Fernanda's New Car!!

So I talked about this a little bit on Saturday and here is the picture of Fernanda's new car. I love it and she does too. Like I said before it's a 2004 Chrysler Pacifica which is what is being called a crossover vehicle. It's power everything, black leather seats, a 3rd seat in the back so it can fit up to 6 people but it also folds down for a ton of storage space, the front and middle seats are heated seats, it has A/C and climate control for the driver and passenger sides, it has a 6 disc DVD/CD player which Keith is absolutely loving, and a sun-roof. It's a fun car and one that we hope lasts us a long time. We had the Bravada for almost 3 years and it did what we needed it to do. Kyle did end up coming home on Saturday although he's been having some issues with sleep (i.e. he's not doing it much). It was nice be able to spend some time at home as a family over the weekend. Keith and I did go see the new Indiana Jones movie on Saturday night and we both loved. Keith was really getting into the movie and was always worried when Indiana Jones would get into some trouble; it was cute. Sunday night Fernanda and I watched a documentary called "The Business of Being Born." It talks about how having babies in hospitals is big business for them and how they do many unnecessary things to get the most money. It also showed how many women are choosing to have their babies at home with a midwife instead. It was very interesting to see how the midwife business works and to become aware of this alternative. I highly recommend this documentary although be warned that it does show the actual birth of several babies. Have a great week everyone!!

Coming Home

So Kyle could finally be coming home today. He's was moved to the 4th floor a couple days ago to room 4417. He's been doing good other than the fact that he hasn't really slept since Wednesday night!!! They're getting him off all the drugs the PICU was giving him to keep him sedated. The last time he stayed at the PICU they did the same thing and when he came home and we laid him in his bed he slept for like 18 hours striaght so that's probably what is going to happen again. He's ready to come home and we are ready to have him home after being at the hospital for 22 days. He's down to only 1 liter of oxygen and the normal antibiotics we give him at home anyway so I just need to make sure the doctor on the floor understands we can handle that. So sometime this afternoon we should be headed home. :) In other news: While giving updates about Kyle I always forget to mention Keith. Keith has to deal with a whole other aspect to all of this as he is constantley being dumped off at different family members houses and he's been handling it really well. Lately though I think he's had enough because he's been saying "I want us to be a happy family again." It's so cute and heartbreaking all at the same time! I'm really proud of him though, he's been a really good boy and hardly complained at all. This past Tuesday we bought Fernanda a new car! It's a 2004 Chrysler Pacifica with all the bells and whistles. I've been trying to put a picture on my laptop buy I can't get the SD card to work so I'll post another blog on Tuesday with the picture of the car since I was able to get it on my computer at work. It's a pretty cool car and Fernanda is really happy and I'm glad that we were able to do that for her. Next Saturday is my Commencement at the E Center. It's really weird knowing that I will be officially graduated from college. I have been looking forward to this day for so long that it's really strange to know that the day is here. It will probably be even weirder toward the end of August and beginning of September knowing that I don't have class anymore and that I can actually think about (gasp!) the holidays! Well that's enough for now. I hope you all have a great Memorial Day weekend and that you're able to get out and see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull like Keith and I will do sometime tonight.

It's Been a While

So I haven't blogged for a while but there really wasn't much to say. Once Kyle was moved to the PICU and was settled in he basically slept for 3 days straight. He slept so much that Fernanda was able to sleep at home on Friday and Saturday of last week and she was able to have a Mother's Day dinner with her sisters last Saturday. Kyle started improving a little bit, his color looked better and his belly was getting smaller; but he was also wide awake after all that sleep and mad as hell that he had all this stuff hooked up to him. The nurses had to tie his arms to his bed so he would stop trying to take out the tube in his mouth. He is breathing on his own but the tube is helping his lungs with pressure to keep them open. This is measured by what they call PEEP. Normal humans have a PEEP between 5 and 6. Kyle's PEEP is at 12 and was as high as 14. The doctors are also concerned with the amount of oxygen he is receiving which is 45% because he is looking better, so they are looking into that. So after waking up on Monday Kyle pretty much didn't sleep until yesterday and he had a good nights rest and will sleep pretty good today because they had to sedate him for some x-rays and a heart echo. So Kyle is still nowhere near close to coming home let alone going to the 3rd floor. Today is also my 5th wedding anniversary being married to my lovely and incredible wife Fernanda. She is an incredible person and someone that I admire a lot. She has been so faithful to her little guy and rarely leaves his side. She is an exceptional wife and mother and I am very lucky to be able to say that she chose me to be her husband. I love you so much honey and I am so very thankful for all that you do for me and our family. We will be celebrating by going to The Gateway and watching the new Chronicles of Narnia movie which we are excited to see. My Mom will be staying with Kyle so we can get away for a few hours. It's been nice having her home this week to help watch Keith and I'm thankful that she and Monique and Yara have been helpful in watching him while we juggle work and hospital and are able to be with Kyle. I will try to keep all updated, I'm hoping Kyle makes significant improvement over the next few days so we can at least get out of the PICU.

Another Kyle Update

Kyle has had quite a busy day. At 3 this morning he was moved from the third floor to the second floor which is the PICU. For those of you who have no idea what that means, PICU stands for Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. The pneumonia caused his left lung to collapse (not the right like I previously stated) and so he was really having to work hard to breath. So they moved him to the PICU to intebate him, which means a machine will help him breath to give him a rest. However, they could not get him stable enough to do so until about 11 this morning. They also put in a Pic line. A Pic line is like an IV but they put it through a vein and almost into his heart. They can do a lot more with this line like draw blood, and it lasts a lot longer than an IV so they don't have to poke the poor little guy as much. Fernanda just sent me a text saying that the tube they used to intebate him is not working very well so they're going to take that out and put a new one in. He is sedated for all this so fortunately he's not bothered too much. If anybody was still planning on visiting him, remember he is now in the PICU on the 2nd floor in room 25. If you want to call, it's probably best to call Fernanda's cell phone at 652-2700. As more updates come my way, I will continue to post them. I also want to say thank you to Rylee for coming up to the hospital from work and helping me give Kyle a blessing. Rylee doesn't start his job with South Jordan until next monday so he's helping out at the offic this week and its nice having him available to help out with stuff like that. I'd also like to thank Tyler and Linda for coming up to the hospital and visiting us for a little while. It was nice to see you guys and we enjoyed your company! Thank you!!!

My Grades

Westminster finally posted grades and I got an A, B, and B-. I'm a little disappointed with the B- but my goal always has been to not fall below B- and just do the best that I can and I acheived that goal. Below is every grade I ever earned in college. My overall GPA ended up being 3.342. Not bad for having a sick kid the past 4 years!!

Transcript
Luke McDermott

Transcript Information
Course/Section and Title
Grade
Credits
CEUs
Repeat
Term
1
FINC*300 03 Business Finance
B
4.00


08/SP
2
MGMT*325 W Business and Employment Law
B-
4.00


08/SP
3
PHYS*104 02 Explor. Science & Society, LE
A
4.00


08/SP
4
ACCT*454 01 Auditing
B-
4.00


07/FA
5
BIOL*102 03 The Natural World,LE
B+
4.00


07/FA
6
MGMT*475 02 Strategy in Global Management
A-
4.00


07/FA
7
ACCT*441 01 Accounting Practicum
A
4.00


07/SP
8
ENGL*220 07 Introduction to Literature,LE
A-
4.00


07/SP
9
MGMT*325 02 Business and Employment Law
NC
0.00


07/SP
10
ACCT*474 01 Individual Income Taxation
B+
4.00


06/FA
11
ART*110 02 Survey of Art,LE
B+
3.00


06/FA
12
MGMT*305 01 Principles of Management
B
4.00


06/FA
13
PHIL*206 01 Introduction to Ethics,LE
A
3.00


06/FA
14
PSYC*300CC 01 Games and Psychology
A
2.00


06/MY
15
ACCT*374 01 Cost Accounting
B-
4.00


06/SP
16
ACCT*467 01 Accounting Information Systems
B-
4.00


06/SP
17
MKTG*300 02 Principles of Marketing
B
4.00


06/SP
18
SPCH*111 05 Public Presentations,LE
A-
2.00


06/SP
19
ENGL*110 02 Composition and Research,LE
A-
4.00


05/FA
20
PSYC*105 07 Introduction to Psychology,LE
B
4.00


05/FA
21
SPAN*110 07 Spanish I
A
4.00


05/FA
22
ECON*263 Elementary Microeconomics
B-
3.00



23
HIST*220 United States History,LE
A-
3.00



24
LETRN*008B Art Activity,LE Group 8
C+
3.00



25
MATH*150 Elementary Statistics
A-
3.00



26
ECON*253 Elementary Macroeconomics,LE
A
3.00



27
ELEC*100T Transfer Elective: Lower Div
A
3.00



28
ELEC*100T Transfer Elective: Lower Div
A-
3.00



29
ACCT*350 Intermediate Accounting I
B+
3.00



30
ELEC*100T Transfer Elective: Lower Div
A
2.00



31
ELEC*100T Transfer Elective: Lower Div
A
3.00



32
ELEC*100T Transfer Elective: Lower Div
A
3.00



33
ELEC*100T Transfer Elective: Lower Div
B+
3.00



34
MATH*141 College Algebra
A-
4.00



35
ACCT*313 Managerial Accounting
A-
3.00



36
ACCT*360 Intermediate Accounting II
B+
3.00



37
ELEC*100T Transfer Elective: Lower Div
B+
1.00



38
ELEC*100T Transfer Elective: Lower Div
A-
2.00



39
ELEC*100T Transfer Elective: Lower Div
A
3.00



40
ACCT*213 Accounting Principles
A-
6.00



41
CMPT*LIT Computer Literacy Skills
A
2.00



42
ELEC*100T Transfer Elective: Lower Div
B+
3.00



43
ELEC*100T Transfer Elective: Lower Div
A
3.00



44
ELEC*100T Transfer Elective: Lower Div
CR
1.00



45
ELEC*100T Transfer Elective: Lower Div
A
1.00



46
ELEC*100T Transfer Elective: Lower Div
B+
2.00



47
ELEC*100T Transfer Elective: Lower Div
A-
2.00



48
INTR*150 Choices: Career Planning
A
1.00



Total Earned Credits
146.00
Total Grade Points
247.30
Cumulative GPA
3.342

An Update on Kyle

So Kyle has had quite an interesting 24 hours. He kept getting worse until finally his right lung collapsed and he was really working to breath. The nurses had him on 6 liters of oxygen!! He started doing better and got him down to 3, which is still a lot but at least it meant improvement. So they're still running all sorts of tests and such and hopefully they'll be able to pin down something soon and say 'ok he has this.' It doesn't look like he'll be going home anytime soon and as long as he stays in the room he's in on floor 3, room 3075, visitors are always welcome. If you want to call us you can call our cellphones or the room # is 662-3075. Please keep Kyle in your prayers, it looks like he's needing a little extra help again.

Becoming a Blogger

So I feel like I'm finally starting to get used to this whole blogging thing as you will all notice from the recent additions I made. It takes some time to get used to this but once I do I just kind of run with it (Anyone who has seen my facebook page can testify to that!). I'm still here at the hospital with Kyle who is sound asleep. They finally think that what's causing all the problems with his digestion is pneumonia of all things. Dr. Havlick said that pneumonia can sometimes cause problems with the dyaphram which in turn can cause problems with the intestine which causes problems with digestion. So they are treating him with antibiotics for the pneumonia and even giving him an antibiotic through his IV which is supposed to help make him regular again and that would be a good thing.

Kyle, The Jazz, and Grades

I have a plethera of things to talk about but this blog is going to be relatively brief because I am writing from a hospital room at Primary Children's Hospital and Keith wants to play games. As it was a very common theme for us to be at the hospital last year while Kyle was going through chemotherapy, we haven't had to come here much since November. Kyle has had a pretty rough few days with a cold or something and he wasn't tolerating food and so the doctor thought it best to send him to the hospital yesterday. So while Fernanda was here with Kyle I was helping my brother-in-law Paul and my sister-in-law Amanda's fiancee Derik watch all the nieces and nephews while the women went shopping. We were able to watch most of the Jazz game and luckily the Jazz decided to pull their heads out and play like men. This should be an interesting series against the Lakers. I came up to the hospital around 11:30 last night to bring Fernanda some clothes and pajamas and left around 1:15 a.m. I got up at 8:30 this morning after a horrible nights rest with a stuffy nose. Paul, Derik, and I all took the kids to go see Iron Man this morning. It was a really good movie, I was impressed. It was funny and had a lot of action, a great summer movie. After the movie Keith and I came up to the hospital around 2 p.m. and we've been here ever since. Fernanda has been vigorously playing The Ant Bully video game on Playstation 2 in Kyle's room and I think she's going to be playing until she beats the game. Oh yeah, my grades; my Finance professor emailed me with my final grade for the course which ended up being a B. Professors must post final grades by May 5th so I can't wait to see what I got in the other two classes. Well, that's the update from our neck of the woods, I think Keith's going to have a heart attack if he doesn't play a game soon, so I'll catch everyone later.