Support for Katie & Jeremy, Peter & Julian

Dec 22 (a note from Andrea): Friends, Peter came home on Saturday, SO much sooner than expected. This is the best Christmas present any of us could have asked for!

That said, he still has a long road of recovery in front of him. He's looking at a few months of physical therapy to rebuild his strength, along with other follow-up appointments.

Still, he's expected to make a full recovery. We're so, so grateful for your messages and prayers and positive thoughts and financial donations. Thank you, thank you.

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Dec 15 (a note from Katie, Peter's mom): Extubation was successful! Yesterday they removed Peter's breathing tube and it went well with zero complications. They initially put Peter on oxygen in order to ensure his ability to succeed. Within three hours though, they had it off and Peter was breathing room air. That's huge! The nurses in the PICU were so impressed.

A few more milestones to focus on over the next couple of days as we work toward heading home -- weaning from pain medication is the biggest one, but also eating and standing and walking, since the little dude is pretty weak from being in bed since 11/29.

Our family feels a huge weight lifted. Peter's body has worked so hard to get better and he still has hard work to do -- and now he KNOWS he's doing the hard work and it's slow and frustrating. But he's excited to open his birthday gifts as soon as little brother gets here after school with dad. And he's excited that Christmas is around the corner and that he'll be home for it.

Again, thank you all so much for your gifts of support and your words of prayer and light and energy into the universe. You helped carry this boy here. We felt it the whole way.

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Dec 11 (a note from Katie, Peter's mom): My gratitude for the outpouring of support for Peter is so deep. Thank you, all.

This week has been harrowing, but Peter’s care team at Children’s Minnesota in Minneapolis has been incredible. It’s so hard to see a healthy 10 year old boy breathing through a machine with IVs and tubing feeding him, hydrating him, medicating him.

Each day has been one small step toward extubation – little adjustments on all of the setting on all of the machines to see if his body can tolerate lighter settings. Some days he has tolerated those adjustments, other days he hasn’t and we’ve had to take a few baby steps backward.

But the last two days have felt like good forward progress. They removed the ROC drip (medical paralytic) to give Peter some movement. It allowed for his cough response to come back and they’ve been able to suction out a lot of the fluid from the pneumonia. Oh, he hates that so much, but he’s strong and brave (and I hold on to the fact that the medicine they are giving him won’t let him remember any of this).

They spent two hours doing cpap trials yesterday -- Peter initiates the breath and the ventilator supports and it helps track his readiness for them to take the breathing tube out. He did great. They are starting to adjust his medication to get ready for extubtation, and withdrawal is starting with a bit of a low grade fever. But the pain and palliative care experts have crafted a plan for him and will be closely monitoring his progress. We are so lucky to have access to such incredible care.

Saturday marked a week of being intubated, and it sounds like today (Sunday) will be the day they remove his breathing tube. Withdrawal is no joke, and that comes next. He’ll still have coughing and probably oxygen for a while and rehab with PT and OT – but the duration and intensity of all of that kind of depends on the kid. We’re hopeful that he will be home by next weekend and in time for Christmas.

This place of cautious optimism feels so much better than a week ago when I was gently told, “There’s a real chance your little boy isn’t going to be ok, and I just feel like you deserve to be prepared for that reality.” I am grateful for today.

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Dec 7: When I created this fundraiser at 10:30 last night, I sent the preview to Katie. Her first reaction was, "That's a really big number." I thought to myself, "Yeah, and we'll hit it tomorrow." I didn't want to let her down if we didn't, though, so I said that we'd reach it by the end of the week.

And here we are the very next morning, hitting $25K before noon.

Well done, friends. Also, let's keep going.

It didn't feel right to share this story with the initial ask, but after learning about the plan for sedation and intubation, one of the first things Peter said to Katie was, "Mom? I'm worried this is gonna cost a lot of money."

This child is 10 years old, today. And he is already carrying in his body and his heart concern about what this will cost.

It's his birthday. Let's keep going, so that when he wakes up his parents can tell him how generous everyone has been because they love him so much, and he can stop carrying that in his small body.

Let's keep going so that Katie and Jeremy can plan an extravagant birthday celebration for this boy when this is all behind them.

Let's keep going because so much remains unknown.

Let's just keep going.

P.S. Many of you have asked what else is needed. If you wish to send cards or well-wishes to Peter (or Julian or Katie or Jeremy), please send them to the hospital:

Peter Schroeder

Children's Hospital Minneapolis

2525 Chicago Ave.

Minneapolis, MN 55404

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Dec 6: As so many of you know, Peter came down with a bad case of the flu a few weeks ago. He developed pneumonia and eventually landed in the hospital with low oxygen levels.

Rather than improving, however, his lungs continued to fill with fluid, and on Dec 3 the decision was made to sedate and intubate him, so that a ventilator could do his breathing for him, giving his little body some time to rest and heal.

It's as simple as that, and it's also really complicated. A few times along the way have been really scary. He'll remain intubated for at least a week, maybe even two weeks or more. Once the doctors can wake him up, he faces an extended recovery both in the hospital and back home.

Peter remains strong and curious and smart as a whip, right up to and including the conversation he had with his doctor about what it would mean to go to sleep for several days, during which he will miss his 10th birthday.

Katie and Jeremy and Julian are strong and brave and scared and hopeful and they are doing All The Things and then some because there is simply no other choice.

And it will not be free.

At the very least, this family is facing a medical crisis that will span two calendar years, resulting in massive out-of-pocket costs. There is already a laundry list of small expenses, everything from hospital parking to lunches from the deli. And there will almost certainly be a loss of wages, as Katie and Jeremy do not have access to enough PTO to cover what will be needed of them in terms of leave and care.

Friends, let's help. This country's healthcare system is broken; this shouldn't be required. But we can't overhaul it in the next few months. What we can do is come together, each of us giving what we can, to get this family through one of the worst times in their lives. Let's take the financial worry off their plates so they can spend their energy on more important things: helping Peter to heal and caring for themselves and one another as they get through this.

These four have loved all of us so well, in so many different ways. Let's love them right back like this.