posted by Angie @ 7/29/2004 07:33:21 AM |
Thought I'd post a little update on Meredith since she had her follow up appointment yesterday with the surgeon. He said she's doing just fantastic! Such good words for this Mommy to hear although I already knew it because she's truly like living with a different child now.
She's dropped 5 pounds so far and he expects her to drop about another 5 or so and thinks she'll level out a bit.
My schedule is nuts right now with Josh in Band Camp, we are going to and from the High School 4 times a day right now along with everything else that needs to be done...I'm turning into a great taxi!
posted by Angie @ 7/29/2004 06:13:58 AM |
I'm so sorry that I haven't been posting or blog hopping lately~
It's been really, really crazy! We are loving having a daughter who is well on her way to recovery. She fell on her stomach last week and it left a bruise right at her belly button where they went in for the surgery but she's doing well even with that mishap.
It's selling time for Fall/Winter Clothing over on ebay so I'm listing, listing and listing like a mad-woman. I have so much stockpiled to sell, it's not even funny!
You can peek at my auctions, princess*emmes*closet, maybe there's something you need for your Princess!
Love & Miss Chatting with Everyone!
Hugs!
Angie
posted by Angie @ 7/26/2004 08:29:27 AM |
Friday afternoon we had a couple of little issues.
Meredith got some food stuck in her esophagus. We were sitting at the table and all of a sudden she started putting her hands around her throat area and her eyes got huge so Josh and I knew something was wrong. I don't do well with this sort of thing so I'm saying to myself and her...it's ok, just stay calm...you just need to get it out if you can. It took her a couple of tries but she got it up. You could certainly tell that it never went to her stomach because it was in the same state as when it went down and she had drank some milk after she ate it to try and wash it on down and the milk was exactly the same as it was in the cup...no stomach acids or anything.
A bit after that episode she started saying her neck hurt. After she said it about 4 times, I called the doc and they said it's gas pains from the gas they put in her body during surgery. The nurse said it's more painful than the surgery and to use warm compresses and get some pain meds in her. She won't take any oral medicines now unless she's desperate or we hold her down. She must have been hurting bad because she took the pain med with no complaints.
We spent the rest of the weekend mainly just being a family together...a normal family...our days didn't revolve around what time is the next medicine due or when the next iv treatment was due. It was sooooo nice and for the most part stress free!
posted by Angie @ 7/19/2004 06:36:23 AM |
Meredith did so great through her surgery. The surgeon planned on 2 hours and it ended up being about 3.5 hours long. He had the main OR Nurse call us about every hour to keep us updated on the progress.
The first words she said to us in the Pedi Recovery Room were, can we go home? We just looked at each other and chuckled...that's our girl!
She was up and walking to the potty by herself on Monday night, we've decided that nothing will hold her down. The only time she really woke up other than to potty on Monday was when my dad came to see her...she stayed awake most of the time and then he rocked her back to sleep.
They kept her on Toradol for a full 24 hours post surgery and she didn't really need any more morphine past about 2am, Tuesday morning. She was up on Tuesday and doing very, very well. All of her doctors were very, very pleased and we were too.
Last night was wonderful, she was generally waking up 5-7 times a night from reflux and would get in bed with us but last night she didn't wake up at all. We are hoping and praying that this means she's not refluxing anymore.
Oh, princess is calling~
More Later~
Meredith did wonderful through her surgery and afterwards.
We are all still trying to rest up here and I'll post more later on.
Hugs!
Angie
posted by Angie @ 7/16/2004 07:30:35 AM |
Thank you all for caring about Meredith and I~
I think I'm just about all packed up for the week ahead.
She won't have to drink the yucky stuff tomorrow, he will put meds through her picc line and she will be pleased with everyone in about 45 seconds.
Surgery is scheduled for 2 hours, from 7am to 9am CST...please life her up and everyone taking care of her during this time.
We've closed the shoppe for a bit and will re-open when she's home and a bit settled.
I'll post an update as soon as I can.
Hugs to Everyone,
Angie posted by Angie @ 7/11/2004 09:34:00 PM |
Good Morning~
Josh has been at my Mom's helping her with the garage sale on Thursday, Yesterday and then again today. He's truly a blessing to this family, there's no way she could have this big of a sale without him. He'll be coming home today because he has a fund-raising car-wash for band at noon and then they have marching practice after that. I'll be glad to haul him to band practice and pick him up, I love being involved in his life...and his friends too. For some reason they all think I'm "cool",I just like the kids and listen when they talk.
My friend Paula
sent this adorable Guardian Angel over for us and Meredith. She now resides on my blog page and will until my sweet baby recovers fully~
Thank you so much Paula, you are a blessing to me!
Have to run, time to give Meredith a IV Treatment~
Hugs!
posted by Angie @ 7/10/2004 07:03:04 AM |We met with the new surgeon yesterday and loved him! He was a trauma surgeon for 14 years at the busiest hospital in our area and then went back to school to specialize in Pediatric Surgery.
He was wonderful with Meredith and she really seemed to like him.
He does the surgery both open and through the scope so he said that down the road she would be much happier with how she looked if he did it through the scope. After discussing the pros and cons of both open and the scope we decided on the scope.
We went over to the hospital and did all the pre-op stuff after we left the surgeon's office.
My doctor called me in some medicine to sleep so last night was the first night I've slept more than an hour or two in weeks.
Miss Pam, her nurse, came and changed the dressing on her picc line today. She said Meredith is looking better, her eyes are nice and bright again and not glassy and cloudy/greyish looking.
We got out today and went to my Mom's house for a while. She's having a garage sale so we helped her a little bit, it was nice to get my mind off of the upcoming surgery.
I'm so very behind in my email and visiting my favorite reads...I'm sorry.
Nikki...if you read this...thanks so much for checking on us and being so supportive...Big Hugs!
I'll write more later, it's 8pm here and time to give Meredith a treatment and get her ready for bed. posted by Angie @ 7/08/2004 07:57:36 PM |
Thanks so much to everyone that helped make by Birthday a wonderful one this year!
I received so many cards, gifts and emails and it really helped take my mind off of the coming events.
There have been years when I didn't really like having my birthday on the 4th but I've come full circle again and love it. My husband and family will tell you that I am Miss Independent so it's very fitting that my birthday is on
Independence Day!
Hugs to Everyone!
posted by Angie @ 7/06/2004 07:11:58 AM |
1. I usually clean my house on Monday-Friday, or about every 2 days.
2. My favorite Sunday night program to watch on television is __________.
3. Monday morning I usually waking up thinking, "What day is it?."
4. To wind down at the end of a busy day, I like to read or work on my website.
5. I try not to call anyone on the phone until after 9 a.m.
6. And I NEVER call anyone after 9 p.m..
7. When I don't have to get up to go to work or school, I sleep in until 6am.
8. I have 5 telephones in my house.
9. I usually answer the phone on the 3rd ring.
10. When I know I should be sleeping, but am having a hard time falling asleep, I usually play solitare on my palm.
posted by Angie @ 7/06/2004 06:49:33 AM |
Weekend Update~
I Spent Saturday Being Angry.
I was angry that Meredith has spent three years being sick and has to try every medicine that exists to try and treat her GERD. I was angry that after three years (which is her entire life) of being sick and all that we've done, it still wasn't enough to avoid this major surgery. I wondered if in fact, we did try everything possible to treat this...I couldn't think of anything else we could have done.
After I was done being angry, I felt profoundly sad~
Sad for my baby girl, that she has to endure this surgery coming up. She's so little which is good because it's doubtful that she will remember the surgery when she gets older. I'm sad that she can't sleep well, can't eat well, is getting five iv treatments a day, has a yeast infection, hates taking any oral medicines right now, can't tolerate much liquids, and the list goes on.
When I woke up on Sunday, those feelings had passed and I'm back to dealing with the situation at hand. My family needs me to be ok more now than ever. I'm doing my very best to keep things as normal as possible for all of us.
Twist & Turn, The Surgery Saga Continues
I woke up in the middle of the night on Thursday night and prayed so fervently...asking God to show me very clearly what the right answer is regarding waiting on surgery or doing it now.. Meredith was sleeping in our bed and I put both of my hands very gently around her face and said, God...you know this is my baby...my sweet darling daughter...we want nothing more than for her to be well and not have to be sick all the time and if it's your will that the surgery be done now, please make it happen...I beg you to show us the right answer, the right time, and the right doctor.
I had to call our doctor yesterday morning because Meredith now has an awful yeast infection on top of everything else going on. They called her two prescriptions right away and while it's very easy to use the cream on her, we had to fight her to get her to take the oral medicine.
While I was on the phone with the nurse, I did a short run down of the fact that we were fine with waiting to have the surgery done along with all the reasons. She said she wanted to talk to Dr. M about it and see what he thought. She called back in about 5 minutes and low and behold Dr, M was able to get a surgery date for us on July 12th. We have a pre-op appointment on the July 7th. It's a different surgeon and she will have to have an open Nissen which will mean her recovery time is a bit longer. I again explained that we were fine with waiting and Dr. M. said no, she's sick now and it "has" to be done "now".
So the same surgical group that had no appointments until mid-August with any of the surgeons that do this procedure were able to come up with a surgery date in a week, amazing isn't it. Dr. M. booked the appointments for me and I
didn't even have to call them or anything, I was very pleased that he did that for us.
This means that she will have the surgery and will have plenty of time to recover before school starts!
My prayers were answered, Thank You Father God, Thank You So Very Much!
I've had yesterday afternoon and last night to ponder over the doctor's appointment and my feelings about it haven't changed.
The other upsetting he said is, if she's been like this for three years why is it such a big deal to have the surgery done now? I told him that we only found out this was an option last Thursday and I called right away and got the very first available appointment that he had open. I also had to tell him that the reason it's a "big deal" is because her four specialists said it is and that's why I thought three of the four called him. It's not like we've know this was an option and we've waited for several years...matter of fact, this is the last option available.
According to his schedule, the soonest they would do the surgery is around the middle/end of August which just doesn't work for us. Josh starts high-school in the middle of August and I won't have her in the hospital when he starts high-school. You only start high-school once, it's not like you can go back and do it again down the road. Changing from middle school to high school is a huge transition and I won't jeopardize that for him. It's just as important that I be here for him as it is to be there for Meredith.
Josh is the kind of person that will say, it's ok mom...take care of Meredith, I'll be fine and while I appreciate that...it's just not fair to him. I will not put him on the backburner for this. It's very apparent that it's not life threatening or they would have already done it, so I don't see why it would hurt to wait at this point.
Shortly after school starts the hospitals start filling up with kids that have the flu, RSV...all those fall/winter problems. Her immune system is compromised already and I certainly don't want her in the hospital when it's overflowing with all that stuff.
We have lived, breathed, walked and talked this stuff to death for the last two weeks and so for now we are going to get on with things. We will be going to the movies, swimming, the mall, the library, etc. Our family desperately needs some normalcy back and quick...Josh starts marching band practice twice a day on July 26th so until...we are going to have some fun!
posted by Angie @ 7/02/2004 07:51:45 AM |
A short synopsis:
We were told that he would be doing the surgery next week but found out today that he's out of town next week.
We wanted to have a little time to look at calendar together and see what a good date would be for us. I called the surgeon's office back 15 minutes later to go ahead and schedule the surgery and was told that they would call me back around the end of next week once the insurance was approved and everything was set to let me know the date...which would be another 2 or 3 weeks later. I asked if we could possibly know when it might be or what week or anything and was told, No, they don't really work like that.
The surgeon also told us that since she was sick and has been sick it's not a big deal for her to be sick for a while longer, does that sound right to anyone else?
I'm so upset, I can't think of any nice words right now...everything that comes to my mind is ugly.
posted by Angie @ 7/01/2004 03:57:51 PM |
It's been a long time since I've posted my Thankful Thursday list so here goes:
I'm thankful for:
The Lord
My Wonderful Husband
My Son who has a wonderful sense of humor and makes me laugh even when I don't want to!
My Loving Daughter who is such an incredible trooper and always has a smile these days no matter what's being done to her.
The great team of doctors who are taking care of Meredith.
Even though I'm tired of all the rain, I'm truly thankful for it!
Well good grief, I'll have to look at the comments later and see why it's lining up weird if I post more than a one line post. posted by Angie @ 7/01/2004 07:06:33 AM |
Isn't Sleep Wonderful!
I actually slept good last night from 9:30 to about 5 this morning, I feel better than I have in days!
Marc got home around 1 this morning, he's working tons because it's Microsoft's Year End. He had his stealth sheild on and was very, very quiet when he came in the bedroom which was good since Meredith was asleep with me. She's having an awful time sleeping in her bed and with everything she's currently going through we don't mind and actually like having her close by us during the night.
She's lost right at 2 pounds since she started the iv treatments last thursday. We don't worry about the food intake, it's the fluids that we are having to push. We are giving her anything she'll drink, powerade, gatorade, water, tea, sierra mist (her favorite), popsicles, etc. She ate three tiny, tiny bites of chicken at lunch yesterday but drank a whole glass of water.
Josh asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday, I'd forgotten it's this Sunday...I think I'd like for my mom to keep Meredith so Marc, Josh and I can go to a movie...something light and funny. We soooo deserve it! Speaking of Josh, his toe is doing well and he's been a huge, huge help to me
with Meredith.
We see the surgeon this morning and should get a surgery date, I'll post an update when we get home.
posted by Angie @ 7/01/2004 06:58:03 AM |
Posting to see if my comments are still lining up the wrong spot.
posted by Angie @ 7/01/2004 06:20:53 AM |