Life as a Leach

I love this boy and his love for golf, Star Wars, fencing, Legos, history, and books.  He is one in a billion!  Have a great first full week of school, Bubs!

I took some props with us when we went for our family pictures.  I am so glad I did!  I love the way these sweet tea set pictures turned out.  The tea set was a special gift from Abby's Nina, so I'm happy to have it in some of our pictures.

Just 100 more days until Abby's magical trip to Disney World!  Elsa, here she comes!!   Abby's Grammy made her this beautiful dress, so of course we wanted to get pictures of Queen Elsa in her gown!

This guy started school yesterday and is now officially a 3rd grader!  I don't know how this happened, since I'm only 22, but... :)  He had a great day, and he is very happy to have some good friends in his class.  He also really enjoyed getting to know his teacher.  The highlight?  Finding out that he could check TWO books out at a time from the library!  Woo hoo!!  :) To recap the summer a bit and say goodbye to sleeping in...oh wait, wrong house...I thought I'd share the highlights! Caleb went to three day camps this summer.  First, attended space camp at our local community college and was really intrigued by all he learned.  Then, he went to a wonderful theater and music camp held at our church.  It was amazing how much those kids learned in just a week!  At the end of the summer, he attended a fencing camp run by one of his fencing instructors.  All fencing, all day!  It doesn't sound very interesting...

It is sooo hard for me to find time to blog again after we get home from a hospital stay!  I have so much to do with the house, Abby needs extra care, we are going to appointments, I'm making up for lost time with Caleb, work has started up again...my mind is racing! Thank you all for checking in on us and asking about Abby.  She is doing well.  Recovery is a little slower this time, and she is still needing medicine most every day.  The VEPTR pushed one rib out really far, so Dr. C. had to break it and refit it.  That spot has been very painful for Abby and is sensitive to even the slightest touch.  Imagine the pain she had yesterday when a dog (not one we knew) suddenly jumped on her and knocked her down!  It was an Oxy night for sure last night. She's pretty much back to eat the way she was before surgery now, although we are still doing a gtube feed at night for extra calories.  I'm hoping to be able to wean that soon as she eats a little ...

So after a great day yesterday, Abby had a lot of pain last night and today.  She was up almost every hour and really hurting.  We decided to stay another day to make sure her pain was under control.  It was better this afternoon, but she kept complaining of this one spot.  After mentioning it to Dr. C., he said that's where he had to do a lot of work breaking and manipulating the ribs.  (Ouch!!!). My poor, sweet girl!  No wonder it hurts there.   I'm not going to say I think we will go home tomorrow this time!  Let's not jinx it again!  I'll just let you know when we are actually leaving!  Lol!  

So after a rotten day yesterday, Abby decided that she would turn things around!  She slept all night without oxygen and did great today.  Her repeat X-ray to check the fluid in her pleural cavity was much better (even without a chest tube!  Lol!) and she was in a generally happier mood.  She was a nasty little thing yesterday!   She's still not eating great,, but she has tolerated all of her feeds so far, so that's good.  I'm hoping we will go home tomorrow or Tuesday. Major shout out to my parents, who have been up here all weekend!  Today, I got a nap AND a walk outside of the hospital while they stayed with her!  I think Abby enjoys having someone other than me there as well. :) Thanks for your prayers!

Abby has had a few bumps the last few days.  She has been needing oxygen off and on, even while awake (and always at night).  After a ct scan of her chest to check on the veptrs, they found she has a pleural effusion (fluid around the outside of the lungs).  This is why she's been struggling.  It's nothing we haven't dealt with before, but still frustrating.   Good ole Joanna Resident said she was going to call general surgery to put a chest tube in.  Ummm...have you talked to pulmonary?!?!  I educated her on how Lasix works wonders on fluid on the lungs (she had no idea...) and that she really needed to consult with Abby's pulmonologist before considering a chest tube.   Yeah....this batch of orthopedic residents is something special, I tell ya.  And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why I do not leave Abby.  She is also having trouble keeping food down.  The first episode had blood in it, which was a little troubling.  The secon...

We moved to another floor this afternoon...the surgery floor...NOT pulmonary!!! (This is exciting because it means she doesn't have respiratory issues!!).  Abby is doing fantastic!! She sat on the edge of the bed 3x and stood next to the bed 3x as well!  I think tomorrow we will definitely get her walking.  She is such a rock star! She did get sick this evening while eating dinner, so we slowed down her feeding rate.  I thought we had it slow enough already, but apparently not.  We had a nice evening of playing with play dough and doing princess sticker scenes (sneaky OT...lots of reaching, punching, pulling, etc with both hands!) and she watched a movie.  It was a nice awake time, so I think she will sleep better overnight.   God has blessed us so much.  We have an awesome little boy who is often the one "left at home."  He loves his sister so much and is her fierce protector (look out, bullies!).  This isn't easy on him either.  I...

We are rocking and rolling!!!  The foly catheter will come out today, she gets to eat a regular diet, AND she will be moving to the floor--orthopedics, not pulmonary!!!  (She has had to go to the pulmonary floor In the past because of breathing issues).   I am just amazed at how much better she is doing this time.  If I had any question at all as to whether the veptr was worth it, I am now a believer.  She is doing so well!!

Abby is doing great!  Her pain is pretty well managed, but we also aren't making her do much yet.  She's on a little oxygen, but can probably come off when she fully wakes up instead of drifting in and out of sleep.  They are letting her have clear liquids and will get food today.   It actually sounds like we might move to the floor today! They haven't rounded yet to make it official, but 2 fellows said we would.  This is good news...the girl next to us sleeps with the TV blaring.  I finally asked her to turn it down at midnight. Her pulse ox also beeped all night because the albuterol nebulizer she has messes with the read...so yeah...not a lot of sleep!  I've come to expect that in the picu...or in the hospital in general! A new Joe Resident came in at 5 am yelling "Abigail!  Abigail!  Can you hear me?!" Like she's in cardiac arrest or something.  It scared me to death!   He just wanted to look at her back.   Yeah, dude,...

Matt made a side-by-side comparison of the ribs.  I have many before-veptr X-ray pictures, but I can't find any right now!  I'll keep looking.   The difference in Abby's breathing is remarkable.  She is so calm and taking great breaths, where previously her breaths were very shallow and fast.  I commented to the resident how much better her breathing isOrthopedics resident came.  I commented on how much better her breathing was than previously post-op.  He said it was amazing to see the before/after in the or.  He could see the ribs trying to expand, but they just couldn't.  As soon as the veptr was in, the ribs and lungs fully expanded and the breathing dramatically improved. I told him he needs to video that sometime.  SO cool!!! Abby's life is nothing short of a miracle, and God has been with us every step of the way.  He has given Dr. Campbell such a wonderful gift and we are blessed to have him as Abby's surgeon.  Thank yo...

Dr. Campbell came to see us. He was pleased with the surgery and the way her spine straightened.   This is the before: This is the after: We are now in the picu waiting room anxiously waiting to see her.  Thank you for all of your prayers!!!!

They are closing her up and will get her to the picu when they are done.  Dr. Campbell should be out to see us soon.

They just called out to say they are halfway done with the veptr (not really halfway done with surgery because of closing and such) and everything is going well.

Abby went back around 10:00.  The anesthesiologist was not going to let me go back with her, but I pretty much just insisted because this is all she knows.  I think he thought I was going to lose it or something, but I've done this too many times for that!  I'm definitely going to stick to requesting our favorite anesthesiologist from here on out.  We are expecting the surgery to be around 4 hours or so.  I will keep you updated.   And now...we wait.  Headphones on, noise blocked out!

Abby's surgery is set for 10:00 tomorrow.  Everything went well with her picc line and MRI today and she's settled into her room for the night.  We have been to the playroom 4 times. :) We will be wearing our #purpleforabby tomorrow and would love if you would too!  Please take a picture and post it on Facebook (with the hashtag #purpleforabby) or email it to me.  Thanks for showing support for my brave girl as she faces surgery #15!

Yes, it's that time again.  We are heading to CHOP tomorrow.  Abby will get her picc line and Mri done on Monday.  She will be admitted after that, then her surgery will be Tuesday morning.   This is the same surgery she had in April, on the left side.  The recovery will be rough, but she is so tough.   We would appreciate your prayers that everything goes smoothly and that she recovers quickly.  Thank you for loving our girl!