I can’t believe that summer is over and the kids are back in school.  Zachary has had a rough summer with surgeries, hospital stays, and lots of procedures to see why his bladder is not working right.  The Doctors are still trying to figure out what will be best for Zachary.  It sounds like we might have to go to Milwaukee to see a specialist about his bladder.  He had labs draw on Friday that came back a little scary for all of us.  His potassium is really high and sodium is low.  That could cause him to go into Cardiac arrest.  His creatinine and the rest of his labs were also way off.  The Doctors started him on 4 new meds and changed his Blood Pressure med to hopfully get him back on track.  On Monday we are back in for lab draws again, Please pray that these meds help control his Electrolites.  If this doesn’t get under control he Doctors said they will have to start him on Dilaiysis .  We are definately NOT ready for another Transplant.  Zachary is also on a strict diet, not that he eats alot because he is still J-tube feed .  Zachary loves cheese and that is one of his restricted foods.

           On the good side Zachary finally has his own room, with the help of our Kidney friends The Schmitz    family.  Their son Layton who is 4 just got his Daddy’s kidney 1 month ago and he is doing great!!!! Wade’s friend Dave helped out with the finishing work, Thank’s Dave.

Zachary also is starting school on Monday.  Depending on his labs, If they are way off we are back in the hospital for more testing.

Our family went to St. Patricks Church on Saturday for there fall festival.  We all had a great time, Zachary and Austin loved the clown show.  After the show I ask them it they would donated there time for a special event for Hope Kids, which is a great organization for kids with a life theating illness. The clowns face just about fall to the ground.  They are also a Hope Kids family. Their son had Luekemia and is doing great, what a small world.

 On Sunday Hope Kids had there Annual Festival.  The Kids all had a blast!!! They had 10 Inflatable bounchers, Mini Golf, Rock climbing wall, Petting Zoo, Horse back rides, Lots of food and the Gopher Athletes put on sport clinics for all the childern.  Kiley thought it was pretty neat to meet all of the gymnast.  They even spotted her on some tricks.  Zachary also got to meet a lot of his favorite Super Hero’s.  Check out the picture’s.

Once again our family is walking in the National Kidney Foundation walk on October 11, at Midway Stadium. If you would like to walk or sponser our family. Go to www.kidneywalk.org MN Go toTeam Zachary

Zachary’s youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLt1V56w4aM

Kiley’s video http://www.onetruemedia.com/otm_site/auth_preview?work_id=7256395

Elsenpeter Family

Hello, to all of Zachary’s fans!!

Zachary is doing great, his kidney function goes up and down like a roller coaster but, overall he is hanging in there. This winter he only had one hospital stay that lasted 4 days. He did miss a lot of school from having colds and other childhood illnesses. As a result this summer Zachary gets to go to summer school! from June 5-8. Our family just got back from a 4 day vacation at Three Bears Resort in Warrens, WI. We were invited to go to the very first Camp Sunshine for kidney and lupus kids. We met so many great family’s that are going through the same things as us, we are not alone. They provided a beautiful log cabin with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen, laundry , 3 meals a day and a golf cart to get around. Zachary, Kiley and Austin all went to day camp while the parents had discussion, played games, and told their story’s about their amazing children. During our free time we had a blast in the amazing indoor water park! They had a great doctor on site , psychosocialist, and many wonderful volunteers. We are so grateful for the opportunity to go to Camp Sunshine and to have expanded our support network!

The Elsenpeter Family

Happy Birthday Zachary!!! Zachary turned 4 years old today, wow where did the time go. December 1st also was a special day, Zachary’s 3 year kidney anniversary . Sorry for the late updates. Zachary has had a rough couple of months. It started with a funny sounding snort that turned into clearlying of the throat and some rough nights of not alot of sleep and now Pneumonia induesed from him aspirating. So on his 4th birthday back to the hospital for a G-J tube. Zach will be hooked back up to J-tube feeds untill spring time, they want his lungs to heal. The kidney has had a lot of ups and down, we had a scare about a month ago with a high creatinine level which is the kidney function, and just not good labs. they had to draw labs every other day for about a week, not fun. Zachary is having another surgery on Jan 7 to remove his adenoids and scope his esophagus with some biopys of the lungs, tonsil, stomach and check to see how much of his nissen has come apart. Zach had a nissen a year ago to help with his throwing up and from not aspirating, which is not working any more. A nissen is when they tie off the top part of the stomach so his acid and food would stay down. It did’nt last long and boy that was a hard surgery on him for nothing!!!

Now with our family life, Kiley is doing great in school, she is once again one of the top spellers in 2nd grade. Starting in Jan, Kiley will be moving up to Team in Gymnastics, they are getting her ready to compete.

Zachary is in preschool when he is not sick, He has great teachers and is loving the interaction with kids his own age. The eatting is getting alot better but still only little bits here and there.

Austin is weighing in at 31.5 pound, more then Zach, Austin will be two years old on December 28. Wow where did that time go. Him and Zachary love to wrestle around and jump of all the furniture.

Wade is doing great, he has all week off before Christmas to hang out with us. His job is alittle slow with the freezing tempture.

Stacey is doing great, spending lots of time at doctor appointments and lots of laundry.

Merry Christmas,
Please keep us in your prays, for a good year to come.

Love,

The Elsenpeters

More pictures and updates coming soon!!!!!