End of the Roads (Summer/Autumn 2003)

Kellisa wasn’t drinking and her only fluid intake was through the limited food she was eating. There was only so much pudding we could force into her mouth. She wasn’t thriving and required surgery to place a G-tube in the summer. With a G-tube, we would be able to give Kellisa the fluid she needed and prescription formula would guarantee she would receive all the nutrition required to start growing. Of course, Kellisa suffered from complications that required a second surgery to remove the original G-tube and replace it with another. The doctor had been placing G-tubes for 26 years and Kellisa was the first patient to ever require a second surgery. Kellisa was an expert at confusing doctors.

Both of Kellisa’s hips had become dislocated. Her hip bones needed to be cut and put back in place with screws and plates. Even with pain medications, Kellisa was in almost constant pain as she spent most of the six week recovery period lying on a mattress in the middle of our living room watching The Wiggles while moaning in pain and discomfort. There was little we could do for her, except be there to hold her hand, stroke her head, and change The Wiggles videos every 45 minutes.

Mom and The Wiggles Save Kellisa (Spring 2003)

Kellisa doing her best to smile for her
school picture while suffering through
 her undiagnosed shunt infection.

Kellisa was slowly dying before our eyes and no one in the medical community was able to figure out what was wrong. 

Kellisa's smile and love of life were gone. She was battling high fevers for weeks. Nothing was bringing her temperature down to normal. She was seeing a doctor every few days and was in and out of the ER and hospitals without any relief. Once again, Kellisa was baffling the doctors. 

From early on, Lisa was convinced it was the shunt. After a CT Scan and MRI, we were assured that the shunt was fine. Kellisa's shunt had been in place for a long enough time that a shunt infection was very unlikely. The neurosurgeon didn’t want to tap the shunt to check the cerebral fluid for an infection because if it wasn’t infected, the procedure itself carried a 2% risk of infecting the shunt. 

One afternoon while Kellisa lay lifeless in a hospital bed, Lisa was changing the channels on the TV and stopped at The Wiggles. Kellisa immediately perked up and started to watch the four colorful singing and dancing grown men for the first time. This was her first sign of life in days. Once The Wiggles were over, Kellisa drifted back to a deep sleep. This pattern continued for days. Kellisa would use her minimal daily energy to watch The Wiggles.

Frustrated and desperate, Lisa demanded that the shunt be tapped. The neurosurgeon eventually agreed and I'm sure he just wanted Lisa to stop asking about the shunt. He stuck a needle into Kellisa’s head and pulled out some fluid. We could immediately tell by the look on the doctor’s face that it didn’t look good. His eyes literally jumped out of their sockets as he watched the cerebral fluid in the tube. Testing wasn’t necessary; he could tell the shunt was significantly infected by the amount of debris in the fluid. The neurosurgeon started preparing for emergency brain surgery.

Bloody Tears (2002)

Kellisa finally went a year without a brain surgery. However, her seizures took a turn for the worse. Kellisa spent five days in the hospital paralyzed after one seizure. The neurologist had no choice but to max out Kellisa’s medications to get the seizures under control. She continued to have seizures, just less frequent and severe with paralysis usually lasting less than an hour.

Kellisa’s eyes were crossed. With everything else, we never really worried about her eyes until her ophthalmologist told us that Kellisa needed eye muscle surgery or she would go blind.  Even with the surgery, we were warned that she could still go blind. We had no choice, we sent our little girl off for another surgery. After the surgery, we were able to see Kellisa in the recovery area. She was so little sleeping in a full size bed. We sat there anxiously waiting for her to wake up and she didn't even cry as she came around. However, she did have a few tears of blood rolling down her face that we weren't prepared to witness. 

84 Cents (2000 & 2001)

Kellisa was up at midnight so she could welcome the new year, 2000 into her life since it was a major accomplishment and reason to celebrate.

Later in the day, we went to Blue Springs State Park about an hour from our home. We saw a sign that swimming was allowed in the spring, but there was also a warning about the possibility of alligators in the water. Florida was still very new to us and the idea to take a plunge on New Year's Day into 72 degree water was appealing to me. 

I handed Kellisa (in a chest baby carrier) and her oxygen cylinder to Lisa who followed along on a trail as I swam parallel to them in the spring run. The water felt amazing on a day with temperatures in the 80s. This was Kellisa's first official hike. Unfortunately, I don't think we took any pictures of this historic day.

Kellisa's Path- The First 18 Years

As we approach Kellisa's 18th birthday, we will be sharing many posts to document Kellisa's life from 25 week micro-preemie to 18-year-old. Kellisa's perfect birthday would be an experience instead of gifts and we have quite the experience planned. Although, Kellisa will get a few little gifts to have some things to open. 

Some, but not all, of the stories and pictures we will share in the coming weeks have been included in previous posts, but we have never provided a chronological history of Kellisa's entire life before. It's been a wild ride of extreme valleys and mountaintops and everything in between. Hang on!

We appreciate every second of Kellisa's life and want to share it. Our hope in sharing is that it might provide a little light representing future possibilities to families coming up behind us in the disabled world when the future might appear black. When we were surrounded by fear and uncertainty, the Internet was in it's early years and there wasn't a lot of information for families like ours. We hope to be a resource and maybe even an inspiration. But, if nothing else, we simply hope you enjoy the story. I can say it's been a long and hard path, but it's also been filled with a lot of love, laughs, and adventure!

1999- Kellisa's first year has been written about in three chapters posted previously on this website. You can click here to start our story at the very beginning. Starting tomorrow, we have shorter summaries with pictures scheduled to post every morning covering Kellisa's first 17 years, starting with the years 2000 and 2001.  

Thank you!

Back to Kellisa's Path Blog

Anything is Possible!

May 2017 is a VERY BIG DEAL!!!

Kellisa will turn 18-years-old in May 2017.

Kellisa was born on May 23, 1999 and wasn't expected to survive more than a few hours. And that was based on a full term pregnancy. Lisa and I needed her to survive. I doubt Lisa and I would be alive today if Kellisa didn't survive. Despite being born 15 weeks premature, Kellisa was born a warrior!

In Kellisa's early days when she already lived long past her life expectancy, I often dreamed about Kellisa turning 18 years old. I'm sure I picked that age because it's when your children officially become adults. Like most parents, I had ideas of Kellisa graduating from high school, going off to college, dating, getting a job, and all the other "normal" things kids do on and around their 18th birthdays. Of course, none of those milestones will be hit by Kellisa this month or any other month. I've come to accept those facts over the years even though I'm sure the thought of missing those things will depress me more than once this month and beyond.

Mendocino County Hike

No Trail

Smithe Redwoods State Reserve ? 

April 15, 2017

California Counties Hiked in 2017: 3/58

We wanted to hike one last county during our spring break week in the coastal redwoods of northern California, and Mendocino County made the most sense. Looking at the map, it appeared that we would drive right by Smithe Redwoods State Reserve on our way back to Roseville. After looking online, the park seemed like a perfect place for one last hike through a redwood grove.

Not trusting the map alone, I decided to use GPS to guide us to the park. When we arrived according to my GPS, an unsigned side road led into the redwoods. However, it was completely blocked by a temporary orange fence. The road didn't have any signs and the traditional sign announcing the State Reserve was also missing. 

There was a small unmarked parking area not far from what would appear to be the entrance to the Smithe Redwoods and we pulled over to consider our options. Both the map and GPS said we were at the right spot, but the reserve's website didn't say anything about the park being closed for any reason. It was too late to research another plan (Lisa was waiting at home with everything needed to color our Easter Eggs), so we decided to go off trail and hike through the redwood forest in front of us that was calling our names. 

It was the right decision since we didn't see any "No Trespassing" signs because we had the grove all to ourselves. I've written before that hiking through redwoods is one of the best places to push Kellisa because of the total lack of roots, rocks, and undergrowth. It's a pushiking dream! In fact, Laurel pushed Kellisa from start to finish on our hike. 

Del Norte County Hike

River Trail

Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park

April 14, 2017

CA Counties Hiked in 2017: 2/58

Del Norte is a small county in the far NW of California along the Pacific Ocean, a place where giant redwood trees thrive below 2,000ft. due to the heavy winter rains and mild summers. When we first visited the area, we didn't hike in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. Instead, we decided to hike through one of the farthest north groves of redwoods in southern Oregon because at that point in the summer of 2014, Laurel had never visited Oregon and the girls needed to hike in the "Beaver State" as part of our Hike in all 50 States Project. 

The rain fell at a constant rate as we drove along the rugged northern California coast. The road varied from sky scrapping redwood groves to cliffs dropping away to the rocky Pacific far below. 

Humboldt County Hike

Owen R. Cheatham Grove

Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park 

April 12, 2017

CA Counties hiked in 2017: 1/58

We knew we wanted to start hiking in all 58 counties in California, but we had no idea where to start as the girls started their Spring Break. It was already getting hot in the southern California Desert Counties, plus those are the farthest and we had a late start to the week off due to Laurel's participation in the 2017 Sacramento Doggy Dash. Most of the central valley counties were flooded from the unusually high amount of rain that has fallen in the last few months and most recreation areas are closed. The Sierra Nevada counties are still covered in snow measured by the feet and rain was forecast for much of the rest of the state during our week off in April. 

We turned our attention to the far northwest of California which is known for it's Redwood Forests. Yes, rain was predicted for every single day, but the temperatures would be reasonable and we knew that we would not have to deal with snow or a long drive. The girls are desperate to go camping since it's been well over a year since we've gone, but with all the rain in the forecast, I decided to get us a hotel in Eureka for the week to use as our dry base camp. 

We had no idea when we picked this trail, but some of you (Star Wars enthusiasts) may recognize the picture above or some of the pictures below as the redwood forest where the famous Speeder Bike Scene in Return of the Jedi was filmed. Laurel was anxious to share this fact with the "boys" at school who love the Star Wars movies. For those interested, we've posted the chase scene below.