Sunday, December 26, 2010

Happy Holidays to all...

Dear family and friends,

When we examine our lives as years, the last two have been remarkable for us. We spent Christmas 2008 in the Alta Bates NICU, looking forward to our tiny Loki coming home but not aware that kidney failure and feeding tubes were just around the corner. It was wonderful to spend the following Christmas at home with Loki. However, he needed much special care at that time, and we were exhausted.

Since then, Loki’s health has generally improved as the amount of care needed has decreased. His only surgery this year was to give him a new feeding tube, and when he was twice hospitalized for illness, each time was only for a couple days. Loki has also taken significant developmental steps. He is now a happy toddler, running, talking, playing more intricately, and especially laughing a lot. Despite the fact that we are not quite leading “normal parent” lives, we feel that we are inching towards some sort of normalcy.

Also this year, after talking about it for so long, we finally made the move to the Netherlands. This is obviously a big change in many ways. For example, we live in a small village outside of a medium-sized city instead of a major metropolitan area. Of course, this has been a large undertaking, consuming what little free time we had carved for ourselves. But it was clearly the right step, and it is wonderful living close to family.

As we are settling into our new lives in the Netherlands and as Loki’s care is getting easier, we very much look forward to a peaceful and calm 2011.

We thank you for your continued support and hope the upcoming year will bring you love and happiness.

With love and holiday greetings,

Loki
Mom
Dad

1 comments:

Greet said...

Lieve Kathalijn, Jesse en Loki.
Voor het nieuwe jaar wens ik jullie veel goeds, gezondheid en liefde.
Ik hoop dit jaar Loki te ontmoeten
Lieve groet van Greet

About Loki Sky

Loki Sky is a special little man. He was a very early micropreemie, weighing only 610 grams (1 lb, 5 oz) after 24 weeks, 3 days gestation, born to an American Father and a Dutch Mother in Berkeley, California on October 18, 2008.

On January 11, 2009, while still in the hospital NICU, his one kidney stopped working. It was repaired after three surgeries. After spending time in three hospitals in three cities, Loki came home on February 17. He struggled with eating, and then stopped in July, leading to 8 days in the hospital, a failure-to-thrive diagnosis, and a NG feeding tube. On October 10, a minor surgery installed a G feeding tube. Another procedure replaced it with a new one, and then again with a Mic-Key button in Jan. 2010.

In August 2010, he and his parents moved to the Netherlands.

Read about his first name.
Read & hear about his middle name.
See photos.
See videos.

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