Crazy rollercoaster is the best way to sum up the last week since we came home on 8/13.
The days contain the normal ups & down’s of learning how to deal with diabetes. Add on to that a quick trip to Cincinnati for a check-up and the return to school this past weekend. In addition, Kim and I have both returned to full time work, so it’s been nothing short of a rollercoaster!!!
It is still so hard to believe she was able to return to Manchester this past weekend. Her recovery is nothing short of lots of answered prayers. If we took the diabetes piece out of the equation, you would probably never know she had a surgery.
As far as the diabetes, we’re working on that. Dealing with the blood sugar highs, lows, sensor failures and pod failures has been a very sharp learning curve. I think we’re getting better as we’ve gone from what feels like 10 alarms per night to 2 or 3 on average. It’s definitely a learning process:)

One exciting bonus today – we were able to remove the GJ tube!!! It was unfortunately a lot more painful than we anticipated it would be, but it’s gone!! She is tube free, no more lines in and out of her body. Just a sensor and her insulin pod!!
Biggest update I keep forgetting to add is the severe pain attacks are gone!!! She doesn’t have to live in fear of when the next attack will hit her or how long it will hit! God is great & so many prayers have been answered!

On a different note,
We decided to switch from the caringbridge to COTA for a couple of reasons. First is COTA (Children’s Organ Transplant Association) helps connect transplant patients with other families who have gone through or will go through similar surgeries. That resource has been so extremely helpful for all of us! Reading other’s blogs who have been through this already has been so helpful for us to know what to expect or who to reach out to if we have random questions.
Second – we greatly appreciate the donations through the gofundme site created for Kendal but feel COTA has a better long-term option for Kendal. COTA’s partnership with Kendal is for her lifetime, and COTA funds will assist with a lifetime of transplant-related expenses. Her medications and diabetes supplies cost close to $10K per month & one of our biggest worries is when she’s on her own if she does not have insurance, what will she do? Even if it’s just 1 month in between jobs, it’s scary to have to worry about her not having the meds she needs!
The money from the gofundme site will be moved over to the COTA campaign to give her some future help!! COTA does not charge admin fees or taxes therefore 100% of the money raised assists with transplant-related expenses.
Hope to have updated pictures up soon, but just as the diabetes is a learning curve for us, so is the COTA site 🙂
Thank you again for all of the prayers that saw her through this last surgery. She would not be where she is without that support!!!