New blog

Hey everyone! As you can see at the right, we have a new blog created for our kids. A few friends and family members will be posting updates on there about medical happenings, upcoming fundraisers, help they need for fundraising events, general Skinner news etc. etc. etc. They will be taking most of the info (at least about the medical updates) from our COTA website, which I update regularly. http://cotaforbensonandclaires.com. We are wanting to get this new blog address out to as many people as possible. If you go to givehopetobensonandclaire.blogspot.com, (or just click on the kids' button) you can get the HTML code to copy the button onto your blog. We invite you to do that and to invite your blogging friends to do the same!!! Thanks for helping us get the word out!

We made the news

We're going to be on Channel 7 Denver news tonight 5:00 p.m., maybe 10:00 p.m., and maybe Sunday morning!! Our neighbors did an awesome garage sell this weekend to raise money for our kids transplant funds and the news came to interview our family! I'll let you know if they post a link on their website.

VIDEOS

I've made some videos about Claire and what it's like for her to be on dialysis. The first one is all about the technical stuff that goes on at dialysis and how it all works.

The second one is the fun stuff we do to keep her entertained every day. Sorry for the length..I tried to cut them down as much as I could. ENJOY!!

Surgery update

Now you see it

Now you don't.

The surgery went really well yesterday. Everything went smoothly and exactly as expected. The surgeon did a great job and said things should heal up quite nicely. Claire recovered much better than she had in any of her previous surgeries. It was much less invasive than the others because they only had to take it out and haven't placed another one yet. She slept well that night and the nurses were surprised how active she was today on dialysis...with surgery just the day before! But that's just who she is! Quick to bounce back...doesn't let much stop her!

Jared and I just before we went back with Claire into the OR.

Not feeling too great right after surgery...but getting better!

Here we go again

Claire will have surgery #4 or #5 (I've lost count) tomorrow morning to remove her pertineal dialysis catheter. It shouldn't be too major of a surgery for her, as they will simply be removing her catheter. Our doctors have decided NOT to replace the catheter right away. They are going to do some more tests this coming week to determine if they feel she even needs to continue the PD dialysis. The hemo dialysis is what is doing MOST of the work in getting the oxalate out of her body, but our doctor at Mayo also does feel there are advantages to her being on both kinds of dialysis. So we may not do the PD dialysis for the rest of this month, unless the labs they run this coming week show otherwise. If when we get to Minnesota the first of September our doctor at the Mayo wants to resume the PD, we will have one placed out there and start back up with it. I suppose we'll just take it as it comes. Two differeing opinions from two different doctors. We obviously just want what is best for Claire, and will do whatever it takes to make that happen.

Claire is amazing. She goes through a lot. I'm still amazed at her and how well she handles everything. Truly blessed. We'll be glad when tomorrow is over and everything has gone well.

Our official move date is scheduled for August 29. We'll leave right after Claire finishes dialysis around noon and drive at least half way. Most likely, we'll end up staying the night somewhere in between here and there and arrive in Rochester, MN August 30. Here comes a fun-filled month of de-junking, packing, messes, movies (to keep the kids busy), boxes, and tape!