Thank You

Hello all of you who have been following our blog. I initially thought the blog was a weird idea but that it would really benefit our far flung family members who wanted to stay up on the family news. It has turned out to be much more than that and it has really been an amazing experience. Thank you all so very much for caring about our little family and our troubles. The love and generosity that have been shown to us throughout this difficult time have left us amazed and very grateful. The love, support, and prayers of such wonderful friends and family have helped us weather this storm of ours. Now that I am finally home, all I can say is Thank You!, and I love you, and I am so grateful to have a chance to live more of this wonderful life.

Love, Heather

Home Sweet Home!

Heather is home!!!! It is truly incredible to have her back home again. It is hard to believe that she has not been here since September 30th. I think it was initially weird just to be out of the hospital and out of a hospital bed, but it was fantastic to drive into our driveway and come into the house. She just came into the living room, sat down on the couch, and cried (actually, we all cried). She has had a wonderful day just being at home. It makes a world of difference to all of us to be here together.

Thank you to all who made her homecoming so welcoming by shoveling snow, giving kind and thoughtful gifts, putting up signs and balloons, yelling welcomes from the street, bringing dinner, and just loving and praying for her. I wish I could have recorded all of her reactions throughout the day. It has been wonderful.

I won't be continuing the blog from here; however, Heather wants to write something in the next post. Thank you all for your prayers and support and for your interest in our lives over the past couple of months. It has been therapeutic for me to be able to write down what has gone on. Knowing that others are reading and are interested helped me to feel support through all of this. Thanks. It really has meant a lot. If you would like further updates or want to contact us, you are welcome to call (801-423-0906), visit, or email (Mark: mark_beecher@byu.edu; Heather: hz.beecher@yahoo.com).

I have included a few pictures from today.

Home Tomorrow!

The results of the culture they took from Heather's abdominal wound came back showing no signs of infection (i.e., we could have gone home Wednesday). So, we are scheduled to head home tomorrow (Friday) morning! We are very excited!!!! Hopefully, nothing bad will occur before then, and things will go as planned.

Heather's back seems much better today. It is still quite sore, but it is no longer so inflamed and "angry." It's really nice to see it finally improving. The last few days she has been struggling with quite a bit of swelling in her legs and feet, from her knees down. It makes it painful for her to walk. She has been sitting in her wheelchair a lot so that her back doesn't need to have a dressing on it, but that makes the swelling worse. Last night we were able to elevate her legs and feet in her bed, and they seemed better today. I imagine that will be a bit of a battle for a while. We are just excited that she is well enough to finally go home.

Is It Infected or Not?

Last night while I was with Heather one of the wound care nurses came in and looked at Heather's abdominal area (without taking the dressing off). She said that she did not think the wound was infected, but that the film the nurses had seen in the wound earlier that day was perfectly normal when you take the wound vac off. She said it was just "sluff." This was nice to hear and frustrating at the same time because that likely meant that Heather didn't need to take the antibiotic that had caused the allergic reaction.

The doctor came in today (Tuesday), and he and the nurses looked at the wound without the dressing on it. They all agreed that it was not infected but just sluff as the wound nurse had suspected last night. However, they still want to keep Heather in the hospital until Friday to see what the cultures show. We'll see.

Heather has been in considerable pain because of her back. She just can't seem to get it to heal. It appears today that she is having a reaction to the cream (bacitracin) they have been using to keep it moist and from getting infected. Bacitracin is an antibiotic, vaseline-like ointment. They told us today that many people begin to have a reaction to it after using it for an extended period. We have tried several other lotions, but they all really sting. They are going to begin using plain vaseline tomorrow. Hopefully that will calm the irritation and pain. She is really tired of having a hurting back.

Another Allergic Reaction

The excitement never seems to cease in our family. Apparently Heather is allergic to the antibiotic they gave her. Within about an hour of giving Heather the IV antibiotic she began having intense itching and redness throughout her body, which progressed into breathing difficulties. They gave her benadryl and oxygen, and she seems to be doing fine. They just started her on another antibiotic. Hopefully, she won't be allergic to that one. Man, this is fun!

Homecoming Postponed

Though it's not terribly surprising with how things have gone throughout this whole ordeal, we are sad to announce that Heather will not be going home on Wednesday as initially predicted. Yesterday and today Heather's abdominal wound was covered with a film of pus and she had a fever. Concerned about infection, they have ordered a culture on the pus and are giving her a broad spectrum antibiotic. The culture will take 2 to 3 days, so they want to wait to find out exactly what it is before sending Heather home. This means that she won't go home until probably Friday (I'm not holding my breath.). As I said, we are not surprised, but we are certainly disappointed and frustrated. I just want her home and healthy. They have promised (as if they really can) to have her home by Christmas.

Painful Back, but Doing Well

Heather continues to improve daily. She is getting really excited about going home on Wednesday. It kind of seems like it will never happen.

Her back continues to be the main problem. It just won't heal. Yesterday and today she has spent the day in her wheelchair, sitting up without any dressing on her back, hoping that the wounds will dry out and heal. She also tried to sleep on her side last night so as not to put any pressure on her back. However, she still put a dressing on her back last night in case she needed to sleep on it. In the morning the dressing was stuck to her back just like other nights. It is miserable and painful for her. We don't know what to do to help it heal faster. Every dressing they put on it sticks to the wounds and then reopens the wounds when they remove the dressing. It is really frustrating.

She has been walking quite a bit, strolling back and forth down the halls several times each day. She gets stronger each day.