More Updates on Dakota

Buzzmania!!! A friend of our family Debbie Haggard made him that cute blanket, Doug and Vicki got him those sweet pants, and we have three Buzz Light Year Toys for him to hold onto. He is in heaven! :)

I first just have to thank all of you for your sweet comments, love, prayers, and faith! I would love to comment back to each one of you but even though I’m sitting in a hospital 24 hours a day, I just can’t seem to find the time. So please know that we read and love them all. You give us so much strength and encouragement during this hard time.

It is official as of today that they are going to place a trach via a tracheostsomy in Dakota’s throat and a g-tube (can’t remember the official name) in his stomach Friday morning. Some of you are saying what is that???? Well, the tracheotomy tube that will go in his throat is our next step to help him make some more progress. It is a tube that is inserted into the airway in his neck so his breathing bypasses his mouth and allows him to breathe from his neck instead. (I’m sure lots of you have seen them before) He has been on the breathing ventilator since we got here and there is high risk for unnecessary infections and problems if that is in too long. He is able to breathe pretty much on his own now but the problem is that he is not swallowing. Because he is not swallowing, he has a lot of secretions that normally we swallow that he can’t get rid of. This makes it hard to breath and allows the secretions to go down to the lungs which obviously causes problems. So pretty much the only option is to do the trach which will allow him to get the breathing tube out (which has already caused an infection), help him begin breathing on his own, and allow him to get the rehab that he needs. The g-tube will replace the feeding tube that goes through his nose right now, so he will be fed directly into his stomach which will decrease the chance of that tube becoming infected.

I know all of this doesn’t sound like that great of news and believe me as his mom it still sounds very scary to me but it is the only option we have to be able to get him out of the PICU and begin getting him into rehab to help him relearn all those things that he needs to learn again like swallowing, eating walking, talking, etc. The good news is that if he begins swallowing and doing those things on his own again both the tracheotomy and the g-tube can come out. They are not permanent and so we hope they will not have to be in for long. He will have to stay in the PICU for ten days after the surgery so we are still looking at at least two weeks in this hospital. It is hard to imagine that it has only been a week and a half because it feels like forever, so two more weeks was hard to take in at first but we will just take it day by day. The nurses, doctors, and staff here have been great though and have made us feel very comfortable in our “home away from home.” The doctors are hoping that after those two weeks they will be able to transfer him back to Utah to a rehab facility there which will be nice to get back home again. (We will miss this great weather though and of course my amazing family here) We still need to work out all the kinks with insurance and things before it is a go ahead but that is what they are looking at right now.

It is all still really hard to take in and we understand it is going to be a slow process in helping our sweet Dakota get back up and running again, but it feels so good to know that it is possible. We know Dakota has chosen to stay with us as he has fought so hard to be here, so we will just keep fighting for him and staying strong.

My understanding of what faith is has grown so much throughout all of our trials and especially this one. I have truly come to understand and know that true faith is COMPLETE trust in our Heavenly Father, even when you don’t know what lies ahead. It is easy to say that but when you are faced with something like this you are definitely put to the test. It is hard not knowing what lies ahead but I have come to trust in my Heavenly Father that whatever it is we can do it. It has been amazing to feel the love of my Heavenly Father through all of this and the peace and comfort that He has provided me. As my heart has been poured out to my Heavenly Father all day every day for the last week and a half, I have felt his love and know that He is there, He hears me, and He loves me. As I have watched other mothers with their babies come into the PICU and seen their tears, it has opened my eyes. I realize that I’m not the only one that is going through tough times and that all of these other mothers I’m sure are pouring out their hearts to Him as well. But the amazing thing about it is…I know that He hears each and every prayer that I’m saying and not only does He hear it He is there comforting me and giving me strength to keep going…and doing the same for everyone else. I know that He loves each and every one of us and his heart aches even more than ours does for the pain that we are going through.

We were able to go to the temple last night and that was so neat. We have only physically left the hospital a handful of times and although it feels good to get out of that environment, I always get an anxious feeling about being gone too. Today at the temple we both felt so much peace and comfort and we know “all is well.” Like I said before, we don’t know exactly what lies ahead, how long it will be, and even how hard it is going to be, but we know that with the Lord’s help anything is possible and all things will eventually work for our good.

Keep up the prayers and faith please!!! We continue to feel your strength and we know that Dakota does too. He is still the cutest little guy ever and we love him SOOO much!! Keep fighting buddy!

I finally decided it’s time for pics of our little sweetie. So here you go!

Helping the nurse give him a bath.

 Does Dakota have the best mom or what? (This caption is from Ashley, not Tessie :))

 The ASU music therapy student singing and the occupational therapist working on him. See how dead asleep he is?

When he opened his eyes for Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam. So awake!!!

 Wearing his new Toy Story cowboy boots that Grandma and Grandpa Rhees sent him. The doctors want him to wear them every couple hours to help his feet stay in good position. I know he is loving it! :)

 Holding daddy's hand. Zach's favorite thing to do.