Mack Attack

 9/9/22 The Iowa Wave Last weekend was full of lots of practice for preparing to take Macklin home. Courtney stayed with Macklin 24/7 in the hospital and learned the ropes of how to administer all his meds and monitor him throughout the day. She was a trooper as she met with all the teams of doctors alone and helped finalize all the plans for Mack in his continued care once he came home. Keira had come down with a daycare virus, so in order to protect Mack and Courtney, Cory and Keira stayed home for Labor Day weekend. It was hard to be apart for that much longer, but we also knew it was worth it as the end of our time in Iowa City was near. The long weekend gave Courtney and Mack the chance to experience the Iowa Wave from the windows of Stead Family Children's Hospital. We have always loved the Iowa Wave, but it certainly hit differently for our family as Courtney and Mack looked over Kinnick while the fans waved. Cory and Keira waved from home and we know many of you joined...

 9/1/22 The Past Two Weeks We know, we know...everyone's been waiting for a blog update! We have sat down a couple times to write one these past two weeks, and so has gone this journey, things just kept changing. A week ago Cory arrived in Iowa City to be with Mack after a week of work. Mack had been moved from Bay 1 (most critical) to Bay 2 during the week as he had been recovering well from surgery. After sitting down for cuddles, the Resident walked into the room and announced to Cory that they were sending Macklin home on Monday (which would have been 8/29). We were stunned; so much so that we told them they were crazy and that wasn't happening. The rest of the weekend (8/27 - 8/28) was spent pushing back against the Bay 2 doctor that wanted to send Mack home on Monday. We had tons of unanswered questions, continuation of care wasn't all set up, and Mack hadn't even had a follow-up ECHO a week out from his surgery yet to confirm everything was actually ok. In the me...