Life as a Leach

But this time, we were volunteers!  My sister, niece, mom, friend Karen, and I did a snowman craft with the kids today.  We also took little "Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?" Bags with play dough and everything needed to build a snowman.  The kids seemed to enjoy everything, although we only had 2 kids.  A lot of kids were contagious and unable to come out, but we enjoyed the time with the two we had! I think we all enjoyed spreading a little cheer! :)

Thats what the sweet girl said to me this evening as I out her to bed.  Me neither, girlfriend!  It's been a long month away from home and we are ready to return to whatever our normal is.   My dad is still in the hospital, but is doing better.  He was taken off of oxygen today and has done well so far.  We are hoping that he will come home early this week.   We will all be very glad when he is home! Abby has done well with tolerating her feeds, so we are hopefully that this is her last night with TPN.  Her doctor will be back tomorrow, so we will see what she says.  It will be interesting to see how she does once we start compressing the feeds (we want to do a whole lot in 30 minute chunks so that she doesn't have to be attached to a pump all day). I hope her stomach handles it okay!   I did have a tiny fright with her gtube.  A small, movable bump appeared under the surface and was causing her pain.  We had several doctors vi...

Matt was able to stay with Abby today while I went home to visit my dad.  It's really hard for me to be away when he is sick, and I had a lot of concerns.  I was able to get a lot of the questions I had regarding his care answered.  I took a lot of notes during our discussions with the doctor and respiratory therapist, then texted those notes to my mom and sister so that we all had the same information!  I pressed the doctor for a plan (I like plans instead of the "wait and see" method of healthcare!) and was satisfied with what he laid out.   The good news is that Nurse Julie successfully got his oxygen turned down and a portable rank for him so that he could get up and walk! I'm pretty sure the staff has me on their list.  I might be blocked by security the next time I try to visit.  (No, seriously, I was very sweet and had no reason to even raise my voice!). But this is my DAD!  I have got to make sure he is okay, and I'm the one with enough me...

As predicted, my girl's days have been very busy this week!  Yesterday, she had OT with one of our favorite therapists, who has a little girl just Abby's age.  He's so much fun and Abby adores him.  Today, she had PT and speech and had lots of fun doing those too.  The therapists do a great job of making it as fun as possible. Abby also got to spend several hours playing with the therapy dogs, Yuba and Katie Bell.  She was the only one in the playroom for most of the time, so she was ecstatic to have the dogs all to herself!  She played doctor, threw toys, brushed them, and gave them lots of hugs. The girl loves her some doggies!! Eating has been going very well and her chewing looks fantastic!  She was a bit more uncooperative in general today, so she didn't eat quite as much, but that was just her mood.  We are taking the opportunity to try new foods while she has all of this interest in eating!  I keep track of every single thing she eats,...

It was a slow weekend here at The Mount.  The playroom was only open for 2 hours each day and there were no other activities available.  I had some toys with me, but not enough to keep Abby occupied for 2 full days!  I've attempted a lot of origami, although I've determined I'm not good at it. Abby likes it anyway! She quickly grew bored of the same old stuff!  When that happens, she tends to make her own fun.  That inevitably involves either a mess or breaking something! Thankfully, my cousin and his son came for a visit yesterday!  Jacob is great with Abby and pretty much did whatever she wanted to do.  Jacob also brought a Frozen paint set, which was a huge hit with Abs! Abby has made friends with the little girl next door.  She has a lot of physical and cognitive challenges with no one to visit her, so I think she really enjoyed playing with Abby.  She pretty much cries all of the time, except when she is playing with us.  We think s...

We will be moving to MWPH tomorrow!  We are ready to be back among friends who know Abby so well. Abby was able to eat a little applesauce today!  They are being very cautious because they don't want to push her pancreas herself, but they think that tiny amounts every few hours should be okay. She will be enjoying pudding in a little while!  The funny thing is how interested Abby is in eating, which we have never had before!  This could be a good side effect of pancreatitis! Today was a fun, busy day.  She had OT in the gym, went to the library, walked all the way to the cafeteria and back (a very long walk!), and did a fall craft. I met with lots of doctors, did laundry, worked on insurance issues, and packed stuff up. I think Abby had more fun! :) So tomorrow, onto the Mount!  One step closer to home!