Hi everyone, it has been a long time since I have updated the blog, I am so sorry but I am back to work and I have had no spare time. I am working back at the Carlos Otis Clinic up at Stratton as well as driving to Boston every Friday with Bridge. We have been going to Albany on Mondays and Boston on Fridays. Bridge has been doing remarkably well. Bridgette gets her blood drawn and urine checked at these appointments and what use to be a nightmare and huge anxiety for Bridgette is now becoming common. The medications which she needs to take for the rest of her life are getting easier also. She takes about 9 pills in the morning and 5 at night. We check her weight, blood pressure, heart rate and temp every morning at the same time. If she gains or losses 2 pounds in a 24 hour period then we have to call Boston. Boston also lets us know if after the her check if she needs her medications adjusted. It is a detailed process that is becoming just part of our everyday life now. Bridgette still can't go back to school yet, so she is having tutoring T/W/Th at home. It is a love hate relationship with this, she loves learning but hates being away from her friends, hopefully come the end of April she will be able to go back. I hopefully will also be able to return to work at the hospital in April, I miss all you guys!!! Thank you to everyone who helped raise money for Bridge at the hospital. That was huge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Matthew is playing basketball this winter and loving it. He is also back to skiing and snowboarding. I cringe every time he is out due to the fact that he loves the terraine parks, especially the rales. I remind him every time he is out, that I don't want to see him as a patient in the clinic, he just laughs. My mom has been helping out tons this winter with Bridgette so Mark and I can both work. We can't just leave Bridge like we use to anymore. We can't say going to the grocery store be back in an hour. Someone needs to be with her now, just in case, but hopefully that will also change come April. Hope everyone is having a good new year!! Thanks again for the continued love and support, it means so much to all of us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI8r0AXSHe0

Hi everybody,Bridgette's best friend made a song for Bridgette, I would love everyone to check it out on you tube. It's the first thing that comes up if you search Bridgettes Song.

Hi everyone, hope you all had a great Christmas!! We finally got home around 4pm on Monday. Since we have been home it has been just like the hospital, a roller coaster everyday. Bridge is good one minute and then the next she is throwing up or with shaking chills and in much more pain it seems like then when she was in the hospital. We went back to Boston on Christmas eve morning. We got there at 8:45 and were completely done with our appointment by 10am. Bridgette's lab work is much better, meaning her renal #'s that deal with the kidney are finally almost normal. The problem still is with getting the right dosing of anti-rejection medication. She is often sick to her stomach and has this all over body tremor like she is cold, but it is the medication. The doctors told us that this was unfortunately one of the side effects. Bridge is also still carrying the extra water weight that is slowly coming off, but she is about 6 pounds over her dry weight. Bridgette's blood pressure is also rising very high, so now she has to take her blood pressure medicine 2x a day. Matthew has been sick, so he has been wearing a mask in the house and I have been making him wash his hands every second, Bridgette has picked up a touch of his cold even though we have been religious with cleaning surfaces and staying away. I have to go back to work on Mon. and Wed. this week. We have blood work again on Monday and Thursday,so Mark will take her on Monday and we will all go to Boston on Thursday. We are glad to be home but still haven't gotten into a normal routine yet, can't wait to the normalcy returns. Christmas eve night was hard, Bridge was up from 1am on, she was so sick. Christmas day though was quiet and nice. We didn't go home because we were all to tired, we made a turkey and relaxed on the cough, the next day, Saturday was again very difficult for Bridge. I had to call Boston due to Bridgette vomiting and high blood pressure, Sunday though is all good, so far that is. Hope everyone enjoyed Christmas day with family and friends, have a great New Year!!! Will update the blog soon. XO Megan

So far so good today, the antibiotics seemed to have finally kicked in. We have had a shower, took nausea medicine to keep medications down. We have walked 5 laps already around the unit and ate a small amount of breakfast. Bridge has also been voiding(pee) and having normal bm's, if she keeps this up, they will let us go tomorrow. We are all very excited!! We checked out of the hotel this morning and both will sleep in her room tonight. We are looking at about 10" of snow here in Boston with a nice view from the 10th floor, but I have to say that snow is so much nicer in Vermont. Tomorrow morning they will give her the last dose of IV antibiotics, draw blood from her central line, give her the morning medications and then remove the central line. I believe once that is done we can finally leave. Like I said earlier though, we will have to be back here at 9am on Christmas eve morning. Thank you to everyone for all the prayers and support you having been giving our family, we really couldn't have done this without everyone of you.

Well back on the roller coaster ride, the infection has spread. It is now on the other side of her groin area and down her left leg. Bridge also has no appetite again, they think she is backed up even though she has had a couple of loose stool. Bridge has thrown up x2 already this morning. They told us definitely not until Monday or Tuesday would we be able to go home. They want to make sure the infection doesn't continue to spread, so they need to keep her on iv antibiotics and if she can not keep anything down then this will be a big problem.( all her anti-rejection medications are by mouth, not iv). Bridgette also still has a lot of fluid on board her body. She is about 6-7 pounds over her dry weight. Her legs look like the Michelin baby. The key is walking. We walked 13 laps around the nurse's station yesterday and plan to do the same today. They also are still pushing the fluids on Bridgette even though she is 3rd spacing with all the other fluid. They won't send her home until she can drink a minimum of 1.5L. The goal is 2L but they will be ok with the 1.5L. They state that the kidney is still asleep and that it needs to stay hydrated, eventually when the kidney is working 100% it will start emptying the water from her body. If we get released Mon or Tue we have to be back here Christmas eve at 9am for our clinic day. They usually are held on Tue/Fri, but due to the holiday, it has been moved. Did I say that Boston is now becoming my least favorite city. We are supposed to get a huge storm today, I'm kind of excited since there is no snow here, but I really wish we were in the comforts of our home watching it from there instead. Hope everyone is doing well. To my clinic girls, I'm sorry I'm not there. I promise next year I will work everyday, every holiday, you name it. Patty hope you are doing ok, I'm thinking of ya. Love to all, Megan

Bridge finally had her surgery yesterday around 5 pm. They were supposed to bring her down at 1pm for surgery at 2 but they were running late, so we didn't get back to our room until around 7:30pm last night. They removed her dialysis catheter as well as her JP drain and took down her bandage over her incision. I have been telling them for 3 days that I thought she had an infection right below her incision. It is warm and pink and shows some streaking into her groin as well as the top of her right leg they have basically looked at it but never did anything, finally I was like, could you please when you are in surgery with her, take a better look. They came back with telling me that she has cellulitis in that area and will need to be on an antibiotic for 5 days. ( the best part is that most people who develop cellulitis get it in the leg and are immunosupressed, just like miss Bridge, so I have no idea why they wouldn't listen to me), mother knows best. 1 step forward and 2 steps back. This morning Bridge woke up and has a small appetite. She ate 1 roll and has asked for more to drink. If she meets her required intact and continues to void and have a BM then they might release her this weekend. We can not wait to get out of here!!!

Like I said the other day, it is a roller coaster ride. We will not be coming home yet. Bridge has been vomiting since she ate for the last 2 days. They thought possibly the medication could be making her constipated, so they have been giving her medicine to help move things along. She had her catheter out yesterday and we have put her on a toileting schedule as well as a walking schedule to wake things up. Bridge is voiding ok at this point, but now again has gain 6 pounds in 1 day. She had a test called a KUB today to look to see if she has a bowel obstruction or if she has an ileus again like the last surgery. If so, they might have to slip another nasal gastric tube down her nostril into her stomach to decompress all the junk. Let's hope that this is not the case. She goes to the OR today at 2pm to take out her JP drain as well as her dialysis catheter. Unfortunately with this procedure, they have to put her under. Bridge has had a runny nose for days, so now they think that she has caught some type of infection and or cold. We sent nasal sample down to the lab and are awaiting results. Bridge is back on contact precautions as well as airborne precautions. They state that since they have wiped out her immune system it is a delicate balance keeping her from catching something. That is why she will be out of school and why they tell us not to have anyone who has a sore throat, slight cough, etc. to be around Bridge. So I have no idea when we will be home, the team said either if she changes dramatically in the next day or 2 maybe Sunday, but most likely the being of next week. Oh my god, I have to Christmas shop in like 2 days. Will update later today about the OR gig and how that went. Bridgette usually tells me about 20 times a day without exaggeration that she loves me, and since the surgery she hasn't, but today she has told me about 5 times so far, so I know she is getting better. That is the best present I could ever get!!!!!!!!!!!!!