Cali ended up in the hospital again!!  Thank goodness it was only for 24 hours, but it was still very scary!  She may be smiling in this picture, but she was hurting and VERY scared!

 

Cali was pulling her hair up to go to get her INR levels tested (how thick or thin her blood is) and came in to me and asked, "Is it weird that when I move my arm or breathe in real deep it hurts right here?"  She was rubbing the left side of her neck and when she moved her hand I noticed the swelling.  So, back to the ER!  The cool / interesting / funny thing about this trip was she ended up in the same trauma room with the same ER staff from her first time when she was life flighted.  None of the staff realized it at first, since they were just making sure she was stable and safe, and she looked completely different from the first time.  Once the commotion settled down, someone put 2 and 2 together and then all of a sudden Cali was famous!  They all came in to touch her, talk to her, cry with her, tell her how much they worried about her.  Some just stood at the end of her bed and shook their heads in disbelief that she had survived.  I guess in the ER the staff has to sign a paper saying they won't seek out any of the patients once they leave the ER so the staff had assumed that with as bad as Cali was when she left them, that she had passed away since they couldn't check to find out.  They were all very much in awe to see her not only alive, but looking so good.  One of the docs that worked with Cali in one of the ICU's was in the ER and her nurse asked her if she remembered Cali.  I happened to walk by just then, and when the doc said, "That name sounds familiar...?" I touched her shoulder and said, "Jo Nolast."  She got all excited, so glad she would get to see her again!

I took these pictures when Cali was getting a CT scan. As you can see there are a lot of machines and equipment and from what they tell us they used every bit of it with a whole bunch of people trying to figure out what was wrong with Cali. (We got a little taste of it; while we were there another trauma came in and we were only separated by a curtain.  It obviously wasn't as severe as Cali's was but it was still pretty organized chaos.)

Cali ended up having a few blood clots, the biggest one being behind her collarbone.  Again she was the talk of the ER because she was stumping the doctors.  Two days before this her INR levels were perfect (2.5) and this day they were 1.3; very thick so she was clotting even when they put the IV in her arm.  And her platelets were at 1100 - a far cry from the 400 when she left the hospital a week ago.  Not sure why her levels changed so drastically so quickly, but they are running tests for some different autoimmune diseases to see if she has any of them.  The doctors who didn't know what Cali had been through recently were all ready to send her home because the clot is in a safe place (for a clot) and they knew they could manage it with meds at home.  But the trauma docs once again went up to bat for us and insisted that if they didn't admit her, they would just put her in an ER observation room overnight so all of us - including them - would feel better about things.  So Cali and I spent the night up on the 4th floor.  She was released this afternoon - after a 24 hour stint in the hospital and is very grateful to be home... again!!

 

Original post by Natalie

Happy 4th Birthday McKallister!

The day was a rough one for Cali (and probably Josh, but he had work to take his mind a bit away from reality).  We first took Oak to a friend's party out by their house.  It's amazing how just driving in the car can wipe Cali out, so when we got home at lunch time she slept the rest of the afternoon away!  But her honey Josh had planned a birthday party for Mac; he had invited family and friends on the down-low to meet at Mac's park at 8 pm. 

 

 So when Cali and Josh pulled up...

 

 

...this is what she saw!...

 

 

 

There was a very bitter-sweet singing of Happy Birthday...

 

 

...then the releasing of balloons so McKallister and Quincy had something to play with in heaven. 

 

 

and with a beautiful sunset to end the day...

 

...we got to be reminded again of our angel baby on his special day, and now he has his little brother with him forever!!

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY McKALLISTER!!  WE LOVE YOU!!!

 

 

Original post by Natalie

 

Yard Sale

I apologize for the delay in posting about the yard sale as I know many have been anxious to hear about it. All I can say is that it was a very humbling event. The yard sale was packed with people all day long who were so generous with their payments and donations. Through the payments and donations received at the yard sale and through the donation funds, we've been able to reach our goal of raising enough money to cover Josh & Cali's medical expenses and we couldn't be more grateful. Many people from Josh & Cali's ward came to help throughout the day and what makes it so amazing is that they weren't even asked. They just showed up because of the love they have for Josh & Cali and because they wanted to do whatever they could to help. The yard sale was only meant to run until noon but because the crowds kept coming and coming, it remained open several hours longer. As a family we want to thank each and every one of you for your very generous donations and support. I know the amount raised for Josh and Cali will mean so much to them and we can't wait to present it to them.

UPDATE ON CALI: Cali was rushed to the ER again today because she was having a hard time swallowing and had a severe pain in her neck. It turned out to be a blood clot under her collar bone. She will be spending another night in the hospital and should be able to return home tomorrow. We ask for your continued prayers for Cali's physical recovery as well as Josh & Cali's emotional/mental recovery. This experience has really taken a toll on each of them, as you can imagine, and I know your continued prayers will help so much. To continue to follow Cali's recovery, you can visit Cali's mom's blog here: http://www.mikenatalieandalex.blogspot.com/

Home

Cali is out of the hospital...wahoo! She headed home last night and couldn't have been more excited. Josh & Cali will be staying with her parents until she's a little further along in her recovery so she has someone to help her with things during the day while Josh is at work. Again, we cannot thank you enough for your faith, prayers and support on Cali & Josh's behalf. It has been incredible!

Original post by Erin

The good...

Cali is home!!!  She got home late Thursday night.  (They came to our house so Cali had someone to help her while Josh was at work) It took so long to check her out of the hospital because she had so many doctors and nurses that had to come give her a hug and say good-bye.  She made a big impression on a lot of people.  There were a many people who felt the spirit while with Josh and Cali, but some of them didn't know that's what they were feeling. They just knew they felt good when they were with them.

Oak didn't want to let her mommy out of her site.  This is a picture of her playing with a toy and singing a song right next to Cali, but as you can see the meds had kicked in and Cali really could have cared less.  But the important part is they were together.

 

Tomorrow is the big yard sale that the Hinckley family has put together and we have 1/2 of a garage FULL of items for the sale.  So many people have been amazingly generous; even people that don't know us, the Hinckley's or Cali and Josh.  A young woman in our stake made these tutu's for the sale.  They didn't make it to the garage!  The girls wore them all morning!!

 

Original post by Natalie

More updates

Cali looks and feels like she has been beaten!  These pictures don't do her bruises justice.  The one on her upper arm is just from the blood pressure cuff. 

Here's another comic relief story;  this sweet woman is Margaret.  She is the surgical ICU's social worker and is the one who helped us get the hand and feet casts of Quincy.  But she also was the butt of a joke between all of us.  She is about 8 feet tall (as you can tell from the picture of her walking away from me) and walks kind of like a vulture, very hunched over.  She dresses VERY elegantly.  When Cali was still coming in and out of consciousness, she made this very scared face and asked, "Do I know that creepy stalker woman?"  She was referring to Margaret, who kept peeking in the windows to her room to see if some papers she had given Josh had been signed.  But all Cali saw was this fancily dressed, extremely tall vulture peeking in on her.  Josh called her the Grand High Witch.  We saw her again after Cali had been moved to the Women's Center with her dog which is a therapy dog.  Guess what?  The dog looks just like her!!!

Here's a pic of Al and George hanging out at the hospital for a few hours.  Alex playing the ipad and George zonked out.  We all can't seem to catch up on our sleep.  I'm sure it's as much emotional as it is physical.

Here are Oak and Mo playing doctor on one of Oak's stuffed animals.  Oak was telling Mo everything to do; "Now you hold his head and I will cut his tummy.  He will be fine, but you need to hold him still."  It was pretty cute.  Oak is handling things as well as could be expected after waking up from a nap and having her dad doing CPR on her mom and then a bunch of strangers coming into their home and then mom and dad gone for a few days and having to stay at everyone else's house.  She is very clingy to Josh, and it takes her a few minutes to warm up to Cali each time they go to the hospital.  But all in all I would say she is doing well.

The latest on Cali;  no fever for 24 + hours.  Bleeding has slowed way down.  She is up and about mostly by herself now, even though her dad and I want to still help her.  She is still only on a liquid diet mostly because her bowels aren't working yet like they should.  The plan for right now is to take out the umbrella (filter) on Thursday (if things continue to improve) and then home on Friday.  A lot of IFs have to happen between now and then, but we already have seen such an improvement in this week that I think we can be fairly realistic with hoping for it.  

The reason for the fever and bleeding is because she had a small clot in an ovarian vein.  It's not an infection, but her body was reacting like it was.  They did put her on an antibiotic just to cover their bases, but her body really just needed time to heal itself.  When you consider all that she's been through - cardiac arrest, multiple times she stopped breathing, 2 major surgeries in the belly area in a few hour time period and a blood loss of about 21 liters, plus the loss of a child - she's healing quite well.  We all know it's because of the power of prayer.  Please continue to pray for her mental and spiritual strength as well as her physical.  We worry about how this will all effect her when she has time to actually think about it.  But she is strong, and miracles happen! 

Original post by Natalie