Hallie's surgery-- in pictures

Hallie is doing really well. They started allowing her clear liquids on Friday-- sprite, water, popsicles. Then we graduated to yogurt, milk, pudding, and ice cream by the afternoon. Saturday, while I was at my grandpa's funeral, they let her have chicken nuggets and macaroni, but her system didn't tolerate that very well. She was in a ton of pain all Saturday night, so I pulled her back and went back to the soft diet. She wouldn't eat hardly anything at all yesterday. We played around with her pain meds and today has been an incredible day for her. She is off all iv's, although they will keep her picc line in until she is discharged. She is loving her new found freedom. She is supposed to be up and walking 4 times a day and yesterday I barely got in 3 times, but I think she's been on about 25 walks today. She is eating everything in sight. I taught her how to get out of bed without pulling on her belly and she is getting in and out of bed by herself. I think she might be having a reaction to the Lortab she is on (it makes me wired) but I figure as long as she isn't itching and we are making this kind of progress, I'm going to leave her on it, although I did tell my mom to not let her have the dose right before bed or they won't get any sleep tonight! Her lungs are finally clearing up and she is not coughing nearly as much. As long as she does well through the night, they are going to release her in the morning. Then we will have a few days to rest up and adjust before we fly out on Thursday.

We are very anxious to be back together as a family. Little did I know when I was packing my 2 pair of pants, 5 shirts, and 1 dress that I would be gone for 5 weeks, with 2 funerals, about 10 doctors visits, a surgery and 9 days in the hospital! Luckily, my little sister has let me raid her closet frequently! Derrick flew back with Carson and got him back in school today (he's been off track). While Derrick was here, we saw each other in passing, trading off kids as we swapped places at the hospital. I am very anxious for us all to be back together, under the same roof. It's been a LONG 5 weeks!

Hallie's intestines are working well, but missing 7 more inches is really effecting her. It is going to bring quite a bit more challenge into our lives, trying to get enough calories into her so that she can get the nutrients she needs and I think I may as well give up on potty training. We are not going any where that doesn't have a bathroom about 2 feet away from us for quite some time! Hopefully, as her intestines adjust more, we will have fewer bowel movements, but right now 8-9 a day is common. I will take her in to the new pediatric GI doc in Reno next week and hopefully he will be able to help me figure out what I can do to help her get the nutrients she needs with so little bowel!

All in all, we are doing well. It is nice to have hope that we will be able to start putting our lives back together again soon. To be able to spend a quiet evening with Derrick and all 3 of my kids, sounds like heaven. We take it so much for granted those quiet moments, even with the kids fighting. Those are the things that I am looking forward to. We have been incredibly blessed throughout all of this. Our family and friends, in Reno, and Salt Lake, as well as those sending their thoughts and prayers our direction from other locations have been incredible. Thank you to all who have helped with Carson and Tucker, even Hallie when I could not be with her, especially while I took Tucker to the doctor and while I was at the viewing and funeral! All of the packages full of fun things to keep Hallie occupied have been lifesavers! What a challenge to keep her occupied in the hospital for that long! I am reminded of what I learned when Hallie first had all of her health problems-- the Lord does not give you trials without sending blessings to help you through. We have been incredibly blessed and are so grateful for all of the small simple things that have gotten us to this point!

Hallie with my cousins and aunt-- they brought my grandma up to the hospital yesterday and she had a party with all 7 of them to entertain her! Mom is a little boring after a week in the hospital!

Hallie eating "real" food for the first time-- what could be better-- chocolate pudding and milk!

Hallie and her purple popsicle tongue. Eating is such a good thing!

Hallie and Grammy-- my mom has spent as much time as possible at the hospital with her-- working around the death of her father and the subsequent viewing and funeral. Thanks mom! I couldn't have done it without you!

Hallie and I at the end of one of her walks-- she was so shaky that I had to carry her back the rest of the way!

Hallie with my cousin Amy and her little girl Kambree-- they brought lots of goodies and fun things for her-- even though Hallie was extremely ornery to them!

Hallie in her wagon. I put her in it to take her up to see my mom in a meeting-- she wouldn't get out of it the rest of the day-- she took naps in it and everything! I think she liked the sense of freedom without having to move her sore little body!

Hallie painting a few days after surgery. The staff at the hospital is great! Whatever Hallie asked for, they brought to her, since she was allowed in the playroom because of her influenza. Today they even brought in a Barbie and a coloring book that took up her whole bed when she opened it up!

Hallie going for one of her first walks post surgery. She has to wear the mask when she leaves her room so she doesn't get the other kids sick-- She wouldn't wear hers unless I put one on too! She was so funny-- she had an iv in her ankle, but you would have thought her whole foot was broken, the way she hobbled around!

Hallie after her first sponge bath. She was so sweaty and gross that it was so good to see her clean!

Hallie post-surgery-- that wasn't a very fun day, although with her epidural, it wasn't as bad as it has been following her other surgeries.

Hallie right after she was transferred from recovery. She had to be on oxygen for a little while and then they were able to move it to blow-by-- basically setting it close to her face, but not actually directly into her nose.

1 step forward and 2 steps back!

Hallie is continuing to fight. Her iv in her leg ruptured her vein this morning and kept pumping the fluid into her tissues. Her leg was hard as a rock, the size of a tree trunk, with no ankle and no separate toes, all the way to her knee-- pretty scary! She is thankfully recovering from it quickly, mostly due to all of the massaging Uncle Cody did while I was at the doctor with Tucker. We have put a PICC line in to protect her veins more, especially since we started her on TPN (iv nutrition) which is extremely hard on the veins. They took her down this afternoon, sedated her and used flouroscopy to get the line in. They did take the tube out of her nose (mostly because she kept pulling it out!), which is good news. One less cord to get tangled up with! Tonight, she started twitching and jerking around and itching all over. We finally decided that she was having an allergic reaction. We started narrowing things down as we gave her Benadryl. That stopped the violent jerking, but not the twitching or itching. I had it narrowed down to one of the drugs in her epidural when we gave her Nubane. That took away the twitching and most of the itching so that she could finally sleep. She kept waking up itching though, trying to scratch her eyes out, so we decided to discontinue her epdiural pain meds. We will continue to give her iv pain meds as needed, but we have to be careful because she did this once before with morphine and stopped breathing on us. We shall see how the night goes!

Hallie did walk to halls 3 times today-- almost to their goal of 4 times a day! She is very weak and her poor little arms and legs shake and quiver as we walk, but she is determined to do it! She is being so good through all of this! I thought I would have a lot harder time with her through all of this, but as long as I hold her hands, she has let them do what they need to do. Her daddy flew in this afternoon and was able to spend a few hours with us before going and getting the boys. Tucker was all smiles to see his daddy! We haven't seen him in almost a month. It was a little weird having him sititng here at the hospital with us-- almost like a dream!

Poor Hallie still is not able to take anything by mouth. The nurses have heard a faint gurgle twice in her intestines all day, so hopefully that means they are starting to wake up a bit. Hallie is determined that she is going to eat. She has been asking for a drink or treat since just a few hours after surgery, but today she is getting creative. I was going through some of her entertainment things and she asked me if I could get her something. I said sure-- what? and she said a treat. A little later, she asked for some quarters to put in her purse, so I gave her some. She then told me we needed to take a walk-- only she didn't want to walk to the playroom, she wanted to walk to the vending machine she had seen as they wheeled her up after surgery-- the girl was so drugged, how in the world did she notice it?!!!!! Tonight she kept telling me she wanted to get out of bed-- she can hardly sit up by herself, so I asked her where she wanted to go-- the chair? Oh no, the cupboard where my mom put some snacks for us to have while up here. I guess she saw them when my mom was here with her last night. I am really hoping to be able to feed her on Friday, but it is going to be a LONG couple of days. I have a feeling we are going to be here longer than a week!

Through it all she is keeping her spirits up and is being incredibly brave. Her daddy is bringing her brothers up to see her for the first time tomorrow and she gets to go on a wagon ride to see all of her grammy's friends that help put the telethon together here. My mom is on the executive board and they are having a big meeting with all of the Costco managers from around Utah. Hallie's story has been shared many times with them, so they are excited to get to see her. It will be good for Hallie to get out of her room for more than a minute or two!

My grandpa-- Arnold Christensen

Obituary Information

Arnold Christensen
July 26, 1936 ~ March 25, 2009
Our loving husband, father and grandfather, Arnold Christensen, passed away Wednesday, March 25, 2009 due to complications with diabetes. He was born July 26, 1936 in Salt Lake City to Walter A. Christensen and Joyce Pierce Christensen. He was a graduate of Granite High School where he was later inducted into their Hall of Fame. He attended the University of Utah and also received various honorary degrees from institutions throughout the state.
Arnold’s greatest love is his family. He married his eternal sweetheart Necia Ann Larsen in the Salt Lake City Temple on May 10, 1956. They raised three daughters and one son. He shared many fond memories with his family including golfing, fishing, hunting, ball games and family vacations. He set an example for all who knew him. His life was filled with service and love. He was an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints where he served in many capacities, including Bishop, Stake President and Mission President in Raleigh, North Carolina. He owned and operated Christensen Electric and served on the Cottonwood Hospital Board of Directors. He was elected to the Utah State Senate where he served for 17 years; 10 years as President. He also served as President of the National Congress of State Legislators.
Arnold is survived by his loving wife, Ann; children, Valerie (Jeff) Cutrer, Cheryl (Kraig) Berrett, Kathy (Lowell) Hansen, Bruce (Tara) Christensen; 16 grandchildren and 16 great grandchildren; brother, Walter R. (Zada) Christensen; sisters, Joy (George) Batty and Jeanne (Lee) Eyre. He was preceded in death by his parents and sister, Bonnie Christensen.
Funeral Services will be held Saturday, March 28th at 12 noon at the Draper 6th Ward, 12870 So. 1300 E., Draper. Visitations will be held Friday, March 27th from 6-8 pm at Larkin Sunset Gardens Mortuary, 1950 E. 10600 So., Sandy, and one hour prior to services at the Ward on Saturday.

Grandpa, you have touched my life more than you would ever imagine. The memories that you have left me with are some of my most treasured ones. The many family vacations, our time with you at the cabin, even my time with you at the Senate. And more recently, the many times I went to St. George and spent time with you. My children adore you and my husband loves you like his own grandpa. You have touched every aspect of my life and I am so grateful for the chance we had to have you come visit us in September. I will never understand the bond you and Hallie had and how you both would get sick with the same thing at the same time. Watch over her from the other side, please. I could not have asked for a better role model and grandpa! We will miss you immensely!

Update

Thank you all for your thoughts, concern, love, and most importantly your prayers. We are feeling everyone of them, sustaining us through this hard time. Hallie is recovering well from her surgery. Her epidural is doing really well controlling her pain. She even got up and walked about 400 feet last night! The doctors are very pleased with how well she is doing in that regard. Last night, Hallie's cough continued to get worse and she had a high fever they couldn't break. They decided to run some tests to determine exactly what she is dealing with and she has a form of the flu. She continues to need oxygen, especially as she is sleeping. They are giving her anti-nausea medicine and zantac to keep things down. She is one sick little girl right now. They were hoping to not have to give her TPN (nutrition through her veins), but she is very weak and shaky, so they are probably going to start that today in hopes of giving her a little more strength to fight this off. They are watching her carefully for signs of pneumonia and continue to do what little they can in order to keep her fever down. She can't take anything by mouth and she can't have ibuprofen this close to surgery, so the only thing they can give her is Tylenol suppositories. Even through it all, when she does open her little eyes for us, she gives us these little half smiles and tells us that she loves us. What a sweet angel! I don't know that I could handle this myself half as well as she is!

As if my life here at the hospital is not complicated enough, Tucker is sick as well and has an appointment for me to take him into the doctor in the morning. I think he has the same thing Hallie has, although he is going on about 8 days with it. I need to get him healthy in order to bring Hallie home and keep her healthy.

Also, my grandpa, who has been sick since Thanksgiving, is dying. I am on my way to tell him good bye and ask him to watch over my little girl once he gets to the other side. The two of them have such a strong connection! When one is in the hospital, the other shortly follows. When he got a staff infection, so did she. When she got pneumonia, so did he. It has been very eery to see how they mirror each other. Hopefully, once he passes on, he will be able to be close to her on the other side of the veil and help her through this!

Derrick gets here tomorrow and I am counting down the seconds! It has been almost a month since we have seen him and we need him with us now! Who ever would have guessed where our lives would take us when we left Reno a month ago! I would never have imagined such heartache and suffering! But I know the Lord will sustain me through my family and friends, much as He has done in the past. I am not sure if each of you will ever know how you are an answer to my prayers, the way you support me. I came out and checked my email last night while Hallie was sleeping. I had 42 messages, lifting me up and giving me the strength to keep going. Thank you all and I will continue to keep you posted!

Hallie is in Recovery

Hallie went into surgery about 9 o'clock this morning, and is now in recovery doing well; it took about 3 hours. The doctors said they are pleased with the surgery and that there were no major complications and very minimal blood loss! They did have to remove about 7 inches between her small and large intestines, where it was dialated.


At this time they will not be placing her in ICU, she will be getting her very own private room. The doctors did place an epidural in her to help manage her pain better so she will not have to be on any heavy narcotics. They do not want her to have the narcotics going through her intestines!


The doctors are hopefull she will be ready to start on solid food by weeks end. I will post more updates as soon as I can.

Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers!

Hallie

I have a ton of pictures and lots of things to update on, but I wanted to let everyone know that Hallie is going back in for surgery. She will go in on March 23 and they are going to remove a seciton of her small intestines that has become very dilated and is not functioning well. She will have the surgery at Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake.

I have so many emotions right now. Part of me is terrified at whether this is going to solve her problems long term or not. Is this going to be a long term, recurring problem? And if it is, what do we do in the long run for her? She can't keep losing more of her intestines. Is she going to freak out and be terrified (probably)? She won't be able to eat for probably 3-4 days after surgery, how am I going to keep her happy? This surgery is very different than any of her others simply because of her age. She's old enough to know what is going on and to know she wants no part of it. She told me she didn't want to go to the hospital, she wanted to go to the mall! I'm worried about flying back with her by myself after surgery and how long the recovery will take until she is back to somewhat normal. And I worry about the surgery itself. The doctor said it would probably be very long and complicated because of all of her scar tissue and the risk of puncturing her intestines is quite a bit higher.

On the other hand, I watch how much she is suffering, how much pain she is in, how much she is not like herself and I want to know if we can't move the surgery up-- we can't because she has a cold, but it sure is tempting! I want my little girl back. I don't want to wake up in the middle of the night to her screaming that she doesn't love me anymore and that she is done. I want her to be able to play and to enjoy her brothers and friends. She is so miserable right now that I don't hardly recognize her. She is so mean and ornery that I can hardly stand it. That is no way for my little girl to live, so I am anxious to get the show on the road and help her start feeling better.

I am so grateful for all of the love and support that everyone gives us. The kids and I have been in Salt Lake for 2 weeks and were supposed to fly home today. By the time Hallie, Tucker and I get home, it will have been almost 5 weeks that we will have been gone. That's a long time to be away from home. We have a long road ahead of us and unfortunately, this being her 4th intestinal surgery, I know all too well what is coming our direction. We could not get through this without the help and love of all of our family and friends and most of all, our loving Heavenly Father, who I know is not leaving us alone through all of this.