Home for the Holidays

Keegan is home!!! He was discharged today at about noon. Here is a basic recap of the past week.

Many of you know that we were fighting our insurance, because they were refusing to pay for Keegan surgery. Keegan had pre op on Monday, and at 11:46 am we got a call from the Medical Group Commander, telling us that TRIcare had approved Keegan's surgery. After a long week of fighting, is was nice to hear that everything was going to be covered.

Keegan needed to have a cardiac MRI done before he went into surgery, to get better pictures of where the surgeon needed to reduce. For a cardiac MRI you need to have a breathing tube, which means Keegan needed to be sedated and then on anesthesia. So the plan was to have the MRI done in the morning right before surgery, and after go straight to the OR, or the CICU if the OR wasn't ready yet.

Due to poor planning with Children's Hospital, Keegan was schedule for an 8:30 am MRI, but didn't actually get in until almost 1 pm. Poor Keegan was so hungry, because he had not eaten anything since the night before. They finished the MRI about 3 pm and the OR was ready for him.

Everything went very smoothly during surgery. We got to talk with the surgeon after, and he was very happy with the results of the surgery. Even his cardiologist was very happy with how Keegan looked after surgery. We finally got to see Keegan in the CICU at 8:30pm. It was difficult to see him, but I know that the surgery will improve his life.

Keegan recovered from surgery very quickly. They removed his breathing tube, 3 chest tubes, and his central neck IV, within the first 24 hours. He was drinking fluids and was awake later in the day. On the second day, they removed his arterial IV and moved him out of the CICU. This was less than 48 hours out of surgery!

He continued to do better every hour. He was more awake and eating. He started to smile and watch his favorite cartoons, (Dora and Diego.)

Keegan was discharged from the hospital today at noon. He is crawling around and playing. He is also eating more, and is in a good mood. I believe he is happy to be home. I know I am. Courtney was very happy to see us again. It has been a long hard week, but God has kept us safe and strong.

We want to say a big, THANK YOU, to everyone who has been praying for us. Keegan has had such an amazing recovery and I know that is because so many wonderful people are praying for him. We ask that you please continue praying that Keegan will continue to do as great as he has been. We also want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! We are so happy to be home for the holidays!

1st picture was right out of surgery
2nd picture is of Nathan and Keegan right before the took the breathing tube out
3rd is Keegan right after the breathing tube was taken out
4th is Keegan right after he was moved out of the CICU, 2 days after surgery
5th is Keegan on Friday December 21, "hanging out"
6th was taken this morning, right before discharge. If you know my kids, you know that they hate to wear clothes, thus the naked baby.

Keegan's Surgery Day

Today was a long day. Keegan was supposed to have a MRI at 8:30 this morning. But due to an emergency with another patient, everything was pushed back. So Keegan didn't get in until almost 1 pm. It was really frustrating, because he hadn't eaten anything since 6:00 last night. He was very fussy and very upset, as where Nathan and I. Finally at noon they gave him some sedation medicine. That was so hilarious. He was like a little drunk baby. He was laughing at everything, and saying Hi to everyone he saw. It was so funny. I wish I had got it on video. After the MRI, which lasted about 2 hours, he went straight into the OR. Everything went really well. His surgeon and cardiologist were very happy with the repair and how everything looks. Please pray for Keegan's recovery. I will be staying at the hospital, so I won't be able to blog. If you e-mail me at, nathan.lembke@gmail.com, I can email updates to you. I will post pictures soon.

More Good News!

Today at 11.46 am, we got a call from the Medical Group Commander, telling us that TRIcare has approved our request for Keegan's surgery! So our insurance is paying for the surgery. Praise God. Keegan is second case for surgery. They don't set times, because they don't know when the first case surgery will be over. First case usually starts at 7:30 am. Keegan needs to get an MRI tomorrow before surgery. That appointment is at 8:30 am. It will be another long day tomorrow. Please continue to pray that everything goes smoothly.

Pre OP tomorrow

Keegan has pre op tomorrow. It is an all day event. Blood work, lung scan, chest X-Ray, EKG and talking with both the surgeon and cardiologist. Most of the day is spent waiting. Keegan's last pre op lasted over 6 hours.

We got two storms this week. One on Thursday and one last night. Now there is snow and ice everywhere. Church was canceled this morning because it was still snow/sleeting. Here are some pictures of the snow, which is up to my knee. And pictures of Courtney playing with our Christmas tree. She LOVES the tree. She hugs it and points out all the colors of the lights. The first thing she does in the morning is go over to the tree and say, "Oh no tree!!" Because the lights are off. She likes all her toys to say hi and look at it. She makes my mom sit next to it and just stare at it. I have no idea why she loves it so.

And there is one picture of Keegan chewing on a train whistle.

Cross Your Fingers!

We are still at battle with our insurance. But it seems as though everything will work out somehow. We are planning on going forward with the surgery on the 18, and if our insurance doesn't cover it, then the Air Force is going to pay for it. We have a lot of good people on our side, who are fighting for us, and we just want to say a big THANK YOU, to everyone who is praying for us and for all your support. It means so much to us! So THANK YOU again, from the bottom of our hearts.

Please Please Pray

Our insurance has denied our claim for Keegan's surgery again. We are now going to a higher branch of TRIcare, to appeal to them. Please pray that we are able to get the necessary papers to finally get this appeal turned over.

Keep Adding on the Stress!!

If you haven't heard already, we are at war with our insurance! Well, not war exactly. More like a small battle. They have denied approval for Keegan's surgery. We are appealing it, with letters from his Cardiologist and Surgeon. Every time we call, we just get the run around. For some unknown reason, you cannot call the appeal department directly, and no one can give you the number. So therefore we are dealing with people who can't answer our questions, and they keep repeating their appeal policy. It is very frustrating when you just want to know the status of your appeal, and all they can tell you is, "yes, we received the fax you sent us." I want to know if someone has reviewed it or is it just sitting around gathering dust. Then they tell us they can send a request for a call back, which they have 48 hours to return your call. I hate sitting around waiting for something to happen. If that wasn't enough, everything seems to be covered in ice. And when you have two small kids, trying to go anywhere is already difficult, let's add some ice and your car is at the top of a steep hill. And Keegan still has his cough. Please pray for us. I am slowly losing my mind.

Changes

Due to scheduling errors at Children's Hospital, Keegan's surgery has been rescheduled for December 18. His surgeon is going to be out of the country on the 14. Please pray that things will not change again. He is also going to be started on a new medicine called Lovenox. This medicine comes in a form of a shot that must be given twice a day. We are going into Boston on Friday so Keegan can get more blood test and so I can learn how to give the shot. I am not looking forward to this. Pray that I will have the confidence to be able to give the shot.

Yum Yum

So I made the broccoli shake for Keegan, and he actually likes it! He wouldn't put it down. He drank half in like 2 minutes. I think he got full after that, because he didn't want any more. I guess that is what he is having as his afternoon snack. He is supposed to get about 1 cup of broccoli a day. I think from now on I will give it to him in the morning for breakfast. Here is a picture of the shake, it's green and tastes like bananas and broccoli. Also, for those of you who live in the south, a picture of it snowing on Monday. And a picture of Courtney and Keegan (with his broccoli shake.)

Lower Still

Keegan's INR level on Monday was 1.8! Which is very good that it is finally so low. His doctor is doing more test to see if there is a reason he reacting so dramatically to Coumadin. So it looks as though we will be going into Boston later this week or early next week. Oh the fun!