The Summer from Hell

This title says it all. It has been a tough summer for the Bligh family. There is so much to say but I am not sure I want to relive all of it through my blogging. Here's a quick timeline so that someday I can look back at this time in my life and marvel at how I survived:

June 8th: Taylor begins her Partial Hospitalization Program at the Eating Recovery Center. The program is seven days a week, nine hours a day. Brutal.

June 17th: Last day of 5th grade for Matty and 3rd grade for Brayden.

June 18th: Brayden is back at Children's Hospital because he is pissing blood. A renal ultrasound suggests he still has a lingering kidney infection. He is given another course of antibiotics and sent home.

June 22nd: My parents fly out here for the summer.

June 25th: Matty and Tommy have an All-Star game. They lose.

June 26th: Matty and Tommy have an All-Star game. They win. We go out for dinner at The Ram with Mimi and Baba. This will be the only time the entire summer that we go out to dinner while they are visiting.

June 28th: Brayden is back at Children's Hospital, where are worst fears become a reality. He is admitted immediately, followed by a Code Blue that evening. He's in the hospital for 18 days.

June 28th: Matty and Tommy have an All-Star game. They win. 

June 30th: Matty and Tommy have an All-Star game. They win. 

July 1st: Matty has an All-Star game. Tommy misses this one due to all the chaos at the hospital The team wins. 

July 2nd: Matty and Tommy have an All-Star game. They lose and are out. 

July 6th: Midgey tests positive for Covid. 

July 8th: Mikey tests positive for Covid. My mom and dad temporarily relocate to an Extended Stay so that Tommy and I hopefully stay negative. If one of us tests positive, the other one will be stuck at the hospital 24/7.

July 15th: Brayden is discharged. Yay! We celebrate!

July 15th - 17th: Tommy and Matty are in Oregon for a baseball tournament.

July 18th: Brayden has to have blood drawn at the Seattle Children's Bellevue location. It took a team of four nurses to convince him to calm down.

July 20th: My parents fly back to Arizona a month early. They've had enough fun in Seattle. We have a follow up appointment with nephrology at Children's Hospital. The nephrologist was nice but did not give us much hope about Brayden's kidney function. It is also Tommy's and my 15th wedding anniversary. We celebrate by taking the whole family to a concert at Lake Boren park. When people give us sympathy looks for not doing something more special to celebrate, I note that I spent Mother's Day, my birthday, and the 4th of July in the hospital. An outdoor concert on a beautiful summer evening with my entire family does not seem so bad!

July 22nd: Brayden and I go back to Children's for a line flush and dressing change.

July 23rd - 24th: Tommy and Matty are (mostly) away at a baseball tournament. Brayden, Taylor and I made it to the two games on Saturday. Taylor had a "hall pass" from her program this day so it was nice to be together and cheer for Matty. This is the only day I attend his Liberty Select tournament games the entire season. 

July 25th: Taylor leaves PHP for the last time. Our insurance denied additional treatment and we decided to stop appealing. The unknowns/anxiety it was causing all of us was not worth it.

July 26th: Tommy's parents test positive for Covid. They were in our kitchen the night before. We're doomed.

July 29th: Brayden tests positive for Covid. We are shocked. His surgery on August 1st to remove his central/dialysis line is postponed indefinitely. We still have to go to Children's that day to have bloodwork, have the line flushed, and have his dressing changed.

July 29th - July 31st: Tommy and Matty are (mostly) away at a baseball tournament.

July 31st: Ali tests positive.

August 2nd: Brayden has his 2nd chemo infusion. Brayden and I are vacuum-sealed into a special "Covid" room at the hospital for nine hours for the infusion.

August 9th: We are back at Children's for more bloodwork, line flush, and dressing change. What should have been a quick appointment took over three hours.

August 10th: Taylor starts an Intensive Outpatient Program at the Eating Recovery Center.

August 16th: We are back at Children's for more bloodwork, line flush, and dressing change. This appointment was a record 50 minutes!

August 19th: We meet with Brayden's permanent nephrologist, Dr. Hjorten. Brayden still tests positive for Covid, which further delays his central line removal surgery. It has been cancelled twice now: it was originally scheduled for 8/1 and then scheduled for 8/22. We will continue testing Brayden, but until we have two negative Covid tests, his line stays in. 

School starts on August 30th, and it is safe to say that we all want to put this summer in the rearview mirror!