Kenrik update

Kenrik is doing so much better, today, Tuesday November 18th. He will get to go home tomorrow! Yeah! Although, he won't be able to go back to school until after thanksgiving and can't engage in any physical activity for about 6 months. He'll be having checkups with the Doctor before he can go to school, play any sports etc... Not sure if spring soccer will be in the mix or not.

Saturday was a little bit scary as he started having really sharp shooting pains, one on top of the other. They had his blood drawn and sent to the lab for a quick analysis. They also hurried to put in a second IV line just in case surgery was necessary. It took them 6 tries to get in the IV, the phlebotomist finally got in the line after the nurse and student nurse had tried. She said he had good veins but they were very deep. The nurse said he didn't want to dig anymore for fear of hitting a muscle. I had to turn my head cause it was making me nauseous. They had given him loratab 30 minutes before that was doing nothing (it usually takes about 40 minutes to kick in). So they gave him extra morphine to bring down the pain level. It helped a little. But unfortunately morphine slowed down his respiration so he needed an oxygen tube to help give him what he needed. Within an hour he was in excruciating pain once again. They again gave him morphine. The blood results came back better then the previous time so they ruled out more internal bleeding. They finally came to the conclusion that he had alot of gas built up inside. They gave him pepsid and told him to try to pass gas. This helped a little.

As the day wore on the pain was getting worse. After the nurse shift change he was given a more seasoned nurse who figured out what the problem was. She did an ultrasound of his bladder and found 800ml's inside. She was amazed. She had the nurse assistant come and take a look. They gave him an ultimatum, he was to get it all out within an hour or get a catheter. He was able to immediately release 400ml's, but that was not good enough. An hour later he relieved another 150ml's, still not good enough. So yes they had to put in the catheter. Not a fun experience. But it did the trick. Within an hour they had extracted 800 more ml's! The pain immediately started to subside. As painful as it was it was definitely needed.
While in the hospital he has had lots of visitors. Several students that were playing with him in the orchestra pit for the play this week came. Unfortunately Kenrik is missing all the performances. He had to go to so many early morning and after school practices. Its too bad he doesn't get to be a part of the final production. One of his trumpet friends had to step in and learn Kenrik's part. One of the girls in the orchestra said its not the same without Kenrik.

Throughout his stay many of his other friends came to support him as well. One of his friends brought in an X-Box to help pass away the time.

Emails were sent out and we had many people praying for him. Thank you to all who have helped with his siblings and also to those who have helped through your thoughts and prayers. We have been blessed with wonderful family and friends!