool. You went in with Mommy and you didn’t make a peep. You really seemed to like it – which wasn’t a surprise to us because you have loved your bath since day one.

Here are some pics from our swimming sessions. We love you both… always.

love,
Mommy and Daddy

3 Months

Kennedy is three months old.