The Blessed Home

Well, I was going to start this post out with how awful life has been in the Klutzke household these past few weeks. Yes, they haven't been pleasant, but after receiving heart-wrenching news of a friend who lost her daughter on her own birthday, my pity party vanished.  The Klutzke household is blessed. Thats how I'm going to start my post.  Doug and I were sitting in bed last night discussing the past few days and how exhausting they had been and it occurred to us that we're doing this. We are making it through. Not on our own of course. With the strength of God, family, and friends, we are continuing to function as a healthy family unit.  Healthy in the sense of function, not health. lol So I am going to use this post to thank you all for the continued prayers, support, food, visits, and just being there. I know our families wish they were closer and we wish the same, but I think we all know that through God all things are possible and even though there is distance physically, the support and help is always there.  

Now for the health reports,lol. Nicholas had is last follow up today and his temperature was back in normal range!  To catch some of you up, we had scheduled Nicholas for his 9 month check up on the 8th. That morning he spiked a temp of 103 and the visit turned into a bunch of tests and a chest x-ray.  Mind you while this is all going on I am laying at home in bed smack in the middle of my liver detox.  Doug was having to do this all on his own and I'm freaking out because as a mother, second hand information is never good enough.  Nicholas's chest x-ray came back with a very small detection of pneumonia.  So they gave him antibiotics there in the office and was to go back in the next day for follow up.  Well unfortunately the temp had only gone down a little so he was prescribed antibiotics for home. So between the meds, lots of rest, and steamy showers with daddy it was all we could do to keep our little man comfortable. Again, let me remind you, Doug was doing most of this, I was pretty much out of commission which was driving me insane.  So I decided to stop my treatment early. I know many of you are tsk tsking me, but I couldn't stay in bed any more. I would have been on the treatment till Monday and not have been even feeling like myself till Tuesday. So heres Monday and we are happy to report Nicholas is eating again, playing again, getting into everything again, and his temp is back to normal. He still has the raspy breathing and a lot of snot but thats just part of it.  

Brayden is enjoying preschool. He is learning new letters everyday and always doing something with colors and numbers. He leaves home willing to go at 6 am and comes home happy, so that says something. There is this system at the daycare they call the Kiddie Cam and I can be at home see what hes doing in is room or on the playground or even in the lunch room.  Well this thing came in handy the other day because I was sitting there watching the camera and this kid, "we'll call him Bob" came up behind Brayden and started slamming Brayden into the table and climbing up on his back and pushing him down. Brayden is very passive, he got him off him but that was it and unfortunately the teacher missed it all. Well mama bear didn't!  Doug was picking B up that day so I told him to relay to the teacher what I saw and to have "Bob" removed from that table and to be watched a little more closely. "Bob" no longer sits next to Brayden but the poor kid that does hopefully has a mama bear watching the camera as well. Ahh I love technology! Brayden LOVED Halloween this year!  He was a dinosaur seeing as that is his new thing.  His 3rd birthday party was themed dinos as well.  He was so excited to go door to door and then when people came to our house he'd storm across the room with his Dino tail waggling behind yelling, "I'll get it, Trick or Treat!"

So in closing I am determined to be healthy once more and I know harping on it won't heal me but praying on it will. Doug continues to be the most amazing man I know and I thank the Lord and his family for raising and creating such a strong human being. The Klutzke's are good! My family is together every night, smiling, laughing, and in a sense, as healthy as can be. We are a blessed family and I thank God for the good and the bad because the good is great and fun and the bad makes us stronger and appreciate the good that much more. So I pray for those out there that aren't in the good right now and hope they can see through that bad and find the JOY life has to offer.

P.S. Enjoy some pics from the GOOD in our lives!

When it rains it pours! The last 8 months...

So writing out everything that has happened in the Klutzke household these past eight months would take...well 8 months sooo heres the breakdown:

February:

Had Nicholas, brought home and recovered wonderfully!

 

March-August:

Families came to visit, settling nicely into new home, houses going up around us in the neighborhood. Doug continues to be busy at work. We even make a trip to Indiana in July to see everyone for the Klutzke/Wildman reunion. Celebrated Doug and my birthdays and continue to get closer to the 30s. Dun Dun Dunnnn.

August:

Everything begins to go downhill from here...prepare yourselves, it gets bumpy. I took the boys to the pool one afternoon. I was walking around in the pool holding Nicholas, and Brayden was jumping in and out around me. One jump alarmed my mommy instinct so I turned suddenly to push Brayden outwards mid-jump so he didn't hit his head. POP-CRACK AND ZING. My back goes out.  I literally went numb holding on to my six month old in the pool. Took me a half hour to get out of the pool, shuffle my way to the strollers and pool items, and then call Doug.  Doug took me to the ER from there where they told me I had strained my lower back muscle. So okay, I took their word for it. Well a week goes by and I decide to go see an ortho doc. Whelp, he comes in with a very perplexed look on his face and asks "How in the world have you been walking for a week?" "What do you mean, I ask?" he puts up the x-ray and tells me that I have literally broken my back. My L4 and 5 completely slipped and broke away from one another. These are the lower and much bigger lumbar in your back.  Made since to me but when you have to be a mom to two kids you really just can't sit around.  So bed rest it was and enrolling the kids into daycare was the next step. As a stay-at-home mother, this was one of the hardest and most unnatural things to do, but when told by family and docs to do this, what could I do?

September:

Wake up one morning not feeling the best, figure it’s the back medicine or flu.  Then I begin to throw up blood.  Doug takes me to my primary who tells me to go immediately to the hospital. There they admit me and find that my blood count is one away from transfusion and my liver enzymes are sky high! So after a week in the hospital with multiple tests done, all the specialists are still perplexed about what is going on. Right after discharge I do a follow-up ultrasound. Ding Ding Ding, the problem is found. 5 years ago I got my gallbladder removed which had been chalk full of stones. Apparently one had been missed and got lodged in the duct in my liver. Over these 5 years that stone had caused my liver to corrode and not release toxins like it should have.  There was obvious damage done to the liver.  Now we just needed to figure out how much and how to treat.  All while this is going on my amazing husband, family and friends are supporting me and lifting me up.  I will never believe it when someone says they can be sick alone.  I don't know what I would have done without Doug being my rock day and night and my children being that light of hope for me.  End of September the doctor’s find that 14-16% of my liver had been damaged. I was going to have to go through a pretty heavy medicinal treatment to excrete the remaining toxins in my liver that it could no longer flush out on its own.

October:

I begin the treatment on the evening of Brayden's 3rd Bday! I was determined to be able to celebrate and eat some cake with my birthday boy.  I will be utterly frank when I say the treatment to detox your own liver is pure hell. I prayed every minute and that is what I feel kept me going. God's strength and knowing that doing this was what was going to get my boys/husband their mommy/wife back.  There was no keeping anything down.  Sleep was becoming an all-day thing because I was too weak to do anything else. By Wednesday I began to see the end of the tunnel.  The meds were doing what they were supposed to do and my body was getting used to the side effects.  Friday my parents and sister came down to help with both me and Brayden's 3rd Bday party that I had planned prior to the meds and continued to use as a goal of when to be well by.  Luckily by Sunday I was feeling social and celebratory.  By Sunday night and Monday not so much anymore.  After finishing with the treatment for my liver, there was still another boo boo I hadn't fixed yet. Yep, my back. They scheduled me for an epidural that Monday after my treatment was finished.  Let me just say I really hope this epidural thing works out because I was under the impression (and so was my insurance) that I was going to have one surgical site for the broken lumbar. What was I thinking; I mean I'm never that easy. ;) So four sites it was, and yes I was awake through the whole thing and when they say a little pressure...um yeah right.  So now we are in the middle of October and I have just gotten my first blood test back from the liver treatment. Good news is my enzymes are lower than they were but still not in normal range. I have draws every week for a month and then we reassess to see if I have to do the detox treatment again. 

Now?

So what does all this mean for me and my lifestyle now?  First of all livers are the one organ that can rejuvenate, so I am expected (and will, because I am that determined) to make a full recovery.  There are some life changers though. I can't drink alcohol anymore (not that I did much to begin with), no smoking, (well duh), and the one that I am finding to be the hardest is no more over the counter medications that will impact my liver process. Let me tell you that list ain't short. Actually I can't really find one I can take. So if I have a headache or migraine its home remedies like dark rooms, tea, quite...oh wait I have two boys, yeah right. J So I guess that’s my big life changer there. I do have to wear a med ID bracelet now but I spruced that up already. :)  So now next on my list of grand medical adventures is a colonoscopy on the 24th. Trust me you don't want the details but I'll tell you when it rains for me it pours, especially when you deal with the liver. One of the many tests they had done on me was called an Empty Gastric Study. This is where I go in fasting, eat radioactive eggs (yep I'm a super heroine now) and then get scanned.  Because of the liver corrosion and bile back-up my stomach had stopped emptying properly, so this is our next organ or organs to tackle. They are also going to check my intestines for any sign of damage because of certain symptoms I have been having lately, again I'll spare you the details.  So yeah I really don't want to be interesting anymore. I would never wish this on anyone in the world and I know I am strong enough to take it, but I am ready to get back to being boring. I know....yeah right. :)

 

 

 

 

 

Baby Drama for Mama

What a whirlwind this past week has been! Or maybe I should say this past month! The Klutzke family has had some crazy moments starting with Monica (Doug's sister) being admitted to the hospital last Friday the 27th of January for blood clots. She was to be in the hospital for at least a week for treatment and observation. Ken (Doug's father) flew down here the following Monday the 30th of January to come help Doug and I with Brayden before Nicholas arrived. Tuesday the 31st I started feeling shortness of breath and chest pains so the doctor had me come into the office. They took my blood pressure and it was pretty high so they sent me over to the hospital. It was a good thing Ken was already here because we sure were utilizing his help. After about 5 hours of observation they sent me home with some medicine and instruction. I was considered full term so going into labor was a possibility at anytime. The next morning I was feeling worse and so back to the hospital we went. They hooked me up to an IV because I was very dehydrated and not keeping anything down. I was checked by the doctor the following day and was told everything checked out and that there was no sign of Nicholas coming anytime soon. Relieved that all was well with baby and I, Doug and I headed home.

That evening around 9pm I started having mild contractions on and off. We went to bed around midnight still having contractions. Around 3 am I woke up with more intense contractions. After trying to calm them down with a shower we decided to continue counting the contractions. At 6am I was 2-3 min apart in contractions. We paged the doctor and hit the road. When we got to the hospital the nurse checked me and told me I was not dilated but having consistent contractions. Apparently it was a crazy morning for babies because I was kind of put on the back burner. About 45 min later I was in excruciating pain. Doug called the nurse in and when they re-checked me I was 5-6 cm with my water bag bulging. After that chaos broke out and within 10 minutes I was in the OR preparing to meet Nicholas for the first time! At 8:56 am Nicholas Conner was born. He weighed 7lbs 8 oz and is 19 1/2 in long. Because of the c-section and all the fluid I had it was protocol for them to take him to NICU for observation. They were so busy and very thorough that I didn't get to see Nicholas until that evening. He was never put on monitors or admitted but apparently that's just how they handle things there. Needless to say I was out of my mind with impatience and worry so when I finally got him I was not giving him back. lol There was no need to of course since he was perfect and okay'd by all the doctors. Rosann(Doug's mom) flew in Saturday afternoon and was able to meet Nicholas with Ken and Brayden for the first time.

Recovery was hard but went very well and Nicholas and I were released Sunday afternoon. Monica had been released friday from the hospital and everything was finally on the up and up with everything! We are home now and doing great! Brayden loves being a big brother and his face lights up when Nicholas is around. Hope everyone enjoys the new addition to my blog as well as my family!