We took Kim to the doctor in Dallas yesterday. She continues to improve. We got her on a plan to get her off the addicting pain meds. She tried to go off cold turkey Wed night and it was not pretty. Thurs. she went to the doctor here to check on her pneumonia. She is cured from the pneumonia. He told her to get back on the pain meds and ask Dr. Wolford how to taper off. We now have a plan and some new, non-addictive medication.
Yesterday Kim started being able to eat some very soft food, like scrambled eggs, without having it pureed. Today she swallowed her first pill. Yea!

Kim developed double pneumonia and is now at Seton Northwest Hospital. She would probably have been sent home if it were not for her compromised condition because of the surgery. They have started her on IV antibiotics. We hope she will not be here long.

Kim went to see Dr. Wolford in Dallas on Friday. He was pleased with how she was doing. She is improving each day, but the progress is slow. She still needs quite a bit of pain medication. Early mornings are hard for her, but she seems to feel better as the day goes by. She is going to physical therapy three times a week for nerve stimulation. This week she will also see her orthodontist. She does not have to return to Dallas to see Dr. Wolford until June 3rd. She is enjoying your emails, visits, and cards.

Kim had a rough day yesterday. She had to go to Dallas to see Dr. Wolford. It was a long trip and really tired her out. The doctor was very pleased with her progress. She no longer has to wear her abdominal wrap, which makes her very happy. All medications except pain medication have been discontinued. All food restrictions have been lifted, but she is still very limited by her lack of mobility and inability to chew. The doctor loosened her rubber bands and she can now fit a very small baby spoon in her mouth. Her food still needs to be pureed, but she can spoon it in a little. She loves getting emails, but is still unable to answer more than a couple a day before she gets too tired. Thanks for all your prayers and support.

It is good to be home. We spent the day settling in - washing clothes, cooking up meals for Kim and getting back to normal. Tomorrow I go back to work. Tracy will take care of Kim. Hopefully they will get along with extended time together. Kim has had a good day. She is much more alert and has been up all day. She should sleep well tonight.

Great News!!! We went to Dr. Wolford's this morning and ha said Kim could return to Austin. We hurried back to the hotel, packed, checked out and drove to Austin. Kim did O.K. although the motion of the car was a little hard for her. She is feeling better today. She has been out of bed all day. She will be staying at our house for awhile. Our address is 14504 Crystal Court. She would love visitors, but not all at once. Thanks for your continued prayers for her.

Kim had a better day today.She had a little more energy. She stayed awake most of the day with just one short nap. Of course, it is 8P.M. and she is asleep. We visited Dr. Wolford at 4:30. He said she is doing well. He removed some of the rubber bands from her teeth, so she can open her mouth a little better. He told her she could use a straw, but when she tried her lips would not close around the straw so it didn't work. But, she has the O.K. when she can. He also said she could begin to have foods with milk in them, but not straight milk or milk shakes yet. She is looking forward to approval for that. He also changed her pain medication. She can still have the other if needed, but it is very addictive and he wants to get her off of it ASAP. The new medicine tastes awful.  That may be so she will only want it when really needed. It will be nice when she can swallow a pill again so she doesn't have to use the liquid form.
Dr. Wolford now says he wants her to stay in Dallas until Monday. I will be returning to Austin on Sunday so I can get back to work. Her Dad will stay with her. He has been a good nurse, but I think Kim would like to get rid of both of us at times. The better she feels, the harder we are to deal with I'm sure.

Kim spent most of the day in bed. She had awakened a lot during the night, so she was very tired. She did want to get out late this afternoon, so we took her for a short car ride. Since her eyes are not focusing too well, she said it was a little hard when the car was moving fast. Moving slow was better.
Last night the doctor said she can probably go back to Austin this weekend - probably on Sunday. I know it will be a difficult trip for her, but I know she will be glad to get back to Austin. She will need to come to Dallas every week or two for awhile to see Dr. Wolford. We have started cutting back a little on her pain medication. She notices more pain, but so far says it is tolerable. She was able to read a little bit today for the first time. It is hard on her eyes, but it does help pass the time when she is awake.

Kim has been sleeping better the last two nights. One pill that they were having her take to relax her at night was instead causing her to have hallucinations and scary nightmares. they have halved the dosage on it, and she is doing better. Yesterday she stayed in bed all day until it was time to go to go to the doctor. She is still very tired and weak. The doctor removed her stitches and said she is looking good. We will see him again tonight and then we may start seeing him only every other day. We still don't know when she can return to Austin, but we are hoping it will be in four or five more days.
This morning she slept until about 11:30 and then got up and took her shower. After medicine and lunch she fell back asleep. She is still having trouble with her right eye. It won't blink all the way and stays dry or watering all the time. It is very sensitive to light. The doctor said it is caused by a stretched muscle and should come back, but he is not sure how long it will take. In the meantime, it is driving her crazy. Pray for quick recovery of that muscle.
Kim loves hearing by email what is going on with everyone. If she is too tired or her eye is bothering her too much, we read her emails to her.
She cannot respond because it is too tiring. She is still unable to talk on the phone because it is tiring and painful. However, she can talk -  she really got going last night. She speaks very softly and tires easily.
That's all for now.

We are now getting settled at Residence Inn, Room 132. Last night we got dismissed from the hospital too late for pharmacies to be open. I was hurrying to get Kim some pain killer before hers wore off. It was not close to an all night pharmacy and then when I got there it was a long wait to get the medicines. By the time I got back Kim was in quite a bit of pain, but the medicine kicked in pretty quickly. We are setting an alarm for every three hours to give the medicine. Reminds me of when I had babies - not a lot of sleep. Kim was able to stay awake most of the morning. Eating still exhausts her and she is not able to get much down before tiring or falling asleep. I should join her diet - I am the one who needs it. We will go see the doctor sometime this afternoon when he gets finished with surgery. Now I'm off to the laundry in the next building.

Yea!!! We are going to leave the hospital. Kim has done better today, but is very drowsy. This is partly from lack of sleep and partly from medications. We are moving to Residence Inn on North Central Expressway. Kim will be seeing the doctor every day for awhile. I think she will feel better just getting out of the hospital. Maybe she can get some sleep without the constant interruptions to check her vital signs, get medication, empty the trash etc. I know Tracy and I will enjoy moving on.

7A.M. Sun.
Kim had a better afternoon yesterday and was able to take a shower. She started on oral pain medication, but is still needing the pump some also. Unfortunately she had a miserable night. She is very congested and it makes it difficult to breathe. When she falls asleep she wakes up gasping for air and thinking she is drowning. She is having nightmares also.
This morning she is doing a little better and we are praying for improvement today. Kim is very discouraged, but the nurse and doctor have both assured us she is doing well. This has just been a major trauma to her body and will take some time.
Thanks for your prayers and emails. We have had some trouble with the wifi here in the hospital. We can receive emails, but it is not always letting us send them.

Sat. Morning
Mornings don't seem to be too good for Kim. She has been exhausted this morning. She doesn't have any energy. They have started her on some liquid medications. They are strong and hurt her throat as well as taste bad. We are mixing them with Boost so she can tolerate them. It takes a lot of energy to get them down using a syringe. So, she is spending the day taking medicine and sleeping between doses. It looks like we will spend another night at the hospital. Please keep sending her emails. She loves to read them when she is feeling up to it. It is hard for her to respond at this time, but she loves hearing from her friends. Let her know what is going on in Austin and at church. Humor is helpful too.
We have been praying for rain and Dallas is going to get quite a bit starting tomorrow. It will also turn cold. Of course we had planned for dry, warm weather. We forgot to get specific with our prayers and ask that the rain be in Austin.

Kim was so exhausted from the morning that she slept most of the afternoon. The doctor has left an order for her to get an extra boost of pain killer when she needs it. We think that when she sleeps she doesn't push her pain button at regular intervals and the dosage gets too low. Then she is suddenly in a lot of pain. He does not want us to wake her up to push it because she needs the sleep. Now that she can get it as needed I hope she won't get to the extreme level she got to today. It is now 7:30 and Kim is sound asleep. Sounds good to me too.

Things change rapidly around here. Kim had a good night and got a little sleep. However, this morning she has had a setback. She was in extreme pain. Once again she could not swallow. She was feeling like she was drowning because she could not suction up whatever was in the back of her throat, nor could she swallow. After a call to the doctor they gave her an extra dose of pain med. That has helped and she is sleeping a lot. Dr. Wolford said he would come in shortly to check on her. He thinks she may be having muscle spasms in her throat. He has been very attentive. He and his assistant doctor come by early every morning and about 8:00 each night.
Fortunately his office is just in the next building.
We were sort of expecting a setback today because we had heard the third day was the worst. Hopefully things will take a quick upswing. Kim wrote on the whiteboard and said, " I don't want to hear any more stories about childbirth - I'm sure I have them all beat for pain"
It is now 12:30 and she is trying to squirt in a little soup - definitely an improvement from earlier today.

Good news! The new pain medication has really helped. Kim is feeling much better. She was able to swallow liquids better today. The doctor warned that her swelling might increase tomorrow, but we will hope that doesn't have a huge effect. Dr. Wolfed said he will probably release her from the hospital on Sat. They have to make sure she can take oral pain medication and get a lot of liquids down. The pressure bandage got removed from her stomach today and she will wear a pressure wrap for about a week. It is removable, so she can shower tomorrow. She can't wait!
Thanks for the prayers! God has kept us at peace and given us a lot of strength this week.

Kim had a very rough start to the day. She developed an allergy to the morphine and every time she pumped it for pain she started severe itching. They used benedril during the night to help, but she didn't want to push the morphine button for fear of the itching. Consequently, her pain became intense. They switched from morphine to something else and it has helped a lot. It is very painful for her to swallow and because her throat is swollen and numb she has a very hard time getting anything down. The doctor has assured her that she is on schedule and doing well. I'm sure she is discouraged however. Pain is never fun. Thank you all for your comments and prayers. She loves hearing from you. When she is feeling like it she checks her email.
I spent the night in her room last night. You never get much rest in a hospital. Just about the time you get to sleep someone comes in to check something and turns on a light. The pull out couch is fairly comfortable, but I am pretty tired today. Tracy came early this morning and I went to our hotel room to freshen up.
Kim is taking short walks down the hall, but gets tired very easily. Hopefully she will get stronger each day.

Kim got moved to Room 1618 at the Roberts Hospital at Baylor Hospital at 5:00A.M. We had never been at Baylor Hospital before, but it is pretty amazing. There are quite a few hospitals all connected by hallways. They have a very good cafeteria as well as several markets that serve meals and snacks. Kim's room is a suite. There is an extra room attached with a couch, chairs, a T.V., and a separate bathroom. We could move in, but I don't think we would get any sleep. I think we will just take turns going back to the hotel to rest. The hotel is in the hospital. Very convenient.
Kim is very swollen and her head is wrapped in ice. She eats by squirting liquid thru a syringe. It is very tedious and she tires easily. Her right eye won't close all the way, but the doctor said this will go away. Last night her left eye was drooping, but today it is fine.
She is pleased to report that she can actually breathe much better already, her mouth closes more easily and there is more room in her mouth for her tongue. I'm glad she is finding some positive outcome already.

We visited Kim in recovery. She gave us a thumbs up upon hearing that her surgery went well. She is very swollen, has nasal tubes,oxygen, and her face is wrapped like a mummy in ice packs. She can't talk, and it will take us awhile to interpret her sign language. When she gets a room in the morning we will become her primary care-takers. We will take her dry erase board in so she can write messages. As we left she gave us a Hook-em Horns sign!

It is 4:00 . Kim just got out of surgery and is in the recovery room. We will get to go see her in about an hour. Dr. Wolford came to visit with us and said the surgery went very well.
He was able to move her upper teeth as one unit (instead of having to split it into three parts). He said he was able to match up the bones so that they met bone to bone which will really help her recovery. I'm sure the next few days will be miserable for her, but I know she will be glad the surgery is over and she can start the healing process. Thanks for all your prayers! God is good!!!

Kim's surgery began at 8:15. It is expected to last about 8 1/2 hrs. The nurse in the operating room calls us every hour and a half to let us know how things are going. It is now about 10:10. The nurse just called and said everything is going well. Kim will stay in recovery overnight and have at least one nurse with her at all times. We will get to visit her in recovery briefly and then we will try to get a good night's sleep so we can be in good shape to help Kim when she goes to a room early tomorrow morning.

We spent the morning in Dr. Wolford's office getting x-rays, impressions, and measurements. A lady was there who had TMJ replacement last week. She was doing very well. Kim' surgery will be more extensive with the moving of the upper teeth, but it was interesting to visit with her and get some tips.
The afternoon was spent waiting at the hospital for blood work, paper work, EKG and other pre-op stuff. Mostly it was a lot of waiting!!
We had an early dinner and will go to bed early. Kim checks in at the hospital tomorrow morning at 5AM.

Kim has begun preparing for surgery by changing her diet. She cannot have chocolate,salt,caffeine,or milk products. She is drinking lots of water.