Well, it has been a busy couple of weeks

Dearest Family,

     Well, it has been a busy couple of weeks - We will wish Happy Belated 27th Anniversary to Rob & Michelle on May 12th.   Then this Wednesday, May 17, is Rob's Birthday,  Have a great day,son!   Then on May 20, Symphony celebrates her 15th birthday!   Happy Birthday!  What a way to celebrate!  Tchae & Cheyenne will be married that day, Saturday, May 20th in the Billings Montana Temple!  We are so excited for them!

     The past two weeks have been full ones, Skype trainings, visits,. trips to Cody, just to name a few. May 4th was our first, lunch with the 7 Sr Missionary couples who will be serving in the Historic Cody Murals for the summer. Then Mon - Thurs we were there also!  Each morning 9-10 a.m. we gave a lesson, then assignments to work on during the day.  We then had one on one time with each couple. 10-12 & 1:30-3:30.  It was an amazing week, the youngest couple is 58 & 61, and the rest range in age 73 to 84.  There were miracles each day as hearts were turned as many found their first name of a family member to do sacred ordinances for in the temple - families being gathered together!  There were other tears of joy shed as discoveries were made as to how modern technology could be used inspite of physical limitations. One brother only sees 3-4 letters at a time.  His wife's smartphone turned out to be his best tool! He was so excited, that night he went to Verizon & got him one!  Dad spent several more hours the last day helping he & his wife find success!

     The weather has been beautiful - sunny days - a few rainy ones also!  Dad has the yard looking beautiful, green & nicely manicured. The lilacs are blooming, there is aspargus to pick.  Just here in our yard there is enough for us to have creamed aspargus on toast - sure tastes yummy!

     It has been a great Mother's Day!   I so appreciate all the wonderful Mothers in our family!  Appreciate each one of you!   First there is Michelle, Vicki, Darece, Joy & Amber. Then there are all our married Granddaughters & Granddaughters-in-laws!  And those unmarried, mothers in embryo: Mica, Whitney, Kaitlyn, Symphony, Kenya, Daeja, Leanne & Camille!  Love you all, you are the greatest!

     We had a special evening with Ken & Darece, their family, Bob Derocher, Susan, Jason & Trista Croft.   Jason was the chef for a yummy dinner!  So.o.o very delic.....

Here's the latest on Cozy, many ups & downs!   The ups!!!!   She weighs over 11 lbs.

from Kirena,  May 13th..

I'm so sorry for the lack of updates  You all know-it's been crazy!!!

I wish I had answers, but what we know now is very little.  Cozy was discharged from the NICU on Monday.  We had a beautiful three days, but something changed on Thursday. Cozy was awake for 13 + hours straight. She was erratic, irritable, and more hungry than usual. As the day progressed, her heart rate increased significantly, as did her fussiness. There were no other symptoms (no fevers, etc), and she finally fell asleep around 1 am. We assumed she had just gotten over tired and over stimulated.

The next morning though, Cozy woke up around 7:30 a.m. She was still irritable, and her resting heart rate was in the 200.s. We also noticed a significant increase in the fulness of her fontanel and called our pediatrician. He had us come into the office where they conducted a urine test. Results showed positive for infection, but for Cozy, things are not as simple as a UTI.

We were admitted into the ER where they conducted a panel of tests, closely working with Primary's. She soon spiked a fever. We then were released into an ambulance and transferred to Primary Children's ER  More tests.  Eventually, Cosette was admitted into the Infant Care Unit.  It was a loooooong day.  over 14 hours sitting in various rooms, hoping for answers.

Even now, we don't  have many:/  All of our blood and CSF tests were negative. There were worrisome indicators that showed there definitely is infection, but the source or reason for it is unknown.  All samples are being cultured, but nothing has grown so far. In some ways this is good, but in many others, we really wish we just ha a concrete problem we could tackle.  For now, Cozy is on a slew of antibiotics that seem to be helping.  Her fevers come and go, but she is usually calmed with Tylenol.  Her demeanor is mostly unchanged-just more tired.

That's about it sadly.  We could be there for a week. It could be a month.  We may have to take out her shunt. We may be released with a prescription for antibiotics

    

Then May 14th,  a.m.

 And Yesterday brought on a few more answers, but I can't exactly say I'm happy about them all :/

Some of Cozy's cultures have started growing organisms. There are signs of staph infection and possible mrsa. There are also indications of meningitis. Nothing is concrete though, so we will have to wait for Infectious Disease to classify everything. 

One thing is certain- her blood work definitely showed infection, soooo the shunt has to come completely out. Surgery is scheduled for this morning. *all the sighs

We hope it's only for a few days for the infection to clear, and then the shunt can be inserted again, but it could be weeks. It's going to be a day-by-day process to see what is next. 

Love you all.

And Monday Afternoon: May 15th, from Grandma Vicki

Cozy had surgery today removed all the shunt. Now we wait for her body and the antibiotics to fight the infection. In days, or weeks they will put the shunt back in. We are still praying for her little head to figure out how to move the fluid in it's own. That would really be so great...

We send our love to all, sorry we are so late with this letter but wanted to wait until we heard about Cozy - & then the afternoon & evening got busy!

Love you all & CTR Mom & Dad