Family Blog - 2011
Kelli's Page
February 22, 2011
Sadly, for those of you who do not know, Kelli passed away January 3, 2011. While
her years were short her life was long.
It wasn't until now that I could compile my thoughts and notes and place them in an
orderly fashion. Putting them down for everyone to see just makes it just
so.............final. And, I, quite frankly, am having a tough time saying good-bye.
That too, is just too final.
January 4, 2011
Not being of exactly sound minds following the death of our daughter, we had not given
another thought to not having an autopsy done until my dad rightly said that we needed to
have one done. He said, "Honey, you guys have always had Kelli be part of every research
study possible and you need to have an autopsy done now for two reasons. One, because
something strange happened and she died from something other than lung failure and you
will hate it for the rest of your life that you did not find out why she died and two, because
you need to provide an ending for her case study." Knowing he was right, we requested an
autopsy.
January 3, 2011
Our plan was to drive the boys to school and then return home to set out on our drive
for St. Louis. We were driving because we figured we would need a car while we were
there. Thinking that once Kelli gained weight, if she did need a transplant we would be
there probably 6 months. We all got up and ready to go and even though it was evident
Kelligar was feeling really bad she got dressed and let me curl her hair. She had just gotten
a new hair cut a few days prior. She was thinking she didn't want to drive with the boys to
school but then changed her mind with my prompting. It was good that she did because
she was able to kiss them and love them before we took off and the boys will always have
those fond memories of her in her final days with them. I was a mess, crying because I
thought it would be ages before Kelli and I returned home. Separating a family is hard, even
if you know it is for a great reason and only for a short time.
When we got home Kelli was still feeling bad and we decided that we would not start
TPNs again until she started feeling better, whenever that might be. We set off for St.
Louis. While we were still in Phoenix and had phone service, I called the pharmacist to ask
what we should do if while being on the road her sugar levels remained high after the initial
dosing of insulin as it had all day yesterday. I told him the instructions on the insulin bag
said to check her blood sugar level after two hours of being on TPNs and to administer to
the TPN bag the proper amount of insulin (according to the sliding scale instructions
provided to us). The pharmacist asked what do you mean add it to the insulin bag? I read
the instructions to him and he said that the insulin should be given directly into her arm not
into the bag. This made more sense us as this is what always occurred in the hospital when
they checked her levels and it was high. Again, I asked him what we should do if her sugar
levels remain high even after administration of the insulin. He said we really needed to let
him know so adjustments could be made to her TPNs. With that said, we decided that after
her next round of TPNs that if her blood sugar levels still were out of control we would not
give her any more TPNs until we got to SLCH.
We made it to Verde Valley turn off for a pit stop, whereby Kelli had a potato chip and
some water. Back on the road sometime later, Kelli sat straight up, cranked her oxygen to
high and then said, "momma I don't feel so good". She slammed both hands to her temple,
grabbed her hair with her hands and I yelled at her to stop it. She fell back limp and I
screamed at Kevin to pull over, and of course, we were on the part of the highway with no
shoulder. We stopped and pulled her out of the car and checked her blood sugar level
thinking that that was high and maybe that was what was causing her to act this way. Her
level was high (290) and we gave her the 8 units of insulin as indicated by our paperwork
into her arm and proceeded to do CPR. Luckily we had cell service and EMTs arrived
about 10 minutes later. Once in the ambulance we were driven to the Stoneman Lake
turnoff (about 45 minutes outside of Flagstaff) and a medical helicopter landed. After
working 27 minutes on Kelligar, she was still unresponsive and they called her time of
death. But I knew she was dead when I placed her in the EMTs arms. I knew she had
died in my arms.
Since she passed away alongside the freeway, DPS was called. We were told that if we
had a doctor who would sign off on Kelli then she would not have to go to the Yavapai
County Coroner's Office for an autopsy. I provided Dr. Hodges number at HLI to the
officers and Dr. Hodges was called and he signed off on Kelli's death. Kelligar was then
taken to a mortuary in Verde Valley. As soon as we got home we contacted a mortuary by
our house and told them that we wanted her body to be brought back to Phoenix for burial.
January 2, 2011
Today was much the same but she did receive some relief once the insulin was
administered into the bag of TPNs, though her sugar level did not come down much and
again we weaned her off the bag of TPNs.
Although she obviously felt terrible she was a trooper. She stayed up and played games
with the boys and us and even won the final round of Aggravation and then went to bed.
January 1, 2011
As with the first time Kelligar took TPNs a few months earlier, she felt terrible the entire
time she was on them. I think the calorie count and all the other additives were just too
much for someone who was severely malnourished. Anorexic to be technically correct.
She was sick most of New Year's Eve but her daddy got her out of bed and we all put on
our party hats and watched the ball drop in New York.
Her blood sugar levels were out of control and the days directly before and after the new
year were not fun. She was headachy and sick and stayed in bed all New Year's Day. In
fact, she was acting just like she had with the previous run of TPNs and that was what
alerted us to check her blood sugar levels. We weaned her off the TPNs with the phone
assistance of the pharmacist and the next day we received insulin with instructions on when
to check her and how much insulin to administer.
For those of you that follow Kelli's history, I did update 2010 as well. Thanks for
always loving Kelligar and for still continuing to hold her in your heart.
Sadly, for those of you who do not know, Kelli passed away January 3, 2011. While
her years were short her life was long.
It wasn't until now that I could compile my thoughts and notes and place them in an
orderly fashion. Putting them down for everyone to see just makes it just
so.............final. And, I, quite frankly, am having a tough time saying good-bye.
That too, is just too final.
January 4, 2011
Not being of exactly sound minds following the death of our daughter, we had not given
another thought to not having an autopsy done until my dad rightly said that we needed to
have one done. He said, "Honey, you guys have always had Kelli be part of every research
study possible and you need to have an autopsy done now for two reasons. One, because
something strange happened and she died from something other than lung failure and you
will hate it for the rest of your life that you did not find out why she died and two, because
you need to provide an ending for her case study." Knowing he was right, we requested an
autopsy.
January 3, 2011
Our plan was to drive the boys to school and then return home to set out on our drive
for St. Louis. We were driving because we figured we would need a car while we were
there. Thinking that once Kelli gained weight, if she did need a transplant we would be
there probably 6 months. We all got up and ready to go and even though it was evident
Kelligar was feeling really bad she got dressed and let me curl her hair. She had just gotten
a new hair cut a few days prior. She was thinking she didn't want to drive with the boys to
school but then changed her mind with my prompting. It was good that she did because
she was able to kiss them and love them before we took off and the boys will always have
those fond memories of her in her final days with them. I was a mess, crying because I
thought it would be ages before Kelli and I returned home. Separating a family is hard, even
if you know it is for a great reason and only for a short time.
When we got home Kelli was still feeling bad and we decided that we would not start
TPNs again until she started feeling better, whenever that might be. We set off for St.
Louis. While we were still in Phoenix and had phone service, I called the pharmacist to ask
what we should do if while being on the road her sugar levels remained high after the initial
dosing of insulin as it had all day yesterday. I told him the instructions on the insulin bag
said to check her blood sugar level after two hours of being on TPNs and to administer to
the TPN bag the proper amount of insulin (according to the sliding scale instructions
provided to us). The pharmacist asked what do you mean add it to the insulin bag? I read
the instructions to him and he said that the insulin should be given directly into her arm not
into the bag. This made more sense us as this is what always occurred in the hospital when
they checked her levels and it was high. Again, I asked him what we should do if her sugar
levels remain high even after administration of the insulin. He said we really needed to let
him know so adjustments could be made to her TPNs. With that said, we decided that after
her next round of TPNs that if her blood sugar levels still were out of control we would not
give her any more TPNs until we got to SLCH.
We made it to Verde Valley turn off for a pit stop, whereby Kelli had a potato chip and
some water. Back on the road sometime later, Kelli sat straight up, cranked her oxygen to
high and then said, "momma I don't feel so good". She slammed both hands to her temple,
grabbed her hair with her hands and I yelled at her to stop it. She fell back limp and I
screamed at Kevin to pull over, and of course, we were on the part of the highway with no
shoulder. We stopped and pulled her out of the car and checked her blood sugar level
thinking that that was high and maybe that was what was causing her to act this way. Her
level was high (290) and we gave her the 8 units of insulin as indicated by our paperwork
into her arm and proceeded to do CPR. Luckily we had cell service and EMTs arrived
about 10 minutes later. Once in the ambulance we were driven to the Stoneman Lake
turnoff (about 45 minutes outside of Flagstaff) and a medical helicopter landed. After
working 27 minutes on Kelligar, she was still unresponsive and they called her time of
death. But I knew she was dead when I placed her in the EMTs arms. I knew she had
died in my arms.
Since she passed away alongside the freeway, DPS was called. We were told that if we
had a doctor who would sign off on Kelli then she would not have to go to the Yavapai
County Coroner's Office for an autopsy. I provided Dr. Hodges number at HLI to the
officers and Dr. Hodges was called and he signed off on Kelli's death. Kelligar was then
taken to a mortuary in Verde Valley. As soon as we got home we contacted a mortuary by
our house and told them that we wanted her body to be brought back to Phoenix for burial.
January 2, 2011
Today was much the same but she did receive some relief once the insulin was
administered into the bag of TPNs, though her sugar level did not come down much and
again we weaned her off the bag of TPNs.
Although she obviously felt terrible she was a trooper. She stayed up and played games
with the boys and us and even won the final round of Aggravation and then went to bed.
January 1, 2011
As with the first time Kelligar took TPNs a few months earlier, she felt terrible the entire
time she was on them. I think the calorie count and all the other additives were just too
much for someone who was severely malnourished. Anorexic to be technically correct.
She was sick most of New Year's Eve but her daddy got her out of bed and we all put on
our party hats and watched the ball drop in New York.
Her blood sugar levels were out of control and the days directly before and after the new
year were not fun. She was headachy and sick and stayed in bed all New Year's Day. In
fact, she was acting just like she had with the previous run of TPNs and that was what
alerted us to check her blood sugar levels. We weaned her off the TPNs with the phone
assistance of the pharmacist and the next day we received insulin with instructions on when
to check her and how much insulin to administer.
For those of you that follow Kelli's history, I did update 2010 as well. Thanks for
always loving Kelligar and for still continuing to hold her in your heart.
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Kelli's Page