Makenzie's Wish

Yesterday Makenzie was able to make a wish with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Which is a foundation that grants wishes to children who have life threatening illness. We have talked about it with Makenzie and what wishes she would want or like if she was able to grant a wish with them. We debated on waiting until she was older so she could remember having her wish granted and having the memories of doing her wish, but she really has a wish she wants really bad and who knows if she will want the same wish when she gets a little older. So we decided now is a good time as ever. We arrived at the Make A Wish building at 5 and right when we walked in they had a welcoming sign just for Makenzie. I think I was more excited to see the sign. They showed us around the building and told us the history of how the Make A Wish came about.
We then each got a make a wish coin to throw into the wishing pond they have, so we can wish on anything we want. Tyler and I saved our coin so we can scrap book it and make a necklace out of the other for her to keep. We went up stairs and lying on a table was gifts for all the kids of course Kenzie got a bunch but each child got a few gifts which was nice of them to do that.

















After that we got to play a few get to know you games so they could get to know Kenzie a little better. Then we each got a piece of paper to write down our wish for Makenzie, and Makenzie got to write her wish all by herself so she could send off to the "wishing wizard". Her wishes are to meet Hannah Montana, (huge fan) and if that wish wasn't able to come true then she would love to go to Disney World.


They sent us a key in the mail that we had to bring so she could unlock her magical room. After we were all done writing our wishes down for Kenzie. She was able to use the key to enter the room. Right in the middle of the room was a Wizard hat. But before she was able to send off her wish to the wishing wizard each of us got to tell her our wish that we want for her. Mommy's wish for her was to grow up happy and healthy, Daddy's wish is for her to grow up and have a family of her own, Ashleigh's wish for her is to be able to meet Hannah Montana and remember it forever, Jackson's wish for her is for her not to get sick anymore, Braxton's wish is to for her to meet batman. And wishes from her Make a Wish volunteer's were Roberta said health to have all her wishes come true in life! Annie's is that her wish will bring her and her family hope, strength and joy! Emily wished to have all her dreams come true.















She then was able to drop her wish into the wizard hat and off it went to be determined if her wish will be granted. Which they usually do whether it is the first wish or the second one.



















On top of all that before or after her wish trip she will have a wishing party that she will be able to invited all her friends and family to join her as she celebrates her wish and she gets to raise a star that is hers and only hers to the ceiling where it will stay to resemble her wish, strengths and to reach for the stars and that all her dreams can come true.


It was an emotional event for me to watch Makenzie wish for things and to see her brothers and sisters wish for her to have all her dreams come true, and for health and happiness. I am excited for Makenzie to have her wish granted for her she defiantly needs it for all that she has to go through, just like all the other kids out there who have to battle some kind of life threatening illness. What an amazing foundation they have for kids to wish for what ever they want and to be selfish just this once to have all there dreams come true!

Another bump in the road

I got a call from Michelle (her transplant coordinator) on the 18th and the first thing she told me was that we got the halter results back and she needs a pacemaker. No easing me into it so yes I just fell apart and cried. I asked why and she told me that she had 33 pauses over 2 sec long and a few over 3 sec long. I then asked what her heart rate range was and the maximum was 139 her average was 87 and the low was 42. which sounds like Kenzie but the pauses were the concern. She then asked me if we would like to do it here or in Denver and we chose Denver.
So i finally got a hold of Carrie and she explained it so much better and of course I had questions for her and she answered them the best she could. Of course she doesn't know everything about pacemakers but she did her best to answer them.
So on February 8 will be the Cath and February 10th they will put the pace maker in. So first they will do a Cath on her to make sure there is no rejection going on or anything else that may be causing it. They will also do an EP test to check the electrical part. Since Kenzie is so little it will be a open chest surgery so they will have to reopen her old incision and open her up that way and put the pace maker in under her ribs.
Carrie told me that since she had pauses over 3 seconds whether it was a one time thing or more than once that it requires a pacemaker because I ask if they could do another halter monitor but she said it wouldnt make a difference cause it showed up this last time and that is enough for a pace maker. Other wise it could keep getting longer and longer and cause a heart attack or just completely stop all together. In the past 3 years they have been doing holter monitors the pauses have been in creasing which shows that it is not getting better so a pace maker will help her in the long run and hopefully help her growth as well.
Yes I am very scared and it makes me cry every time I think about it. She was having such an amazing winter this year. She hasn't even gotten sick or anything, I was hoping this would be the best winter she has had since her transplant but things change you can never let your guard down that's for sure. The amazing thing is that she wasn't supposed to get a halter done for another 3 months but they decided to do it earlier. So who knows what could have happened in those 3 months. She defiantly has someone watching over her. I am thankful that they caught it before it did get worse and something worse happened to her. Things happen for a reason and she has so many friends and family support out there that it makes it more comforting she defiantly has angels watching over her. She will be a new little girl but also the same little girl just with something helping her heart stay healthy and pumping properly. Yes I am trying to stay focused on the positive it is hard but I have to do it for Makenzie. I love her so much and I am so thankful for her and all that she brings to this family and I am so thankful that she is still with us I don't even know how to thank my Heavenly Father for allowing her to stay here with us we have almost lost her twice and yet she is still with us and a very ambitious, smart, loving girl . She is a strong girl who will fly through this just like she has in the past bumps in the road.
Please keep her in your prayers. And thank you all for the prayers sent her way it means so much to our family that we have the support we have. We are also doing a fast for her on February 6 if anyone would like to join.

First clinic of the year

If you don't know Kenzie is on every other month for clinic now. Today was the first one this year and it went pretty smooth got in and out of labs pretty quick then came the echo which takes the longest. During the echo her heart rate went up and down started in the 90's and moved all over the place even dipped into the 40's a few time's which I don't like but she seems to be doing good and her echo looked good so they are not concerned. All the doctor's looked at her and said she looks good so 2 thumbs up. So just to make sure her heart is doing good they put a halter Monitor on her for 24 hrs to record her heart rate. So i will update that later. And I just go a call from Emily and her levels all look good.
So this winter she is doing very well and only has had mild sicky (runny nose and cough). So we pray everyday that she will continue to do well especially during the flu and cold season. Thank you all for the prayers headed her way.