Dallas is HOME!
July 12, 2025
After a long 100+ days in the hospital, we’re excited to announce that as of Thursday afternoon, Dallas is home! Following her initial stay at UNC Children’s Hospital, she worked incredibly hard over the last six weeks at Levine Children’s Hospital’s Inpatient Pediatric Rehabilitation in Charlotte. They’ve given us an incredible head start in her recovery journey, and the team was truly top notch.
The therapists, some of whom have been working at ... Continue Reading
Turning Toward Home
July 4, 2025
The last week has brought a mix of progress and some challenges—especially when it comes to sleep. Dallas has had a tough time settling at night, which has made for some groggy mornings. The doctors recently started her on a new medication before bedtime to help her rest, and while there’s been some trial and error with dosing, we finally seem to be in a pretty sweet spot. For the most part, ... Continue Reading
Saturday, June 28th
June 28, 2025
It’s been another week of long days in intense therapy sessions for Dallas, and she continues to make strides toward recovery.
One of the most exciting updates is that she’s starting to find and practice with her voice, something we haven’t heard since March 29th. What began as simple noises, produced with significant physical effort and strain, has evolved into a clear “yes!” when asked if she wanted to hold her baby doll. ... Continue Reading
3 Down, 3 to Go!
June 21, 2025
It’s been another week here at Levine, and things continue to trend in the right direction toward Dallas’ recovery. A major win is that her six-week post-heart-surgery echocardiogram came back completely clear—the previous clot or thrombus/cast that once appeared in the right atrium is no longer detectable, and the tech took imaging from at least four vantage points. It’s officially gone, and so is the Xarelto she was on because of it!
As ... Continue Reading
Two Weeks at Levine
June 13, 2025
We’re now two weeks into our inpatient rehabilitation journey with Dallas here at Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte. Over that time, we’ve gotten to know the therapists, some of the other families, and many of the incredible kids working alongside Dallas. Every family has their own story and set of circumstances that brought them here, but there’s a strong and unspoken bond in simply being here together. That shared experience forms a ... Continue Reading
Thursday, June 5th
June 5, 2025
We’re now one week in at Levine Children’s Hospital and starting to get acclimated to the daily routines, life, and everything else that comes with being here. One of the biggest challenges was her waking up between 3-5 a.m. — For. The. Day. Since adding a little midnight melatonin, it seems to have improved. Shout out to NP Cheryl for the recommendation :)
Since Dallas has been non-verbal thus far into this journey, ... Continue Reading
Friday, May 30th
May 30, 2025
We left UNC Children's Hospital yesterday through an emotional goodbye celebration of all the available staff on the floor. After being there 61 days, It was a long journey – one filled with lots of ups & downs, more emotions that I'm able to find the words for, and truly taking things one day at a time since March 29th.
We're thankful for the UNC doctors, nurses, aides, staff, right down to Cedric ... Continue Reading
Tuesday, May 27th
May 27, 2025
Since our last update on Thursday the 22nd, Dallas underwent her G-tube surgery, and thankfully, everything seems to be healing well without complications. We've transitioned from Heparin (administered via IV) to Xarelto, an oral medication, which is a great step forward as it allows Dallas to be untethered from her IV's and more mobile... more snuggles and couch time!
Her echocardiogram on Monday looked great, and her D-Dimer levels—a blood test that indicates ... Continue Reading
Thursday, May 22nd
May 22, 2025
Quick updates for today…
G-tube surgery will be tomorrow (Friday) morning. It’s expected to take around an hour, and seems to be pretty routine.
Dallas got another visit from Maggie May (therapy dog from last week) first thing this morning. Maggie May climbed into bed with her and they shared lots of snuggles together. We also received some fresh picked flowers from Maggie May’s owners - such caring and wonderful people!
Some time was spent ... Continue Reading
Wednesday, May 21st
May 21, 2025
Dallas had a restful night with PopPop, sounds like she got nearly 12 hours of rest! This helped her to have a more productive day with PT today, which is always a good thing. No speech therapy today, but we anticipate seeing their team again tomorrow.
We met with a member of the surgery team and Dallas will likely have her g-tube surgery on Friday. It's expected to be about an hour and ... Continue Reading