EARLIER UPDATES April 27, 2009 - Devin took wristband photo with her phone camera. We're doing great here. Everything is just great. Loving the comments. Val April 16, 2009 Val, duane and sierra at our houston apt. one day before transplant Sierra and Vickie on Monday, April 13 at Texas Childrens Hospital Dr. Eussex (Pulmonary), Stephanie (childlife), Dr. Mallory (lung transplant man) , and of course, our warrior, Sierra Gwyn after transplant April 13, 2009 - Sierra has been discharged from the hospital!!! Mom and Sierra will be staying in Houston at the apartment they have for the next 3 months. There will be a several appointments weekly for those 3 months. She is doing great! It is so amazing that she was only in the hospital for 11 days. Mom and Sierra will keep posting updates through out her recovery here in Houston. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the support and prayers! LOVE YOU ALL! April 12, 2009 - Sierra is still making great progress! We had lots of laughs with her yesterday and it is so good to see that smile on her face. We are still hoping for her to be out of the hospital tomorrow. It is amazing the progress she has made. We took lots of pictures yesterday and have posted them on this website. Thank you for all the prayers and sweet comments, they have been a big part of Sierra's recovery. April 10, 2009 - Hey everyone. Sierra was moved up to the 14th floor today. She is on the pulmonary floor now. her room number is 1402. She had all IV's and chest tubes removed today. She also got taken off the nasal cannula. No more attachments to her body!!! She just keeps getting stronger everyday :) and we are even seeing lots of smiles and some laughing from her. we have gotten the ok to bring food in from outside so there will probably be a trip to PF Chang's to get her some takeout. :) The only thing... April 8, 2009 - Good morning family! Sierra is much more awake and alert this morning. They have her sitting up in her bed for one hour and she will be sitting up in a chair later on today. She is slowly coming off of her IV meds and moving onto oral...won't that be fun :) Breathing treatments are now every 4 hours. They started last night at every 30 minutes, then progressed to every one hour, every two hours, etc. They are hard to do, but she tolerates them well. The breathing treatments will help her to continue to cough. Doctor's have lifted her from ICU status!!  Although she is still here in PICU, she is no longer critical and will hopefully be put in a room today. There are some things that Sierra has to do before that happens. One of them is staying on top of her medications. They need to be taken on time, so we'll hope she will be cooperative and take them when they are brought to her. Her vitals are looking very good this morning, and her O2 sats are better today then they were yesterday, so they have decreased her oxygen. I will update as soon as I know more about the plan for today. Love to all, Courtney April 7, 2009 - Hello Family! Thought I would give everyone a quick update on Sierra's condition this morning. This will be an easy way to notify everyone in the family, but we will still keep in touch by phone as well. Ok- Sierra is doing good this morning. She is still sleeping right now, but 2 of her chest tubes were removed about a half hour ago. They removed one from each side. As she slowly starts waking up, they will have her taking deep breaths, and trying to get her to cough. The deep breaths will be painful (along with coughing), but the coughing is especially hard because Sierra can't feel any of the fluid that is in the lower lobes of her lungs, so she doesn't know that she needs to cough. As soon as they get her breathing and coughing, they will remove the endo tube. We are hoping this will happen around noon or one. From what I understand, she will be in PICU as long as she has any tubes...but they plan on removing the other two chest tubes tomorrow. Mom is much better. She is here today and at Sierra's side now. Marc went back to Ronald McDonald house to sleep for a few hours. This will be a hard day for Sierra and it will be hard watching her go through this. Thank God our strong as steel mother is doing better and here today. Let me know of any questions and I will do my best to answer them. Love you all and thank you for your constant support and soothing words - Courtney Lane April 4, 2009 - Sierra is in ICU. Official prognosis is "cautious optimism." Lungs are functioning. Staff is balancing meds and closely monitoring blood chemistry and organ function. April 3, 2009, 7:30 a.m. - Sierra came out of surgery with her new lungs. She took her first breath at 1:30 a.m. April 2, 2009 - A pair of lungs are available! Sierra spent the day prepping and went into surgery Thursday evening. March 29, 2009 - Sierra is on the Active Transplant List!
	mar 29, 2009 when courtney and lexie came to visit and we had lunch at PF Chang's
	sierra's physical therapy team, Emily on the left, Sierra and Cristina
	me and sierra in the motel room just being silly trying to pass time
Mar 29, 2009 - Sierra was able to see her sisters, Jenny and Courtney over spring break and her nephew and niece. Her other sister, Devin is flying in from Kentucky this weekend for a visit. We are currently in a motel room in the medical center area and are on the waiting list for short-term housing in the medical center and seeking other options in the meantime. Thank you for all the prayers, cards and emails and donations in memory of Sierra's grandmother, TuTu. With love, Val and Sierra

Saturday, March 21, 2009 - You all ~ My mother, Tutu to her grandchildren, passed away this past Thursday morning.

It was Susan Kujat of the Montana Madden family and my mother's brother-in-law, Jim Vickery of the Iowa Gross clan that suggested that the donations in her memory be made to Sierra's Phenomenal Hope. My mother was a life-long supporter of organizations such as NPR, The Southern Poverty Law Project, League of Women Voters but when this aspect of her funeral arrangements was discussed the extended family responded that the cause that she was most concerned with was Sierra's Phenomenal Hope. So donations in her memory will be made to Sierra's Phenomenal Hope.

March 21, 2009 - Scootique sold raffle tickets for Fredericksburg prizes - all in support of Sierra.

Prizes included:
$50 gift certificates to Biederman's Ace Hardware
Dinner for 2 at Silver Creek
Free Pizza from Fredericksburg Pizza Kitchen
$50 gift certificate to Hill Top Cafe
Weber Smoker from Western Beverages
Smirnoff Garment Bag from Western Beverages
Craftsman Socket Set from Press Corps
$50 gift certificate to Threads
$50 gift certificate to Shops on Llano
Hilda's Tortillasd donation
Altdorf donation
Wildseed Farms gift certificate
Fredericksburg Winery donation
Various helmets from Scootique
& More

Thanks to Scootique, Western Beverages, Press Corps Printing and Wildseed Farms.

Sierra and Val awaiting an echocardiogram at 7:30 a.m. - yuck. We're back at the house and go back to TCH for our 1 p.m. with psychologist then we're done for the day. Maybe we can go shopping or something before heading back here.

Jan 11, 2009
From Valerie:
We are here (in Houston). We are dealing with emotional and physical preparation, working to keep Sierra well and upbeat until we are ready to make the plunge. Just trying to adjust to this new journey.

Last night we went out for Chinese food. We found a really cool outside mall in Sugarland only about 15 minutes from here. Now we have a place we can take you guys when you come without having to go into Houston. We might get to go to Target today and maybe Olive Garden for a late lunch. Just making the most out of the good days.

Making regular visits to the Texas Childrens Hospital. Our goal is to get Sierra's weight back up again. We also visited with the nutritionist, Dana, the social worker, Rosanna, and childlife, Ashley. She had lots of blood drawn for tissue type, etc. We see Dr. Mallory once a week. There will be other things to do at TCH each week as well.

There has to be a board of transplant directors to give the final OK. This board consists of all her doctors and others as well. There are so many factors involved.

We are not going down without a fight. Don't worry, whatever comes, we will get through it.

Jan 1, 2009
Sierra is off to Houston! The family gave them a quiet send-off with blessings and lots of love.

Sierra and her mother are fortunate to be able to stay in the home of Ed and Rita Dansdill, friends of the family who will be out of the country for several months. So Valerie and Sierra are house-sitting for them. The home is less than 10 miles from the hospital, so it worked out for everyone. Thank you for your interest... more information to come.

Dec 10, 2008
The family is planning to go to Houston the first of January to take the next step for Sierra's double lung transplant. First stop is an appointment with one of the transplant surgeons to formally place Sierra on the waiting list. While in Houston, Sierra will visit the transplant clinic weekly and go to physical therapy twice a week for modest exercises.

The family's job is "to wait" and stay healthy and active. Hospital staff are recommending they take advantage of Houston's culture and entertainment: museums, concerts, sports teams, etc. There is the possibility of using free tickets provided for sick children.

Valerie and Sierra are planning to stay in the home of Ed and Rita Dansdill, which is located in a nice neighborhood less than 10 miles from the hospital. Ed and Rita have generously offered their home during the few months they will be in Peru.

Dr. Mallory visits with Sierra in Houston

Nov 6, 2008 - We have returned from our trip to Houston. Sierra gained 4 lbs. in 5 weeks! Hooray! We discussed getting Sierra on active transplant list after the Christmas Holidays. This was a request of Sierra's to Dr. Mallory and lung transplant team. This could of course change at any point. Factors include Sierra's health between now and then and other ducks we and Texas Chilren's have to get in a row. We continue to scope out living arrangement possibilities. So far we have nothing concrete, but I know it will all work out. Please pray on this. Val

Nov 1, 2008 - Ok everyone. We go to Houston next week. We leave Monday afternoon for an early appt. on Tuesday morning and then see the liver/heptologist Dr. on Wednesday morning. Then Dr. Mallory has decided he wants to see Sierra again while she is there (transplant Dr.) and he sees transplant patients on Thursdays, but we're awaiting a request for a Wednesday appt. so we don't have to hang out another night, but not counting on that. We'll see what the next step is and maybe get an idea of when we will be moving to Houston. Val