Katelyn's Journey

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

First day of sophomore year!

I made it through and am already counting down the days till summer....147 to be exact! Well oh well its life i am so happy to be walking around on campus though!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Siru is now apart of the Bradley Family and forever will be. She is a week older than me and we clicked within the first hour she arrived in our home. I love her like a sister and she will forever be in my heart. I miss her so much and cant wait to visit her in Finland soon. Here are some highlights of her stay. photos: 1) all the students and I at the Golden Gate Bridge 2 and 3) we taught Siru the American tradition of Toilet papering 4)Us at Discovery Kingdom 5) Us on vacation 6) Muir Woods 7) Jelly Belly Factory 8) Praying before heading out to surf 9) Wet after the water ride at Discovery Kingdom 10) Some of the exchange girls with the HOT lifegaurds at the lake

Sunday, July 26, 2009

WALKING ALL ALONE!!!!!!!!!

I can now officially walk all by myself and without any crutches!!!!! YAH YAH YAH!!!!!!!!!!! I have been walking all over now, it is such a joy!!!!

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Almost complete!

I am now down to only ONE (yes i said ONE) Crutch! YES YES YES!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so so happy! I am almost ready to be done and walking!!!!!!! YEAH! the pictures are of me and my friends at San Fran. with the exchange students!!!!!!!

Friday, July 17, 2009

Awh Summer!

Summer vacation is going over all very well! I am enjoying every minute of it! Some good news is: MY LEFT leg is moving a bit more!!!!! some bad news is: My RSD (my nerve disease i have) is really bad right now. I am in alot of pain, please pray for that. We have an exchange student staying with us right now. Her name is Siru and she is from Finland! She is very nice and we connected right away!

Friday, June 26, 2009

Houseboat trip '09

I went last week on the houseboat trip with Lakeside Church! It was an Amazing experience! I learned so much and was humbled at how God was touching everyone's lives that were on the trip! He truely reached out to me there! I even got to do some wicked tubeing! It was a total blast!!! If you are reading this and in high school you definitely HAVE to go next year!

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

You might want to stay off the roads....just kidding!

I got my Permit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!

How it all began...

In Febrary, Katelyn first developed a severe unknown allergic reaction that caused her eyes to be swollen shut for over a week with orbital cellulitus and her whole body to itch. She was on high doses of antibiotics and steriods to clear up this contidition.

Next, in April she came down with a very bad flu virus that caused her to loose a lot of weight in a short amount of time. Katelyn ended up in the hospital due to dehydration and the inability to keep any food or liquids down. She underwent many tests and evaluations. At one point, she had lost more than 15 pounds. After 3-4 days of testing, it was finally determined that she had SMA syndrome, which is a small intestinal blockage. A feeding tube needed to be placed past the blockage before they could begin tube feedings.

Unfortunately, there were many complications involved in this process. They had to do feedings through her IV until the tube moved to the right location and multiple times they had to move her IV as her veins kept giving out. Eventually, they got the ND tube placed and after 2 weeks in the hospital we got to go home on home feedings until the blockage cleared and she could begin eating on her own again.

We started having complications almost immediately after going home. Her system struggled with the change in formula we went home on and the change in medications. Also, her feeding tube became clogged and required a trip back to UC Davis to have it cleared. After only 4 days, we were back in ER as her GI system developed complications. We were released for home treatment but the next week ahead brought further problems.

The following weekend, we were back at the ER due to the tube being clogged again (apparantly this isn't unusual). This time they brought in the Intervention Radiology team to pull the old tube and replace it with a new one. They choose to sudate her for the procedure this time. Again, there were complications arising from the medications and when she finally pulled out of the sedation she had lost all her muscle control. Her body had finally been through one too many traumas and shut down.

Katelyn was admitted again and we spent the next 2 1/2 weeks in the hospital in the rehab program. The one success while we were there was that she slowly began eating and the feeding tube was finally removed and done with.

Katelyn was released on May 29th in time to attend her 8th grade Graduation the following day. She was still completely dependant with no muscle control but she wanted to attend her graduation anyways. Strapped into her wheelchair, she wore a huge smile and accepeted her diploma.

Katelyn is now home and with the aid of a hospital bed downstairs, we are able to care for her here. She continues to have rehab therapy locally with a therapist she likes and has worked with in the past. Her progress is slow but the prognosis is for full recovery but it could be weeks or months, they just don't know.