natalie-update.org

It’s been a while since we have updated Natalie’s blog.  We have been extremely busy with litigation and  life.  We are happy to say that we settled the law suit and so that chapter of our book is closed.  Natalie is doing well.  We had a busy summer.  We went to Disney and stayed at [...]

Well it has been a while since we have updated Natalie’s site.  We have been busy!!  Natalie is in third grade and loves school.  We had a rough start to the school year.   She continually came down with pneumonia.  She also had multiple ear infections.  We had a few months were she would cry during [...]

This year has gone by so quickly!  Natalie has had a pretty rough time this year so far.  She has pneumonia, again, as I write this.  She just can’t seem to get over it.  We have tried antibiotics, machines to help her cough and lots of other stuff.  Natalie has been smiling a lot through all of it, but she seems to sleep a lot also.

Natalie is doing well with school and still loves going.  When we ask her if she is ready to go to school in the mornings, she just smiles and laughs at us.  Sometimes she comes off the bus completely worn out and asleep.

We are preparing for a busy summer of family events and time together, so we are hoping that the warmer weather will help

Well, we were able to come home on Monday afternoon late from Children’s Hospital ICU.  Natalie has pneumonia again, but this time they think that she became hypoxic from it overnight causing her to not want to wake up and start this whole scare.

Natalie is doing ok so far at home, but she is on oxygen and we are keeping an eye on her vitals, mostly her oxygen saturation readings.  She is coughing a lot and clearing her lungs some, but it seems like it takes forever for her to get feeling better.

We would like to thank everyone for their prayers and emails of support for us, not only through this site, but my (elliott’s) other sites as well.  The blogging community is great!

Natalie is sleeping a lot now, but

Well, it has been awhile since I posted an update.  Almost 3 months.  It was because ”life was good” and Natalie was doing really well.

However, as things can change on a moments notice with a special needs child, today things changed.

Natalie came home from school asleep yesterday (Friday) and we didn’t think much of it as sometimes it wears her out and she is just wiped out and tired.  But this morning, she wouldn’t wake up.  And of course, I was out of town at a Fire Department conference to make matters a little more stressful.  All I can say is I am glad that there were no police running radar and my car held together to get home!

Natalie was unresponsive this morning (Saturday) and after checking with the doctors

Natalie has really been enjoying going to school lately. She has been doing really well and paying attention (in between the laughs we are told) to what is going on in class with her friends. She has also been sneaking some naps in at school lately too.

If you weren’t aware, Natalie had another Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) done in late September. Yeah, if you can say that in one breath without choking, you’re better than we are! Basically, it is a scope of her pancreas. What they were looking for with Natalie was the cause of her pancreatitis attacks. Since she has been healthy lately, they wanted to do another scope and see what might have found as the cause. The only thing

Well, time sure flies when your having fun!

Natalie had a great summer, one without illnesses and without hospitalizations, so all was good. Since our last update, Natalie has done really well in therapies and in summer school. We spent the summer mostly indoors as the weather was so hot that it would have been rough on her to go outside for long periods of time. Natalie has a tough time with temperature extremes, so the excessive heat of the summer would have made it even rougher on her.

Well, where to start. We are now in Children’s Hospital again, with pancreatitis again, and have been since Sunday night. Natalie began throwing up on Sunday morning at home, and after keeping a close eye on her, we brought her into Children’s, but that’s not where the story ends.

Life since Christmas has been pretty good for Natalie! She has really enjoyed going back to school since Christmas break and her illnesses. She continued to make progress with her friends and enjoy being around them (plus coming home worn out!).

We are now in Children’s Hospital again, but this time it was planned. Natalie had several procedures done to check for the source of her pancreatitis attacks, her pnuemonia, and to get her tonsils and adenoids removed. She is such a trooper! She is doing well, as we are in the hospital room as I am typing this. She is resting comfortably and we look forward to going home in the morning.

So, we survived Christmas, and New Years. It has been a tough couple of months around the house, with illnesses and other issues that have kept this update from occurring before now.

We entered into the Christmas break for Natalie with hopes of wellness and presents for all. However, the pneumonia bug got a hold of Natalie and ruined those plans. We visited the ER a few times, with one overnight stay, and ended up coming home with an oxygen machine. So, as we were busy taking care of Natalie to make sure she was getting better, Tricia started experiencing leg pain.