Help Zachary » Hospital/Health

This is 5 yr old Zachary’s website who is in Kidney failure

elsenpeters — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:41:59 +0000

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

WOW… To everybody that has left a massage or has visited Zachary’s website today.. I just want to say how touched I am. Reading all these massages I am overwhelmed and grateful that there are so many people out there that care. I think having this other website that is named the same as ours as been a blessing, this happened for a reason. Maybe it will help find Zachary’s HERO.

There are so many amazing people out there that want to get tested to be Zachary’s HERO..I am crying here as I type. This is all new for us to find a donor, My Husband donated the 1st Kidney.

The Drs. just started talking about how Zachary’s kidney is not responding to This treatment, and soon it would be best to start looking for a new kidney.

I still have faith and believe in MIRACLES.. and maybe God is telling me that it is time to let go, and look at all these people that care and are willing to help.

When I know more about what the process is I will for sure let everybody know..
I do know his blood type… A+

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers,

Stacey Elsenpeter
Proud Mother of Zachary

We Need Answers!

elsenpeters — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 17:28:07 +0000

We need answers! Zachary had another rough night with no sleep! And now he lost another IV! The DRS came in and are now mad that they cancelled the Pick Line today, me too!

I was going to explain a little about Zachary’s Nissen ; What is going on is that, The Nissen is very swollen and irritated nothing can pass, so all the spit and saliva that you make in your mouth that you are suppose to swallow sits on top of the esophagus and every 2-5mins he will need to throw it up. Not FUN, last night he was crying half the night wanting it to stop! The DRS still say they won’t loosen it for at least another 4 weeks!! That is way too long with him throwing up 60-100 times a day!!!

The Plan today is to talk to the DRS in releasing Zachary tomorrow to see if he will do better at home in his own environment. Zachary is exhausted beyond exhaustion; he needs to sleep. Physical therapy came today and all he did was cry and his poor legs are so weak, every time he would stand they would shake. Then speech came in and his eye would just roll back into his head. I finally had everybody leave so he could nap and then lab came back! Give this kid a break! He is so exhausted. Zachary is finally asleep, I put a sign on the door that says “DO NOT DISTURB!! We will see if that works.

I hope they will just let me take him home and get a home health nurse to come out daily to check on him and draw labs. There is nothing more they can do for him in here. We have been in for 21 days in less than a month, way too long. The DRS and nurses all call Zachary the mystery child, how comforting is that.

Thank you all for your thought and prayers, if we go home tomorrow I will still update daily on Zachary’s progress.

Stacey

Baby steps forward!

elsenpeters — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 04:12:39 +0000

Zachary is having a better night with some baby steps forward. Zachary is just starting his TPN for nutrition, this is day 6 with no food and he is losing weight. He is now down to 35.5lb from 39.5 not good. He is still throwing up about every 30mins -so the DRS are still keeping a close on that. The DRS stopped his pain meds and acouple others this morning because of him Hallucinating. Zachary went 6 hours without anything and was in lots of pain. I was rubbing his back and we had hot packs on his tummy and back. Finally at 5 they decided that he needed to be back on them. He has not Hallucinated at all tonight ,so that is good! I was getting a little scared because he was describing the people that he was seeing. The Nurses think that he is maybe seeing angels or somthing. He is not scared when he sees them so that is good. Zachary has not passed any gas yet, his tummy is getting big and hard. We need him to pass gas so we can start to feed him.

I talked to the DRS about the light at the end of the tunnel, and are ticket out of here . He said that Zachary needs to-

1) pass gas

2) no more fevers ! he still has a low grade going on day 5

3) no more throwing up

4) pain under control

5) tolerate him G-tube feeds

6) no more Hallucinating

7) walk with no help

poop

9) Tolerate his meds down his G-tube

10) HELP!! I think we are going to be here for a while.

Overall Zachary is looking much better today and is heading down the right road.

This is cute=-God is like.
BAYER ASPIRIN
He works miracles.

God is like.
a FORD
He’s got a better idea.

God is like.
COKE
He’s the real thing.

(This is great)

God is like.
HALLMARK CARDS
He cares enough to send His very best.

God is like.
TIDE
He gets the stains out that others leave behind.

God is like.
GENERAL ELECTRIC
He brings good things to life.

God is like.
SEARS
He has everything.

God is like.
ALKA-SELTZER
Try Him, you’ll like Him

God is like.
SCOTCH TAPE
You can’t see Him, but you know He’s there.

God is like.
DELTA
He’s ready when you are.

God is like.
ALLSTATE
You’re in good hands with Him.

God is like.
VO-5 Hair Spray
He holds through all kinds of weather.

God is like.
DIAL SOAP
Aren’t you glad you have Him? Don’t you wish everybody did?
(that one is my favorite)

God is like.
the U.S. POST OFFICE
Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet nor ice will keep Him from His appointed destination.

God is like.
Chevrolet. . . .the heart beat of America 0D

God is like
Maxwell House. . .
Good to the very last drop

God is like.
Bounty. .. . .
He is the quicker picker upper. . can handle the tough jobs. . .and He won’t fall apart on you

Oh I forgot, Thank you Jay ST crew for the gift card, I ‘m turing into a butter ball from all the food that I’m eating!!

My Montage

elsenpeters — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 18:44:41 +0000

Zachary in the hospital again

elsenpeters — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 04:22:13 +0000

Kidney Walk 2007

Always on the holiday’s. On July 3rd at 11pm, Zachary was having really bad belly pain so off to the U of M hospital. Zachary had a VCUG done a couple of days prior, with a return visit the next day for emergency surgery to fix a collapsed urethra. So with his bad belly pain we thought it would be best to head to the hospital. After a long night and lots of pain and vomiting. The doctors discovered that Zachary had 4 areas of the bowel that were obstructed by adhesions from all for the surgery that has had. Four days later we returned home on a new medication, to make his daily med now up to 14!!!! Before his transplant Zachary was on 21 meds daily so 14 seem quite manageable. Zachary has a bladder study on August 4, at the U of M. He has been having trouble with going potty for about a year now. He can hold 700cc in his bladder at one time, normal is 200 at one time. We pray that the doctor’s can figure out how to fix the problem, so the kidney doesn’t get damage anymore. Two summers ago Zachary’s lab counts were jumping around alot. They performed a biopsy that told us that he was going into chronic kidney failure again. My main concern is to protect that new kidney.

We will be participating in the National Kidney Foundation walk again this year on October 11. If you would like to walk with us or donate please check out our web page.

Kidney Walk Site

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers,

The Elsenpeter Family

Zachary seems to like the the hospital this year

elsenpeters — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 20:46:00 +0000

Zachary seems to like the hospital this year. On Jan we made our way back to the Uof M for a week visit. Zachary had server diarrhea for about two weeks. So his Doctors thought that it would be best to see what was going on. After they did an x’ray of his tummy they just about fell over. He had a blockage and his colon was the size of his pelvic bones. The extra fluid was going around the blockage causing the diarrhea. So one painful fleet enema he was able to pass it. The Doctors think that part of his colon might be dying off. So they sent him home on two new meds to help keep his Bowels moving . It was camp week at the hospital {Camp Get A wella} Zachary had his Hair cut, Grandma Gina had her nails done. face painting, tie dyed shirts, como zoo brought some animals,puppy dog show,and crafts everyday. The funnest stay ever at the hospital, it was almost hard for us to leave. NOT!! But we did have a lot of fun. Then In March Zachary had surgery to repair the tip of his penis,they also scoped his bladder and urethra, all went well. APRIL Zachary started speech and OT down at the U of M twice a week and also started having problems with his Creatinine levels{kidney function} going high. So labs 3 times a week things did settle down His cretinine settled at 0.9 higher then they like but we will take. MAY came and Zachary was driving his Lighting McQueen car and passed out, we think from a high fever {103.8} so back in the hospital for a three day stay, some labs IV fluids, EEG that showed he is having some sort of tick syndrome going on. Zachary has been blinking his eyes lot for about a year now. He had a ERG on his eyes in Feb. that showed that his retina looks a little thin . Not to concerning just a eye check up with Dr Sommer’s every 6 months.We are all home for now ,with colds so Please pray we are all healthy for Zachary’s {Make A Wish} trip to Disney World on June 25.
Thank you for all your support and prayers
The Elsenpeters

New Years visit to the hospital

elsenpeters — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 01:36:00 +0000

New Years Day Morning we woke up to Zachary having a fever of 105.2, so we packed our bags and drove to the Hospital. Great way to start off the New year!!!! Well a 3 day stay and lots of test and lab draws. Zachary had some sort of viral infection that really knocked him down. They sent us home Wednesday night we had them leave his IV in his arm. Zachary had a eye surgery we had previously scheduled for the next morning. After settling into our third room we really wouldn’t have minded staying over night to avoid the hassle of packing up and going home only to return at 7:00a.m the next morning. Zachary did very well with his eye surgery. While he was out they did a exam and performed a ERG (Electroretinogram) this is an eye test that evaluates the function of the film (retina). Their intial thought is his retina looks a little thin. We will not have the results back for a couple of weeks. We are all home and well. Hopefully, this year will be a healthy year for all of us. Zachary had a doctors appointment today at the U of M with Dr. Najara, (his kidney specialist) for his 6 month check. She didn’t like that he hadn’t made any significant weight gain. His speech is delayed and he is still being feed through his g-tube. I have tried everything, two years later and still struggling. We meet with a new speech and feeding specialist on Jan 25 hopefully we have progress. However, she was impressed with how he has matured. He was very cooperative and eager to be looked over. Not at all how he acted a year ago.
The rest of the family is doing great. Wade has an appointment next Friday to have a physical and to check his one good kidney. {Which is long over do, 2yrs}.
Kiley is doing great in school and gymnastics. Kiley will turn 7 on Jan 25, the day we meet with the speech specialist.
Austin is getting so big and sharing clothes with Zach. He is walking all over and trying hard to talk.
Stacey is busy making Doctor appointments, going to doctor appointments , taking kiley to gymnastic and lots of laundry. Just all that fun stuff.

God bless you all and Happy New year

Thank you for all your continued thoughts and prayers

The Elsenpeters

TWO YEARS AGO DADDY GAVE ME HIS KIDNEY

elsenpeters — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 03:17:00 +0000

Hey all!!, Zachary’s two year anniversary is December 1st. Wow that went fast. Zachary had labs today and his creatinine was down to 0.6, Yippy. That is the lowest it has been in about 3 months. Well the rest of Zach is doing alright, his EBV( related to cancer) has gone up and down like a rollercoaster from 4600-17,000. I’ll take the 4,600 anyday. Zach had a EEG done today for the blinking of his eyes which we should get the results back by Monday. They think he might have a little tick. He has a couple of procedures coming up in the next month, an MRI on Monday for his chest and a EER for his eyes. They think that his retina might be detaching. Since they are not sure, it’s better to be safe then sorry. Some more good news! Zachary loves CHEESE, Not the smile – the food! He will eat and swallow a whole piece.

Now the rest of the family: Kiley is doing great in school, She has gotten 100% on every spelling test but one. Way to go Kiley!! Austin is getting so big 26lbs and growing, not walking on his own yet but all around the house with his push walker. Wade is working so hard just to support his family what a guy, you can’t ask for anything more, and me, just doing research everyday on the diagnoses they keep coming up with.

The baby featured in the photos is Zacharys baby doll and he has been taking such good care of him. The doll has also been equipted with a mickey-button(feeding tube) just like Zachary!

God bless you all and Happy start to your Holidays.

-Stacey-

Zachary’s update

elsenpeters — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 03:19:00 +0000

I know it’s been a long time since we have updated. A lot has been going on. Zachary has had high blood pressure and his lab levels have been higher then the doctors would like to see. Zachary had a kidney biopsy about two weeks ago. The results were not good. It showed that he is in chronic kidney failure. Forty percent of the kidney has already died off. The positive!! Is that he still has 60 percent left. They started him on a new drug that will hopefully slow down the process of the kidney failure and give him a little more time before another Transplant. I asked the doctors when they think this might happen and they said sooner then later. So talk about stress. I can’t imagine Zachary going through another Transplant. Three of our good friends, And my mom Gina are willing to get tested to see if they might be a match. Zachary has school every Tuesday and loves it. He is talking so much. Only I can understand him but, that is how it starts. The rest of our family is doing good, Wade is back working days. Kiley is loving school and is doing great in gymnastics. Austin is getting so big he is 24lb and crawling all over. As for myself I am doing great just happy to see my family growing bigger and stronger each day. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. GOD BLESS YOU ALL

Love Stacey

Nissenfundalplacation Surgery 6/6/06

elsenpeters — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 19:24:00 +0000

Zachary, underwent surgery again this past Tuesday. The procedure went pretty well. They first attempted to do it laproscopically. The surgeon felt it was not safe, because of all the scar tissue from transplant and following procedures. Zachary was re-opened and I pray this will be it for a very long time! He’s recovery was painful, but is going very well now. His J-feeding tube that bypasses the stomach was removed. ( not necessary anymore) Two meds were removed from his list : Previcid, and Pepcid. He still has G-feeding tube for meds and feeds. We are anxious to see if now he will begin attemping to swallow food. He is also going to be attending a feeding clinic at Childrens Hospital. This procedure is supposed to last 10-15yrs and will also help to prevent cancer of the esophagus. Zachary’s only upcoming procedure is a eye study, which he will need to be put under for. We are looking forward to a super fun summer.

Check out the last uploads for the most current photo’s

-Wade-