Friday night we brought Zachary into the ER at the U of M, because his labs are not getting any better and his blood pressure was 157/108 way to HIGH!!. The DR’S started Zachary on 2 new blood pressure meds on Sat. and today we are finally seeing results. The game plan is to maybe biopsy the Kidney tomorrow and see if he is in Acute Rejection along with the chronic that he is already in. If he is in Acute they will start him on IV steriods and heavy duty Anti-rejection Meds to save the Kidney. If it is the Chronic Rejection getting worse there is nothing they can do. We just wait for the Kidney to fail and pray for the Mitrofanoff surgery to go well and prepare Zachary’s little body for another Transplant. The surgery is still scheduled for Feb. 27. Zachary is feel good and playing lots of video games. Yesterday we met another family up here with a little boy named Tyler. Tyler is in Kidney failure and his little body is struggling to reach 17lb so he can receive his second chance at life. Little Tyler reminds me lot of Zachary when he was that age. It is so nice to talk with people that are going through the same struggles. Please keep Zachary and Tyler in your prayers.http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/babytyler1 this is Tyler’s website

Stacey Elsenpeter

Last Night we brought Zachary in to the ER at the U of M. Zachary’s labs are NOT getting any better, and now his blood pressures are at 157/108 way to HIGH!! I will up date later when i have time.

We need lots of prayers,

Stacey Elsenpeter

I just got off the phone with a Doctor from Milwaukee, He is a very well respected Doctor. I was surprised by his phone call. Another Kidney family that we met at Camp Sunshine told him Zachary’s story and the problems that we are having. A change in plans! This is the hardest decisions that no parent should have to make! He feels that we should have the surgery done at Mayo with Dr Kramer, and have only the Mitrofanoff done and not the Nissen and bowel surgery all at the same time. He said having all of these surgeries with Zachary in Kidney faliure, at the same time is a gray area. And would be hard on his little body being under surgery for 10 hours at one time. We as parents want the BEST for Zachary and need to make the decision NOW. Time is running out. Zachary is  to have surgery at the U of M on Feb 27, in two weeks. It is so hard when three Hospital and 6 Doctor’s are all saying something different. So today I will be doing my research and making lots of phone calls to come up with a plan.  Also please pray for good labs this Friday!!

Jan 25 was Kiley’s 9th Birthday and the Best way to celebrate is having your own private suite at the T-WOLVES game. !!The T-Wolves honored Zachary has a “HERO IN THE MAKING” Zachary had a blast!!!! Our whole family watched the T-WOLVES warm up, we got lots of great pictures and Zachary was more into the Cheer Leaders than the players!!! At half time They told Zachary’s story and honored him with a Autograph ball and a Team Jersey with his name on it. The crowed gave him a standing ovation, that put me in tears. They also wished Kiley a Happy Birthday, Kiley has a hard time with Zachary always getting all of the attention, especially having this big event on her Birthday . So thank you everyone who made Jan 25th special day for Kiley too.

Thank you HopeKids for choosing Zachary for this special event.

This has not been a good year for Zachary. For the last 3 weeks Zachary’s labs have been AWFUL! It is so hard knowing that we are heading down that road again. That Awful Transplant road. It breaks my heart, Zachary is only 5 years old, he doesn’t understand. We had another Doctor’s appointment today with one of the surgeons that will be working on Zachary. Doctor Hess will make the first incision and remove all the scar tissue and adheadson’s around the large and small bowel, he will also redo Zachary’s Nissen that he loosened 2 years ago. Hopefully to get him off his J-tube feeds and help with his bowel obstructions.  Then the Urologist will give Zach a Mitrofanff. That will help Zachary empty his bladder and relieve the pressure on his Kidney. This is a very big surgery for Zachary. Each of the surgeries can take about 3-4 hour , so Zachary could be in surgery for 5- 10 hours. We hope that having the Mitrofanoff will give him more time with this Kidney. Our date for the surgery is Feb 27th, he will be admitted the night before for fluid and a bowel prep. I will try hard to keep you all posted during the surgery. We  need lots of prayers because some of the Doctors call this a gray surgery. So this is very scary for all of us. Zachary will not be a candidate for another Kidney Transplant until he has this surgery, so we need to follow are gut feels and give Zachary the best quality of life we can.

Thank you,

The Elsenpeter Family