Carly Grace

Our Christmas Miracle

2009-12-23T23:55:00.000-08:00

I can hardly believe it, but Carly was discharged this evening and after two weeks in the hospital we are finally back at home. Once again, the fact that we live so close to the hospital helped convince the team at UCSF to let Carly go home sooner than they would have in most cases. We will be on high alert the next few days making sure Carly doesn't have a relapse, but that will be much easier to do in the comfort of our own home. I know we will all sleep well tonight.

Love, Brad

Big Turnaround

2009-12-22T22:05:00.000-08:00

What a difference a day can make. Yesterday at this time Carly was in a very critical state that had everyone worried, including the medical team. Her temperature was up to 104F, her heart rate was 220 beats per minute, her respiratory rate was 105 breaths per minute, and her pupils were unresponsive to light. Around 10pm everything started to settle out and by midnight all of her vital signs were back within her normal range. The team ruled out a shunt problem, and although some blood cultures need a few more days to finalize they are pretty certain that the symptoms were not caused by an infection.

The latest thought is that Carly was suffering from something called paroxysmal autonomic instability. This means that the autonomic part of her brain which controls critical vitals like heart rate, breathing and temperature basically got out of whack and worked itself into a state that it could not recover from. This is something that Dr. Gupta has seen with patients that have had brain injury, and it can also occur with someone who has had surgical procedures like Carly. He said that he has not seen it to the extent that Carly suffered from last night, but added that typically it is a transient occurrence that people eventually grow out of. The symptoms looked very similar to what Carly suffered from during our month long stay in June, but they have never occurred at any other time. Most likely Carly's body was pushed too hard with everything that she has gone through here and her brain could not compensate. This also means that it is not very likely that we will see something like this on the outside.

The best news from the day is that Carly nursed for the first time in over five days. This is always her sign that she is starting to feel better and it certainly makes Christa and I feel relieved. She slept for most of the day, catching up on some much needed sleep. If she can continue this trend there is still a chance that we will be able to go home by the end of the week. While that would be an amazing gift, just seeing Carly feeling better is all I could ask for. (Ok, I'm asking to go home too.) This is yet another experience that is harder than anything we thought we were prepared to handle, and we have no doubt that you have all given us the extra boost we have needed to make it though. The love of many with a shared focus is a powerful force.

Love, Brad

Two Steps Back

2009-12-21T23:15:00.000-08:00

Over the last few days Carly has been having increasingly bad days. The staff in the PICU expected that it was a bug that would pass, and Carly was moved to the regular floor of the hospital yesterday afternoon. She was very irritable all last night, with Christa and I doing everything we could to keep her calm. By late morning she started showing more serious symptoms and after another head CT scan she was sent back to the PICU. The head CT looked normal and Carly's shunt seems to be working, so the exact cause of her symptoms is still unknown. Fortunately, a few hours ago they were able to finally get Carly to a more restful state. She will have an overnight EEG study and tomorrow we will meet with the neurology and neurosurgery teams to come up with a plan. We will keep you all posted, and your love and support is helping all three of us.

Love, Brad

The Peanut Gallery

2009-12-19T22:49:00.000-08:00

Carly had a decent night and today was pretty quiet as well. She is still uncomfortable, refusing to eat and has only opened her eyes to peek out a few times but we are hopeful that she is starting to trend in the right direction. The CT scan of her head last night didn't show any surprises which is reassuring, and it was clear that the shunt is working properly. There is a chance that Carly is agitated from too much drainage from the shunt so the neurosurgery resident stopped by today and adjusted the valve so it flows more slowly. We will see over the next few days if this makes the difference we are looking for.

The holiday season brings many special visitors to the hospital. A few days ago Carly was visited by the San Francisco Police Department who brought her a stuffed animal as a gift. We chose a gorilla to help remind Carly of her friend Koko. Snoopy Claus made an appearance yesterday, and even if Carly couldn't fully appreciate it Christa and I both thought it was pretty funny. We hope the real Santa Claus gets to visit Carly at home instead of the hospital this year.

Love, Brad

Who's Got My Z's?

2009-12-18T23:24:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately Carly had another bad night. She started getting really agitated around 1 am and it kept up for about six hours before she finally settled. She has done pretty well for most of the day, fussing a bit and usually consolable but she is still not feeling like herself. She is due to have a head CT scan at some point tonight to make sure nothing in her head looks unusual, and we will do our best to make sure she has as restful a night as possible. Thanks for all the love you are sending our way, it helps make up for some lost sleep.

Love, Brad

Restless

2009-12-17T21:32:00.000-08:00

Carly didn't have the best night last night. Around 5pm she starting getting very agitated for an unknown reason and it kept us up for many hours before we finally gave her a big enough dose of a sedative that helped her finally relax. Today she has been less agitated but she is still uncomfortable and is not interested in eating once again. One theory is that the drop from high cranial pressure to lower (normal) cranial pressure is an uncomfortable change that takes a few days to adjust to. There is another theory that one of her medications was reduced too quickly, or that the pneumonia is causing the agitation. She is still uncomfortable now but less than last night and we are hopeful that she will get some much needed rest. We will explore all of the theories tomorrow and hopefully something will help her feel more like herself.

Love, Brad

On the Mend

2009-12-15T21:51:00.000-08:00

Carly was taken off the ventilator this morning and it was great to see her cute pudgy cheeks that had been hiding behind the big pieces of tape holding the tube in place. She opened her eyes more than she has this entire stay and looks much more comfortable than we've seen in several days. Most importantly she nursed from Christa for the first time in almost a week, and seemed hungrier than she has in a really long time. Chest x-rays taken this morning don't show any major changes in her pneumonia which is a promising sign that things are likely to get better rather than worse. She has a lot of spots that must be sore from incisions, needle pokes and general soreness from surgery but she is a tough little cookie that we can't help but be proud of.

Love, Brad

The Pressure's Off Reprise

2009-12-14T20:46:00.000-08:00

Carly's intracranial pressure was building up all day and she was very uncomfortable so we were counting the minutes until she could have her surgery. She headed into the operating room at 4pm for the shunt revision, and they finished just after 6:30pm. Dr. Gupta said the surgery went better than he had expected and they were able to pass a new catheter down the same vein they originally used which helped minimize the number of incisions that Carly needed. Carly was intubated for the surgery and they were able to remove a significant amount of junky secretions from her lungs which should help her recovery from the pneumonia. She will remain intubated overnight, and if she is breathing well on her own tomorrow they will take her off of the breathing machine. Thanks for all the love and prayers that helped keep Carly safe through another surgery.

Love, Brad

Warm It Up c

2009-12-13T21:34:00.000-08:00

Another day up on the hill has passed and it was pretty uneventful. Carly has continued to be very sleepy and her temperature has been on the low side so she is resting underneath a pile of warm blankets, wearing one as a hat. Early in the day the neurosurgery resident tapped her shunt to remove some CSF to help relieve some pressure on her brain while she waits for surgery. She was a little more alert after the tap, opening her eyes a few times and even trying to pull out her nasal cannula (the breathing tube in her nostrils.) Her chest x-ray this morning didn't show any change in her pneumonia which is a good thing, and all of her vital signs have remained steady which hopefully means that the pneumonia is not intensifying. Dr. Gupta stopped by in the morning and said that he hopes to be able to get a spot on the operating room schedule tomorrow for Carly's shunt revision. Christa and I both feel very lucky to have the care of doctors and nurses that we trust and the support of all of you.

Love, Brad

On Hold

2009-12-12T21:34:00.000-08:00

Today was a quiet day which is a great thing when in the PICU. Carly has been pretty wiped out since yesterday afternoon, sleeping steadily for the last twenty-eight hours. After the last few days she deserved some much needed rest, and it should help her body fight off the pneumonia bug. Dr. Gupta decided to postpone Carly's shunt revision surgery until early next week to give her body some time to recover from her pneumonia. His biggest concern is that the virus or bacteria from her lungs could find its way into the surgical site, possibly leading to more complications from infection. We could all do without any additional complications and since Carly is comfortable, waiting a few more days for the surgery seems like a good idea. We do have a plan if Carly starts to suffer from high pressure again, but hopefully she can continue to rest and get stronger between now and then.

Love, Brad

Awaited Answers

2009-12-11T21:34:00.000-08:00

Carly didn't have a great night last night. She was really uncomfortable and agitated and it was clear to Christa and I that she was suffering from high intracranial pressure. We probably each got around 45 minutes of sleep, but we were able to help Carly get through the night by holding her hand and singing to her. Today was all about trying to find some answers. Carly had a few different studies and tests to check on both the pneumonia and her shunt function and a few hours ago all of the results were in.

It does look like Carly has pneumonia, but it is unclear whether it is bacterial or viral. The treatment for the bacterial version is a seven day course of the IV antibiotics that Carly started yesterday and if it is viral all you can do is wait it out. They also found that there is a clot blocking the flow of Carly's shunt at the distal end, preventing it from draining her CSF as well as needed. Dr. Gupta was consulted and he will most likely operate on Carly tomorrow to replace the faulty parts of the shunt. They have not scheduled a specific time yet as they want to recheck all of Carly's vitals in the morning to verify that she is ready for a surgical procedure, but we should know pretty early in the day. Right now Carly is resting peacefully and we are hoping to get some much needed rest tonight. Thanks for your continued love and support, we can feel its warmth through the cold, rainy weather outside.

Love, Brad

The UCSF Dash

2009-12-10T20:50:00.000-08:00

It looks like another good run outside of the hospital has come to an end. Carly has not been feeling great the last few days, acting more agitated than usual. Christa spent seven hours at urgent care with her on Monday as they ran multiple tests that didn't reveal any problem. After a follow up appointment with endocrinology yesterday we were told to try and get Carly's hydration up over the next few days. Unfortunately Carly decided that she didn't want to eat or drink anymore. After several attempts through the night it became clear that we had to come up to the hospital this morning.

Before we came up today Carly took a turn for the worse and we literally ran her up to the emergency room. She was in pretty critical condition when we arrived and there was a lot of commotion to get her stabilized but she was looking a lot better after a few hours. We are now up in the PICU (a familiar place to us) and Carly is doing pretty well. She is still agitated and not very interested in eating, but she looks much more like herself. A chest x-ray indicated that she may have bacterial pneumonia which they have already started treating with antibiotics as a precaution. Tomorrow she will have a follow up x-ray to see if the area of concern still looks like pneumonia. They are also monitoring the function of her shunt to see if increased cranial pressure could be causing any of her discomfort. We hope to have a few more answers tomorrow, in the meantime we are filling the hospital room with Carly's favorite tunes and a lot of healing energy.

Love, Brad

'Twas The Day After Thanksgiving

2009-11-27T09:21:00.000-08:00

I was looking back at last year's Thanksgiving post and was amazed how much has happened since then. At that time Carly was only six weeks out of her first tumor resection surgery, she had a giant collection of fluid on the top of her head and she had residual tumor that was growing back quickly. Countless nights at the hospital and many surgeries later, Carly continues to be quite the fighter.

The best recent news is that Carly remains tumor free. She had a routine MRI check-up a few weeks ago which confirmed that the tumor has not grown back. This was music to our ears. Carly has not had much progress on the seizure front though. We have tapered up to the maximum dose on the second medication and she continues to have many seizures each day. At one point they dropped as low as two seizures a day, but they have increased again to as many as eight in a day. She has also been very tired since her seizures began on September 26th, sleeping for nearly twenty hours a day and only smiling a few times since then. She clearly is not feeling great and we need to get to the bottom of this problem as soon as possible. She will most likely begin a third medication in the next few days, and we all hope that this is the one for her.

Several things have not changed since last Thanksgiving. We continue to be thankful for all of our friends and family that have offered their love and support. You have all helped us in so many different ways, we can't imagine going through this without you. I am thankful everyday for Christa who is not only an amazing wife but also the most incredible mom a little girl like Carly could ask for. And of course, we are thankful for Carly who continues to be an example of strength and perseverance and always brings out the best in everyone around her.

Love,

Brad

Shine A Light

2009-11-04T20:34:00.000-08:00

Carly's last EEG confirmed that her seizure medication was not helping. She started her new medication on Thursday which will taper up over a month as her first medication is tapered down. It will still take some time before we can tell if the new medication is helping, but her seizures have gone from around seven a day to three/four a day since the change so things are looking promising.

The day the new medication began was also a big day as Christa, Carly and I hopped in the car and headed south to Indio, CA for Festival 8, the first ever Phish festival on the west coast. For those who aren't familiar with Phish, they are one of our favorite bands and the link that connected us with many of the great friends in our lives. We thought that three days in the sun with many loved ones and great music would be a good thing for all three of us and we were not disappointed.

Phish played a total of eights sets of music over the course of the weekend and Carly made it to all of them. Nothing fills the air with good energy like tens of thousands of happy people dancing the night away, and I really think that this could only help Carly with her healing. All of our friends dressed up for Halloween, many of us as antelopes in honor of the Phish song "Run Like and Antelope" and Carly was the cutest chicken I have ever seen in a costume that Christa made for her. As the band covered the Rolling Stones album Exile On Main Street during the second set on Halloween the lyrics for "Shine A Light" really struck a cord:

"May the good Lord shine a light on you,
Make every song you sing your favorite tune.
May the good Lord shine a light on you,
Warm like the evening sun."

Our days can still be a roller coaster ride but times like these surrounded by so many of our Team Carly family shows how many great moments there are in life, and how many great memories Carly has to come.

Love, Brad

Aloha

2009-10-25T20:38:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks have not seen a lot of changes for Carly. Her seizures have decreased in intensity and frequency a few times as her seizure medication has been increased, but each time they have eventually returned. The medication reached the maximum dose last Friday and for a few days she only had 2-3 short seizures each day lasting around 30 seconds but they are back to 7 or so a day that last anywhere from 3 to 15 minutes. When the seizures first started we were told that it may take a few months of trial and error with a short list of medications to get them under control, and it looks like we aren't there just yet. Carly will have a few blood labs and another EEG on Tuesday to give some additional insight on how she is doing and the neurologist will either continue to increase her current medication or begin the taper up with a different one.

While Carly has been dealing with this issue, we had the opportunity to go to Hawaii for a part business (a work convention) and part pleasure getaway. We were a bit concerned since Carly's seizures were not under control, but the neurology team assured us that the seizures were not an imminent danger to her and they felt that Christa and I could care for her just as well in Hawaii as we do at home. It ended up being a great time away in the sun, and Carly had many moments when she was clearly enjoying herself. From her first bite of fresh pineapple to her first session of floating in the ocean (ok maybe she didn't love that, but in the end she did seem relaxed) she definitely liked island life. Christa and I got into the island life right away too and it was a great way for all of us to relax a bit as we try to help Carly get past this hurdle.

Love, Brad

Working Under The Harvest Moon

2009-10-07T18:12:00.000-07:00

Carly's week has been ok. Last week she was fussy for much of the day, but with several teeth coming through, a little constipation, and some seizures, who could blame her. Two out of those three have eased up for her, but she is continuing to have occasional seizures. She started taking her anti-seizure medication last Monday, and these medications are typically started at very low doses and then increased every four-six days until an effective dose is found. At this point Carly is still having 2-3 seizures a day and they can last anywhere from 2-10 minutes. It can often take several weeks to find the right dose, so we will continue until the seizures finally stop or we reach her dosage maximum. If the current medication does not stop her seizures, there are others to try. It is very important that we get these seizures under control as quickly as possible though, because if they go unchecked they can escalate to more critical seizures and her neuro-development will likely plateau as she continues to have them.

Carly is doing well otherwise, and she seems to be looking around more and more each day and loves to test out her new teeth by chewing on her stuffed carrot. It is clear that a lot is going on up in her head right now and we will continue to surround her with love to help get her to the next step in her recovery. You can help us by continuing to envision Carly as the perfect, healthy little girl that is her true self.

Love, Brad

Up On The Hill

2009-09-28T20:33:00.000-07:00

Carly has been cruising on her slow and steady recovery, getting a little stronger each week through her many physical therapy sessions. Late last week, both Thursday and Friday, she had a few 20-30 second moments that looked a little unusual to us so we were keeping a close eye on her over the weekend. On Saturday and Sunday these unusual events culminated with what looked like a seizure that lasted almost 10 minutes while we waited at a tram (MUNI) stop in San Francisco. As soon as we got home Christa called the pediatric neurology department at UCSF, who recommended that we come up to the hospital as soon as we could for observation.

We arrived at our hospital room around nine yesterday evening and they immediately hooked Carly up for an overnight EEG study. An EEG requires 24 leads to be glued to your head using a loud vacuum hose to quickly dry the glue. The leads measure your brain activity and can indicate anything unusual such as a seizure. Needless to say, Carly was not happy getting the leads attached and she was pretty exhaused from yelling after the two hour process of setting up the EEG. After about fourteen hours of observation the neurology team determined that Carly was in fact having a type of seizure. The seizures are a bit unusual because Carly is interactive throughout the event, and she will even smile as it is happening. They have placed Carly on an anti-seizure medication and expect that it may take a few days for it to take full effect but we were able to head home this evening after our shortest trip to the hospital to date. Carly is doing well now and is ready for a good night's sleep in her own bed. This type of thing is not unusual for kids who go through everything that Carly has and it may simply be a passing issue as her brain rewires itself. She continues to be as strong as ever and will make it over this hurdle like every other that comes her way.

Love, Brad

Quite A Year

2009-09-12T10:34:00.000-07:00

It was one year ago today that our lives took a turn for the unexpected. Christa, Carly and I sat for what seemed like hours in the exam room waiting to hear the result from Carly’s head ultrasound. When the doctors walked into the room we didn’t know what to expect, but we could tell it wasn’t good. “Your daughter has a very large brain tumor.” It felt like all of the air was sucked out of the room, leaving us gasping for a breath. There was no way to know how to react and we didn’t have any idea what was in store for us.

It is putting it mildly to say that it was a tough year as Carly had to undergo fifteen trips to the operating room and a total of nearly four months in intensive care. She has proven to be a mighty little girl though, and no matter what has been thrown her way she has risen to the challenge. Her amazing spirit seems to radiate from her and she has a way of bringing the best out of anyone that she meets. I can't help but feel privileged to have been trusted with the care of such an incredible little girl.

The love, prayers and healing energy that all of you (who we now know as Team Carly) have continuously sent out to Carly, Christa and me has carried us through all of the tough times and it continues to help Carly on her healing path today. It has been inspiring to see and feel the power of hope and love, and I don't know how we would have made it this far without you. We are so grateful for your support. Carly may still have a long way to go to get back to 100%, but with her amazing spirit and the power of Team Carly she can't be stopped.

Love,

Brad

Generations

2009-08-31T10:00:00.001-07:00

Carly continues to slowly and steadily improve. She has started to pull her legs up while lying on her back which she hasn’t done since her surgery in April. This new skill will help her strengthen her stomach and legs, and is one of the important first steps toward rolling over, sitting up and eventually crawling. She is also looking around more each day, and is usually pretty quick to smile with a tickle of her cheek or nose accompanied by silly sounds. (And what a cute smile it is!)

We flew to Michigan late last week to catch up with my family and spend some time relaxing at our cottage on Douglas lake. Carly met her three beautiful cousins (Kate, Tess, and Mary Claire) from Ann Arbor for the first time and also had her first visit with her great grandmother, Grammy. Grammy was quick to remind us that she will turn 97 in less than two months, and she can still describe in detail the scene when she met my grandfather over eighty years ago. Carly certainly has good genes on her side. It was amazing to see four generations of women from my family in the same room, and easy to see where Carly gets her resilient spirit.

Love, Brad

Keep On Truckin'

2009-08-11T20:29:00.000-07:00

Carly has continued on her path of slow but steady progress over the last few weeks. Most importantly, she has steered clear of the hospital and all of her blood lab results continue to be normal. She has started to look at Christa and I when we talk to her which is something that she has rarely ever done before and on several occasions she has welcomed me home from work with a big smile. It really doesn't get any better than that.

Although things are going in the right direction, Carly is still keeping us on our toes. During a trip to Lake Tahoe last weekend Carly spiked a little fever which is a lot more critical for her than a typical kid. Because Carly doesn't have a pituitary gland she needs increased amounts of hyrdocortisone administered anytime her body is under stress, including a fever. These issues were a contributing factor to her last trip to the hospital so needless to say we were a bit nervous as we waited to see if the fever would resolve itself with hydrocortisone, Tylenol and a cold washcloth on her head. Fortunately she started feeling better and Christa and I were able to breathe a big sigh of relief. We will probably need to deal with events like this for years to come, but we take comfort knowing that Carly is always surrounded by the love from all of you, keeping her safe and guiding her on her road to recovery .

Love, Brad

No News IS Good News

2009-07-27T20:14:00.000-07:00

I just realized that it has been over a week since my last Carly update. I can't believe an entire week has already gone by, but I am so happy that it has passed so easily. Carly has been doing really well and continues on her slow but steady path of recovery. Last Monday she had a head CT scan to see how her ventricles looked since her shunt was reconnected and things looked good. Her ventricles are smaller which means that the shunt continues to help alleviate the pressure in her head. There is still a lot of fluid between her brain and skull, but this will be there until her brain grows to fill the space that was once taken up by her tumor. She has been sleeping really well which has helped us to make up for lost time, something we will take as long as we can get it. She has also been smiling more and her awake periods are getting longer and more frequent. All in all, it was a good week.

Love, Brad

A Song I Heard The Ocean Sing

2009-07-19T23:08:00.000-07:00

We were looking to spend some time in nature so we took Carly on her first ever camping trip this past weekend. We headed north and found a perfect spot to pitch our tent literally on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Pacific. Christa and I have always done a lot of camping and it felt great to breathe the fresh ocean air but I think Carly may have liked it the most. As soon as the tent was set up we took her inside and the first thing she did was smile. She seemed at peace for the entire weekend, sleeping great and crying less than she has in weeks. She also did a good job holding up her head and even sat up on her own on Christa's lap for a few moments as we watched the sun set on Friday night. On Saturday the wind really picked up, sending our neighbors into their van for a good part of the day, but we were happy to sit there in our chairs at the end of the continent letting the wind power blow away the residual stress from the month in the PICU. We are already counting the days until our next camping trip together.

Love, Brad

Break On Through

2009-07-14T20:28:00.000-07:00

The last few days have been hit and miss for Carly. The molars that started coming through last week continue to make their way in and now all four corners of her mouth are showing the signs of some teeth. Two out of the last three nights Carly has been very uncomfortable, crying all night and sleeping around 3 hours or so, but we keep reminding ourselves how much better this is than sleepless nights in the PICU. It is a bit more complicated since Carly has other issues that could be bothering her, but we are pretty certain that it is only teeth this time around. Because she hasn't learned to pick things up or to put things in her mouth yet she has less coping mechanisms than a typical kid, but eventually all her teeth will be in. Until then we can power through the day with a little extra caffeine.

Carly has definitely shown improvement over last month. Her neck is getting pretty strong and she can hold her head up for minutes on end now. She is also looking around a lot more than she has since the tumor surgery in April. Her right eye seems to be stronger than her left now and today her ophthalmologist told us we could stop patching her eye for now. In the last few days Carly has starting making some talking sounds, mostly "ahh", something that she hasn't done much of since October. We'll take all of the progress we can get.

Love, Brad

Back On The Train

2009-07-08T21:35:00.000-07:00

Carly has had mostly good days this week which is just what we are looking for. Her stomach seems to bother her occasionally and three new teeth have broken through the skin over the last few days which has kept things interesting. Her nights have been pretty amazing as she has slept for seven straight hours or more for four consecutive nights now. I don't think we have ever experienced that and it has helped us all catch up on some much needed sleep. Even when she does wake up in the morning she seems completely content to just look around the room from the comfort of her bed which is what we usually find her doing each morning.

Carly had an impromptu checkup with neurosurgery yesterday to evaluate her shunt setting. The shunt has a magnetic valve in it that allows for adjustment of the flow rate by holding a magnet up to her skin and turning the resistance up or down. Her fontanel is very sunken now which means that the excess fluid is being drained very easily so the shunt resistance was turned up one level to try and get a bit closer to a natural drainage/absorption setting. They were very encouraged by how good she looked and happy to hear how well she is doing with the taper from her medications. She should be able to get back to her physical therapy soon and hopefully she can make up for some lost time pretty quickly.

Love, Brad

Relaxation Station

2009-07-04T22:29:00.000-07:00

Carly, Christa and I wish you all a happy 4th of July. We usually spend this weekend dancing away the day (and night) at the High Sierra Music Festival, but Carly can celebrate her second festival in 2010. Carly is doing well, sleeping much better than she has in a long time and getting stronger by the day. Two of her molars have decided to break through in the last two days, and the other two look close behind. They have her crying more than we would like, but regular baby issues are much easier to deal with. It is a bit of a surprise since she only has her two middle bottom teeth at this point, but when did Carly ever do anything on a typical schedule?

We all needed some rest, relaxation and rejuvenation after the last month so we are spending the weekend at the Cavallo Point Lodge in Sausalito. It is close enough to home and UCSF that we were comfortable coming here only days after getting out of the hospital, yet it feels so far from our time in the PICU. This photo was taken from our balcony, and we are all soaking in the view and the fresh air.

Love, Brad