Finally an update...

Emily is still doing well at this time.  She has had some issues with her J button with irritation on her skin around the button but that is getting better.  She also had some sinus issues, like the rest of us, a few weeks ago but that's all better.

The biggest news is that Emily is a new mama.  She has 2 chihuahua puppies who are brothers. Their names are Stetson and Lil Loper. They are small and very cute and they like to play, sleep and eat.

Emily has done well with homeschool and we hope to be done with first grade by the end of April.

She hasn't been able to ride her horse recently due to all the ice, snow and rain. We are hoping that maybe this Tuesday will be her next ride. We want to make sure she keeps up her core strength that she has built.

The Spirit of Christmas

Yesterday we were honored when a large group of Dave's coworkers chose Emily as one of their Christmas Angels. They all purchased t-shirts from her COTA campaign (although because of an issue at the t-shirt company they did not all have their t-shirts...but they will have them tomorrow). Emily was there to get her picture taken with the group. This was a special surprise for all of us. Thank you to all who participated.

Yesterday Emily had her 7yr check up with the Pediatrician.   He said 2 years ago pretransplant she was at the 25th percentile for her height and now she is at the 75th percentile.  So happy for her progress and growth.  She is now loving strawberries and fresh peaches.  We are still working with her GI doc to get the area around her j button to heal.  She has graduated from once a week labs to every two weeks and riding season has started back at Jake E's Riding Round Up.  Tonight is her first official ride this session. We have a big weekend planned with Em's nephew Vinny so that should be fun.

The T -Shirts have been ordered and hopefully we will have them, in hand, in the next week or 2. (We have to make it home first) This is a new fundraising event thru COTA to help replace funds we have had to use from Emily's COTA acct during this stay, in Nebraska, it started out as a week long stay and will end (hopefully) at 5 weeks.

We have just 2 colors this time, Candy Pink and Sapphire Blue. The design of this represents this: on the front, the horseshoe and clover represents Emily and her running buddy, Chad. Chad has brought so many smiles to Emily's face and has worked so hard in his exercise and dedicated all that time for her. He has become very important in our lives. The back represents 2 things...1. Where Emily is at, since transplant and 2. The fact that in Emily's life, the journey doesn't end with transplant, this is a way of life and an ongoing process.

The cost for anyone wanting to contribute to this fundraiser is $15 for sizes Small thru XLarge and $17 for 2 XLarge or larger. Because of the extra cost for new screens to be made, we will not have children sizes this time.

As we did the last time payments can be made thru COTA at the following page:

http://cota.donorpages.com/PatientOnlineDonation/COTAforEmilyGraceS

Or we can accept cash and we will send in that payment to COTA. If you are paying by personal check either mailing a payment to us or giving to one of our volunteers, please make that check payable to COTA with memo of CotaforEmilyGraceS. We will mail those to COTA so it may take a little bit to clear. If making a payment thru the COTA page: you can just send a private message on Facebook to Dave, me or a volunteer you are working with, a screenshot of your receipt along with color choice(s) and size(s). If you are a distance buyer and aren't buying thru one of our volunteers please also include an address.  Thank you so much.

Update:

UPDATE: about Emily's COTA (Childrens Organ Transplant Association) page: Emily's COTA blog page is over 2 years old now so COTA has discontinued the blog page. We have come back to this original blog page for updates. Eventually I will move over all of the blogs from the COTA page. The donation page for COTA is still open at:

http://cota.donorpages.com/PatientOnlineDonation/COTAforEmilyGraceS

We will be having a new T Shirt fundraiser event coming up soon. The T Shirt is a new design with a new company and has been designed to represent life since transplant. We are so excited about this new shirt. Stayed tuned...

Third times a charm...

I'm sure everyone within the United States heard, Emily had a new feeding device placed (for the 3rd time in a month). 6 adults in the room, 4 of whom were holding her down, absolutely unreal.  Emily now has a new button placed in her jejunum, feeds are running at 90ml/hr (goal to reach is 135ml/hr to enable some time off feeds each day). So far so good, other than complaint of her side hurting which has been the same complaint each time they place a new device before the balloon breaks. Wish her luck on this one.