Hi @influencebydesign
Hmm… Try using acf/update_value
to update the field value into an array and add the extra meta data into this array then serialize the array and return the serialize value.
Then use acf/load_value
filter to un-serialize the value and return it to the template functions.
Here are the links to the docs for these filters:
http://www.advancedcustomfields.com/resources/acfupdate_value/
http://www.advancedcustomfields.com/resources/acfload_value/