Justin's Road to Recovery

  I haven't gotten around to posting yet this week. Justin's team played last Saturday morning and earned a spot in the State Cup final! They played Monday night at the Real Salt Lake stadium! The big pitch under the lights. What a cool experience and what an honor to be there!  I'm so grateful to all of Justin's friends that came to support him! We gave a big cheer when he took the pitch. 🎉😘⚽️ Thank you to our whole team and their families who care for Justin so much and to Steve and my friends that came to support him also! ❤️ Lisa kept saying "just 2 months ago we were outside the hospital praying". When he couldn't walk or talk yet. 2 months.  The game did not go the way we wanted. Enough about that.  I'm so grateful for each experience and person joining us in this road to recovery.   

 I can't believe it has been 2 months since Justin's surgery.  SO much has happened in that time.  Being in the hospital seemed like it lasted forever. Then adjusting to home and school and friends and IV and schedules and home health seemed so lengthy. Then it also seems like a dream not reality.  Even being in the hospital last week seems like a long time ago.  We saw the ID docs this week and they checked him off as Justin continues to improve and have no lingering effects from his fever or stomach issue last week. Amazing! I don't know if the doctors reevaluated or if I missed it but they said what they see in the MRI in the brain is not infection just fluid! Omgosh!! He has played a little soccer and his team won their Quarterfinal playoff game tonight under the lights! We are so grateful for each of you and couldn't be on this journey without you!

 Justin only spent 2 nights in the hospital this time. It seems like forever, yet not that long. For all of us, including Justin, it started out feeling like a repeat of the trauma that sent us there in the first place. I'm sorry for any repeats, but I'm just going to try to cover everything. Justin had a fever on Sunday afternoon. After a dose of Tylenol that did not reduce the fever, the plan was to go to ER at Primary. They admitted him and confirmed we did the right thing. The doctors ordered all the tests. They did blood work, ultrasound of his neck (which was actually scheduled for Monday, post-surgery follow-up), and also scheduled the MRI for Monday (a week early, post-surgery MRI follow-up). They also decided to admit him for overnight observation and put him on antibiotics to get a head start on any infection. Incidentally, a friend of his from elementary, middle, high school and soccer was there with his little brother, who is FINE! yea! Monday morning Justin still h...

 We talked to a doctor that said MRI does not show new infection!! The brain is slowly healing!! Indications are sinus infection but we will have a better determination and a plan going forward in the morning after meeting with all the doctors. He is feeling better from stomach ache, fever and chills which is good. 👍 Now for another night in the hospital. Good times...👀

 It was not pleasant returning to the ER and the hospital at Primary's but Justin didn't resist and the doctors said we did the right thing bringing him in. One of the 1st doctors that stopped by was a surgeon who saw him the day after surgery. Happy with the progress he has made, in spite of being in the ER. Justin is apparently quite famous at Primary's. ♔ We were literally/actually sitting in the sun on Sunday, enjoying lunch and talking about what's next. What is Justin going to do on fall break? Which colleges is he applying to? Let's look at some scholarships. Why might he want to live out of state? How much does he remember or think about being in the hospital? (He doesn't dwell on it.) His white blood cell count is elevated, meaning fighting an infection, and he has had fever and chills. Not really many other systems. There is a marker or test or something call CRP that indicates swelling in the body, and that was normal which means we brought him for tr...

After a fun night at homecoming Justin woke up from a nap with a fever so we are at the ER at Primarys. They are doing a full blood workup, have done the ultrasound on his neck instead of waiting for tomorrow, and given him some antibiotics per standard protocol.   They are planning to admit him and do his MRI ine the morning. Please pray the can quickly find out what is wrong!!

Justin is continuing to improve, attend school, reffing, working out, hanging with friends. 3rd HOCO (homecoming) is on Saturday. We enjoyed a nice quick drive up the mountains on our anniversary. Happy there are still 4 of us in our Fam! Fall in the mountains is lovely! Justin had his PICC line removed Monday night!!! He'll be off of antibiotics for 2 weeks prior to another MRI. He has an ultrasound of his neck next week, then a visit with the Neuro Doc, Infectious Disease (ID) Doc and ENT Doc. Still continuing his other meds, but more freedom from the bulky lumens (thingies where you put the medicine or draw blood from the PICC line). Things we have learned: we 💖home health nurses! PICC lines bleed from the source; he had to have his bandage changed 2 extra times during his month at home Soccer shin guards sleeves work way better to hold the PICC line than the weird gym socks-wannabeees they send from the hospital PICC lines look shorter than you would think Continuing to be gra...