The holiday season

Auntie Shel and Auntie Cherie
Kellen and grandpa Bob

The Engen-Thatcher family x-mas

Cute cousins

Daddy and Owen with the same tools

X-mas morning at the Engen house

Christmas came and went way too fast this year. We spent x-mas eve at Auntie Cherie's with Steve's family. On Christmas morning the boys opened their gifts and we ate our traditional

x-mas french toast. After a short nap, we headed over to our good friends the Thatchers for some more yummy food.

Heres hoping 2011 brings the Engen family less trips to the ER, no hospital stays, answers to Kellen's problems, and lots of health................

What a weekend!

Kellen being transferred from JCL to PCH hospital

So, our discharge from the hospital on Friday evening was short lived. It is hard to imagine from the last picture this happened to Kellen when he looked so happy. Friday night I went to check on Kellen to find that he vomited all over himself and his bed. We cleaned him up and put him in bed with us where he vomited one more time.

On Saturday morning he woke up sluggish but otherwise fine. Steve left with his dad to run some errands for the house, so the boys and I were hanging out together. This is when things took a turn for the worse. I was helping Owen get undressed when I saw Kellen fall to the floor. At first I thought he was puking, but when I picked him up his lips were blue and he was not breathing. I called 911 and just kept thinking I am going to give my child CPR. Kellen's eyes rolled back and one of his hands was drawn up to his chest. I would guess the whole incident lasted less than a minute but it felt like a eternity. Kellen was breathing when the paramedics arrived but was not responsive. He was gray and limp and would not open his eyes. To say I was hysterical is a understatement. The one thing that kept me sane was Terry. Terry is a fireman and a first responder. He is also the husband of Connie, the lady who watches the boys when I am sleeping after work. I was shocked when he walked through the door. Terry had just seen Kellen the night before, he kept saying he looked so good last night. Terry was wonderful. He was patient with me when I was hysterical and told me everything they were doing to help Kellen. He Kept reassuring me Kellen would be ok. Also he helped with Owen so he wasn't so scared. Owen knows Terry well and so he thought Terry was just there to visit. We all rode in the ambulance together to JCL hospital. Shorty after arrival Kellen was more responsive. We were then transferred back to PCH hospital for a neurological consult.

After 2 days, some lab work, an IV and fluids, and an EEG we were able to go home. Thank goodness the EEG and lab work were all ok. The doctors think Kellen had a vagal response to his reflux. This means when your vagas nerve is stimulated it causes your heart rate to drop and you pass out. I wanted to jump across the room and strangle the neurologist when she told us everything was normal and we should chalk it up to WBS. What is WBS? I was wondering that as well. She said WBS is weird baby stuff. How reassuring...

Yesterday, Kellen had lots of loose stool and was still vomiting. The good thing, he was drinking well. Finally, today I think he has turned the corner. Knock on wood, but he has not vomited and he had no loose stools. He is still not eating well and has lost over a pound since getting sick. However, I think this will come in the next couple of days when his stomach has more time to settle down.

Thanks again to all our family and friends who help out with Owen, brought us food, and were there for emotional support. Lets hope this is the last visit to the hospital for the Engens FOREVER!!!!!!

Happy to be home!

Our happy boy.

Snuggling with gramdma in the hospital!

Yeah, we were discharged from the hospital today. Kellen is not quite a 100% but well enough to go home. The results from the sweat test were not back yet, we will get them when we follow up with our pediatrician (Dr.Lisa) next week. They also did some more blood work today and that came back normal. Kellen is eating and drinking a little better but not back to his norm. He had no vomiting today and not as many loose stools.

The plan is to continue to see Dr Mccomber our GI (gastrointestinal) as well as a new doctor, Dr. Caspers. He is an immunologist. Our doctors think it would be good to pick Dr. Caspers brain to see if he has any thoughts or suggestion regarding Kellen's condition. The doctors said Kellen's situation is so rare that they can only speculate why it is occurring. Their theory is that Kellen is very sensitive to vaccinations. When vaccinated, Kellen's immune system is sent into overdrive causing the lymph nodes in his gut to swell. This reaction causes inflammation in his gut and is possibly why he gets the intussecption after vaccines. Again, this is only a theory. For now, we will hold off on Kellen's immunizations until his gut heals. In the future if we vaccinate him, he will need steroids prior to the vaccination and after to help decrease the inflammation in his gut caused by the vaccine. This will hopefully prevent an intusseption.

Thank you to everyone for all you prayers and concerns. We are so happy we did not get any bad news today. The Engens

Not again...

Finishing the CT scan. Kellen was

a trouper holding really still!! His

prize, a cute cuddly bear.

One of his rare perky times

Kellen was hospitalized yesterday with his 3rd intussecption. (This is when part of your bowel telescopes into itself, causing a blockage.) I thought this nightmare was over. We are currently at PCH and have been running test to figure out why this keeps happening. Everyone, including the doctors, are shocked that this has occurred again. So far, his CT scan showed no abnormalities or obstructions. We are set to due a sweat test to r/o cystic fibrosis. His lab work show that his is fighting off some kind of infection or a stress response. His ultrasound yesterday showed 3 spots where his bowels were intussepting. The second US, from today, showed that they resolved on their own. Yeah some good news today. Kellen is still pretty irritable and has a hard time getting comfortable. He is not really eating or drinking yet, and is having lots of stool loss. My poor bubba, I hate seeing him in pain and so lethargic. He is like a wet noodle when you hold him. However, he did have a few times when he felt a little better and would perk up for a short time. Hopefully tomorrow will hold some much needed answers.

We are finally back!!!

It has been almost a year since my last blog, so I thought it was time to start again. A lot has happened since the last blog. Owen turned 3 in July and had a toy story themed party back in MN. He has also mastered riding a trike and sleeps in a big boy bed. We are still working on the potty training which is a very slow and torturing process for me .

Kellen turned one in Novemeber. We had his birthday in anthem at the train park. It was the perfect day for a party. Kellen is now walking, talking, and getting into everything. Owen calls him destructo because he destroys all his tunnels that he had work hard building. He loves food and eats almost anything. He is definitely going to be the linebacker in the family.

Steve and I have spent the last year trying to adjust to our new family of 4. We moved last august into a bigger house and are still tryinng to settle in. Our 2 crazy boys have made the moving process much more challening. We will spend christmas this year in AZ. We are going to steve's sisters house on x-mas eve. The boys and I are hoping to get back to MN at the end of december.Well, that more or less gets us back up to speed. My new years resolution is to update at least once a month and become more blogger savy. Hope the holiday season is finding everyone healthy and happy.