Back from the Hospital

Dylan is doing so good!!! He is back at Hacienda, he had to spend 3 days at St. Joe’s hospital in Phoenix for the cellulitis in his elbow. He is recovered from the cellulitis. His arm is no longer swollen and he is going to get antibiotics for 5 more days to make sure the infection is gone. While he was at St. Joe’s the endocrinologist (diabetes doctor) there examined him and decided that they would like to try a new insulin regiment. He is now no longer taking insulin during the day, he used to take it 3 times a day and then at night. He is only taking the night time insulin now. The doctors think they can control his blood sugar strictly on diet and monitoring his physical activity. They said as long as his blood sugar stays below 400 it will be fine. So far his sugars have been ranging between 136 and 350… we’ll see how it all shakes out. Dan and I aren’t really comfortable with not having him on insulin when he has food but the staff is really monitoring him to make sure he’s ok.
Dylan has progressed to the sit/stand machine and the physical therapist said he did a great job with that last week. She is going to work with him some more on that this week! Hopefully she will take pictures of that, we asked, we’ll see what happens J he is doing really well with holding himself in a sitting position and keeping his chin up, he holds his head level for quite a few minutes now! And when the nurse tried to give him medicine for the thrush on his tongue, she asked him to open his mouth and right away he did and she didn’t even touch his mouth or anything. He ‘s doing great with following conversation with his eyes. He makes choices on what he’d like to wear, watch and do during the day too. He’s more alert and seems to be aware of more every day!! We are sooo proud of him. He’s making such huge strides every day!!! - Keri

Love that IPOD

Dylan is doing great. He moved rooms over the past week and is now in an igloo (65 degrees, brrr) which is causing his left leg to have muscle spasms. We spoke to the nursing staff and they are checking into getting the heat turned up in there for the boys. I hope they do it soon, it’s very cold! We took him outside for a few hours both on Saturday and on Sunday and he really seemed to enjoy being outside. It was very windy on Saturday though and he may be suffering a bit from allergies now. The staff is monitoring his left arm, which was swollen a bit this weekend. They have taken him into the emergency room already to get it checked and they did find inflammation in the left elbow area so they prescribed an anti inflammatory medicine and he’s resting comfortably now. Dylan got an IPOD this weekend and really seemed to enjoy listening to his music and holding the IPOD in his hand we got some good pictures.

We are trying to get a doctor’s order to take him over to the park next door to Hacienda for Easter weekend. I think it will be no problem, the nurse said the doctor will probably do it this week for us it will be nice to take him over there so he can see the kids playing at the park and sit under the ramada for a little while.  - Keri

Phoenix visit

Dan & I were in Phoenix last weekend, Dyl is doing GREAT! He has made so many improvements in just 1 week. The Physical therapist is working on his posture, he now sits up real nice and tall and can hold his head up for quite a while, she's also working on getting him in a sit/stand chair so he can try standing! Occupational therapy said he doesn't really need the arm braces as he's pretty relaxed there, but we are keeping up with the use of them anyway. The student nurses said that he's made many improvements with his tracking and alertness in the last few days too! In general he's more relaxed in Phoenix than he ever was in Tucson! The staff at Hacienda is wonderful & they're taking GREAT care of Dyl! Please continue to keep Dyl in your prayers! - Keri

Great progress made this week!

Keri reported this morning that Dylan is looking really good, his eyes are more widely open, and he's much more alert. They have him sitting on the edge of the bed (with spotters nearby of course) with straight spine, holding his head up and turning his head while sitting, which the therapist is impressed with. Many of the staff is saying he has had very good positive progression this week in general. He is much more calm, relaxed, not on any heavy pain medication, as was case at HealthSouth. He receives a shower daily, getting dressed in his clothes, gets his teeth brushed like normal, rather than sponge applicator, and he is being treated for thrush, which is nearly cleared up. His arm braces are no longer needed for his arms because they aren't super rigid or in one position. Therapists may have him standing today. When given the choice of which of 2 shirts he preferred today, immediately zeroed in on one (rather than taking a few minutes to comprehend/decide/choose). When Dan switched shirts into opposite hands and asked again, Dylan immediately focused on the same choice.


Dan and Keri are very impressed with the environment and staff's attention and interaction and various stimuli being administered to see if they get a response. Bless You All, Val

Dylan's at the Hacienda

Hello everyone :) there has been such a lot happening for Dylan. He was transferred from Healthsouth last Thursday up to Phoenix. He is now at Hacienda health care in Phoenix. He has improved vastly! Hacienda has 4 nursing colleges that intern there, so there is constantly someone in the hallway to catch if you have any questions. Hacienda has a safety check policy too where someone from the staff has to come into each room every fifteen minutes to check on the kids in the room. They are very consistent in this :) Dylan has a 10 month old roommate, he and Trenton are buddies already! We all know how great Dylan is with babies! :) The atmosphere is so different too. When Dylan was at Healthsouth he was very tense and suffering from muscle spasms multiple times a day, he was crying quite a bit from the pain of the spasms and wasn't getting the proper rest at night. We have seen that the time at Hacienda is doing wonders for Dylan. He hardly every cries, in the 4 days I was there last week Dylan only whimpered once the whole time! They shower the kids daily, they get dressed in normal clothes and they get their teeth brushed every day. He's really enjoying the flavor of the toothpaste and pretty much anything with flavor, he likes the nystatin (he gets that for the Thrush on his tongue), the drops of lemon juice and the chocolate pudding :) He is taken to a day room daily for time to spend with other kids and watch cartoons or participate in activities. He gets therapy six days a week and they have already tried letting him taste chocolate pudding, he really enjoyed that! He was swallowing with no difficulty!! He is also doing tracking exercises and making choices between two items on a daily basis. The physical therapist was going to try and put Dyl in a sit/stand machine, which is similar to a chair that lifts you up on your feet so you can stand with a little help, they were going to try and do that this week! It is only week 1 and he's already doing so much more already!!! Yay Dylan!!! :o) The occupational therapist called us yesterday and indicated that she was confused as to why Dylan had arm braces. She stated that his arms were so relaxed that she was not sure why he had to be in the braces at all. Such good news because he was so tense at Healthsouth that his right arm was bent so that his fist was under his chin and we couldn't get his arm straight without really working it hard, his left arm was extended straight down and unable to bend it without really working it. Now he's got both arms relaxed to a "normal" state :) They still use the braces for his hands, they seem to be working great to keep his hands from making fists and he is more relaxed there as well. We saw his fingers moving last Saturday, he was flexing them quite a bit and that is new!!! On Saturday last week when we were in the day room Dylan was sitting in a recliner watching cartoons with the other kids, suddenly he moved his right arm up to the middle of his chest then bent his head down and put his thumb up to his mouth and opened his mouth as if he was eating!!! That's the first time we've seen that!! Five minutes later they gave Dyl his lunch, so he seems to know his schedule and seems to be communicating that he was ready to eat :)

Dan and I are very excited with his new treatment and the facility! They are AWESOME!!! He has improved drastically in just one week!! - Keri

Dylan at his new temporary home in Phoenix

Dylan was transferred from Health South in Tucson to Hacienda in Phoenix last Thursday. Just by looking at the pictures you can see how much more comfortable he is.

Peace, Love, And Prayers, Dylan!