Olivia Dennis, Friday Update

on December 01, 2006 @ 03:39 AM

The doctor stopped in just now and gave us good news! WE GET TO LEAVE tonight! His exact words were,

“I’m sure you guys know this, but you are very, very fortunate. She’s passed MRI’s that show no brain damage, she’s passed her hearing tests, and overall she’s acting like a happy 3-month-old. She had ONE MONSTER of an infection when you brought her in and we were very scared in the beginning. She beat one heck of an infection.”

He also said that, although it sounds selfish, he’s really enjoyed getting to watch her grow. :-)

We’re going home!! We have a pile of paperwork, a stack of prescriptions, bags and bags of cards and toys, a wagon full of a month’s worth of crap, and A HAPPY HAPPY HEALTHY BABY!! Tonight is going to be a great night….

Thanks go out from the bottom of my heart for all the prayers. What an emotional rollercoaster ride we’ve all been on! We made it…she’s making it! We have more tests and appointments over the next few weeks, but it’s going to be so nice to be home. Thanks again everyone, and I’ll keep you all posted as she gets better and better! OH- and I attached a picture of her BUSTIN’ OUT OF THIS PLACE!!

Olivia Dennis, Thursday Morning Update

on December 01, 2006 @ 03:38 AM

Olivia had blood taken first thing this morning. They started her on a new medicine yesterday to help regulate sodium. The blood draw should from this morning should show if it's working. She had another spinal tap this morning, too. The doctor said that it went well-they got it on the first try. We should have results from that later this afternoon. As long as there's no infection in the spinal fluid, WE GET TO GO HOME TOMORROW!!! Her stinkin' IV popped out again just now. She only has 2 doses of antibiotic left...too bad it didn't stay in... It was in her ankle this time, wonder where they'll try to put it next :-( Olivia has a long road ahead of her. She has three medicines to go home with and she'll have to see the doctor a few times a week. I'm sure she'll be so happy to be home though! I'll send out an email as soon as we get results. Again, please forward this to others who want updates...thank you.

olivia dennis, Tuesday afternoon

on November 28, 2006 @ 06:26 PM

The doctor visited today and told us that they’re planning on sending us home THIS FRIDAY!!! :-) Olivia has blood-work today and tomorrow, a urine test tomorrow and another spinal tap Thursday. It’s going to be a busy week, but we see a very very bright light at the end of the tunnel!

The doctor, however, still does have a few concerns. First, her sodium and potassium levels are still a little off. He’s not sure why. The wrong levels of sodium in your body can cause seizures. Although he doesn’t think it will get this bad, he still thinks it’s something we need to watch. The other thing that worries him is her white blood cell count. To make things simple, he basically said that her white count is down TOO far now. If she were to come in contact with any more bacteria, she doesn’t have enough white blood cells to fight it off. If she starts running a fever, he doesn’t think she’d be able to break it. So, we need to keep an eye on her!

Overall, he thinks things are going well. He thinks the inconsistencies in her sodium, potassium, and white blood cells are mainly due to her heavy doses of antibiotics. He thinks her body will correct itself once she’s done with them. When we got home, we’ll have to take her for blood tests a few times a week to make sure…

Please pray that bad germs stay away from her during these last few, very important, days at the hospital!!

She’s waking up from a nap-I’ll post pics later tonight if I have time!

Olivia Dennis, Happy Thanksgiving!

on November 23, 2006 @ 11:49 PM

We’ve had a good day today… Olivia had quite a few visitors today… good thing she had her cute Thanksgiving outfit on!!

No new news today. Olivia got a new dressing on her PIC line this afternoon; she wasn’t too happy. Other than that, she was a smiley happy baby all day today. I think she was happy to be back in her blue jeans-they’re her favorite…just like her mom :-)

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

olivia dennis, wednesday morning

on November 22, 2006 @ 03:16 PM

We received good news last night… Olivia’s VCUG came back looking great! They didn’t see anything wrong with her entire urinary tract! GREAT GREAT NEWS!! They’ll still do some lab work on her today. The doctor stopped in this morning. He’s happy that there’s no visible problems in the urinary tract, but he’s still concerned with the low grade fever she has had the past 4 days. Because of the fever, her spitting up CONSTANTLY, and not wanted to eat as much, he’ll be looking for some type of belly infection in today’s lab work. Her white blood cell count is still a little elevated, but hopefully there won’t be any type of infection in there! We’ll find out Friday…

Olivia hung out on her boppy last night, playing with daddy. Then there is the pouty face she gives to her daddy when she wants something….”Daddy, I want a pony”, she said. :-)

We meet again with the case manager on Monday. If all is well, we’ll be going home next week!

Olivia Dennis, Monday afternoon

on November 20, 2006 @ 06:17 PM

After looking at last night’s blood work, the doctors determined that Olivia was having an allergic reaction to her antibiotic. Yesterday she continued spitting up, had red blotches all over her skin, and was still a little fussy. After switching her meds this morning, she seems to be doing a little better. She’s still spitting up today, and is pretty fussy, but there isn’t a skin irritation and she’s eating better.

Our doctor decided that rather than waiting for the Ann Arbor doc to do the VCUG, he’s going to have that ordered today, so hopefully we’ll be able to get that done within the next few days.

Along with last night’s blood work, they started a blood culture to make sure there isn’t any bacteria in the blood again. The cultures are checked at 24, 36, and 48 hours. We should have the first results later this evening.

I’ve posted a few pictures from this past weekend, when she was feeling well. She giggled and laughed at mom’s goofy faces while hanging out in her swing on Friday morning. There’s also a picture of her getting geared up for the BIG game on Saturday… she was HIGHLY disappointed in the outcome, just like her grandpa Dave.

olivia dennis, sunday evening

on November 19, 2006 @ 10:59 PM

I’ve been hesitant to post an update the past few days…. Olivia hasn’t been feeling well. Yesterday evening she was very unhappy and irritable for some reason. She had a little tiny bit of a fever and didn’t want to eat much. She had some tylenol and I gave her a warm bath to try to calm her down. Matt and I can’t put our finger on exactly what’s wrong, but we both agree that she just isn’t acting like herself; something is a little off. She didn’t sleep much last night, so she slept until 11 this morning!

Today she’s been spitting up most of the food she’s had and we’re still having a hard time getting her to eat. She’s had blood drawn twice today, and they’re thinking of MAYBE another MRI within the next couple of days to make sure nothing is on the brain that wasn’t there before.

I just got word that her white blood cells are slightly back up again, we’ll find out exactly what that means tomorrow morning when the doctor is back in. We had hopes of being home for Thanksgiving; we’ll have to see what the next few days brings. Please keep praying for our little sweet girl-she’s come so far, but we’re not there yet…

I’ll post some pictures from the weekend tomorrow when I have more time.

Olivia Dennis, Thursday afternoon

on November 16, 2006 @ 05:40 PM

Nothing much going on today. After yesterday’s news we’re all so happy and we’re feeling a little more relaxed. We still have a few more tests to get through, but the good news yesterday lifted our spirits.

This morning Olivia had a nice warm bath-she loved it. She loved it so much that she decided to poop all over herself as soon as she got out so we had to wipe her down all over again!

She’s been so smiley and alert this morning. We practiced sitting up some more, and we practiced standing up tall. She’s getting so big in here!! After all that working out, she relaxed with dad and ended up falling asleep just like her daddy! It was cute.

We’ll spend the rest of the week relaxing, getting plenty of rest, and watching Olivia get better and better.

Thank God for such wonderful miracles!

Olivia Dennis, Wednesday afternoon

on November 15, 2006 @ 09:48 PM

Aunt Lexi came to visit last night! Olivia loves hanging out with her Aunts!

Olivia had her ultrasound done this morning. It went well; she was very smiley and cooperative. The doctor just came in to let me know that EVERYTHING LOOKS GREAT! The original problem (some kind of kink or pinch in the ureter) that caused the infection isn’t even showing up on the ultrasound anymore!! The kidney is back to it’s original size and there is no inflammation anymore. YAY!!

Although this is VERY VERY exciting, the ultrasound will still be sent to the doc in Ann Arbor to look at. Our next step is to do a VCUG (I forget what this stands for). This test will show the urine flow in her kidneys, bladder, and everywhere else it goes. They’re just doing this to make sure there aren’t any other problems that the ultrasound would miss.

I’m so happy that not only is the infection gone, but the original defect in her kidney seems to have corrected itself!! Our little miracle baby!!

Olivia was SO happy to get such good news!!

Olivia Dennis, Tuesday evening...

on November 14, 2006 @ 11:11 PM

Another slow day here. Olivia practiced sitting up for a while, and we read her book again but, most importantly, Olivia is getting all kinds of rest. The doc stopped in this morning to let us know that she’ll have another ultrasound of her kidney tomorrow morning. This ultrasound will be sent to the specialist in Ann Arbor. He’ll use this to determine if we can wait to see him until he comes back to Kalamazoo (Bronson Hospital) or if we need to be seen right away in Ann Arbor. He will be back in Kzoo the first week of December. Our doctor told us that we should have that situated by the end of the week.

Olivia is in the treatment room right now, getting a new dressing put on her PIC line again. All the hair she has makes it hard for the tape and glue to stick. It’s no fun for her, but I’m sure a new dressing feels so much better when it’s done.

We know for sure that we’ll be here at least through the week. Next Monday we will meet with our case manager to discuss taking Olivia home with the IV and having a nurse visit the condo.

Olivia Dennis, Monday afternoon update... posted by mom

on November 13, 2006 @ 07:30 PM

Things have been slow so far today… Olivia slept in late (until 9) just as a princess should. Her and dad read a book together last night-she was so interested in the pictures! She was smiling and laughing while she was awake earlier today.

For 10 days now, Olivia has been on 2 antibiotics. The doc explained them to me like this…

“One is the ‘killer’ and the other ‘intensifies’ the ‘killing’ of the bacteria. Unfortunately, the ‘intensifier’ has many bad side effects because it’s so strong. Now that we truly have the bacterial infection under control, we can get rid of this antibiotic.”

Yay… we REALLY are on our way!! It was good to hear. Today is day 10 of the 28 days she’ll need to have her IV, so we still have a while, but it’s so nice to see more progress!!

Thanks to everyone for the all the love and prayers… she’s such a fighter!

Olivia Dennis, Sunday Noon Update ...posted by mom

on November 12, 2006 @ 11:08 AM

Since Olivia’s sodium and potassium levels are a little off, the doc’s decided to limit how much she eats during the day. They cut her intake quite a bit; she’s allowed less than half of what she normally eats. As you can imagine, she’s not happy. She’s been screaming most of the time she’s awake-she kept Matt up really late last night. The doctors decided to do some blood work to check on her potassium and sodium levels today, rather than tomorrow because she’s so unhappy.. we are waiting for the results on that. Hopefully, her levels have worked themselves out and we won’t have to restrict her eating again today. Over the past three days, Olivia has been awake only a few hours. She’s been through so much and we think it’s all catching up with her. She’s so tired and she needs so much rest so she can keep getting better. Toward the end of next week, Matt & I will decide with the doc’s where Olivia will get the rest of her treatment. Maybe the last two weeks or so of antibiotics will be done at home, by a nurse who visits the condo. This isn’t anything we have to decide right now, just another thing we’re talking about with doc’s…

Bath Time

Olivia Dennis, Friday Night Update

on November 11, 2006 @ 05:28 AM

Today was a really busy day for little Olivia. She had two blood draws which showed that the sodium level has elevated. The doctor says that this is a reaction to the bacterial meningitis which causes her to retain fluid. We are waiting for the doctor to determine whether her food in-take and IV fluid would need to be reduced.

Olivia got a new dressing on her PIC line today which was extremely painful, time consuming and exhausting, but Olivia and Mom toughed it out together! (see pictures below) Olivia is also waiting on an appointment with a doctor from the DeVos Children’s Hospital or the University of Michigan to determine the next steps for her kidney infection.

Besides the doctors and nurses Olivia spent most of today smiling and chatting with Mom today.

Changes To The Web Site

The black and gray colors weren’t really fitting to a cute little girl like Olivia, so in an effort for the web site to be more fitting to Olivia’s tastes we’re going to be changing the color themes and adding some more fitting imagery.

Olivia Dennis, Thursday Evening Update

on November 10, 2006 @ 04:12 AM

This posting is directly from an email I received from Adrienne today…

“Final word on hearing test is in! Not only can she hear, she can hear great! I guess she was just ignoring us. More blood was taken this morning, they’re doing blood work daily. Doc is still trying to get in touch with U of M doctor. We brought Olivia’s swing and her boppy up here. She’s finally feeing well enough for us to put her down. She takes naps in her swing and watches TV on her boppy. We used to take her for walks around the floor to see the paintings on the wall, but she’s confined to the room now… bummer. She’s happy today and she just drank 8 oz at once!! She’s eating better! She also wanted me to tell everyone thanks for all her new toys, cards, and their prayers!! Talk later! xo“

More Pictures

Here is a link to Adrienne’s yahoo photo album for Olivia: http://new.photos.yahoo.com/ayjay3636/album/576460762335295823

Olivia Dennis, Wednesday Noon Update

on November 08, 2006 @ 04:30 PM

Adrienne and Matt are still waiting to get the results from the Olivia’s last hearing test. The doctor stopped in today, and Olivia’s white blood cell count is down from yesterday, but the doctor still believes the infection to be active. They plan to monitor throughout the rest of the week and go from there.