Life as a Leach

We made it to our hotel at around 5 after having to call 4 different hotels before finding one that had a room. This is most definitely one of the hardest parts about not getting into the Ronald McDonald House.  They don't make it a simple process, that's for sure. But we are here, and the hotel is really nice and in an area with lots of restaurants.  We ate at a really good burger place (says the vegetarian!) with all natural, hormone-free foods and a great meat-free selection.   Our hotel is right across from Reading Terminal Market.  Abby doesn't have to be at the hospital until 11 tomorrow, so we plan to explore the market for a little while.  It's kind of fun to be in an area of Philly we haven't really visited before. As always, Abby loves to see all of the #purpleforabby pictures!  Tag me in it or post it to my wall so I can show her.  Thanks for all of your support!  We are seriously hoping that surgery #30 will be the LAST one for a while...

We head to CHOP tomorrow after school for pre-op appointments on Thursday and a PICC line placement on Friday.  Although they have in the past required that Abby be admitted after PICC placement, this time they said we could go home until her surgery on Monday.  Yay!!  We are thrilled to spend a few more days with Caleb and be able to attend our extended family party. The main event is next Monday, the 19th.  As always, Abby loves to see pictures of people wearing their purple!  It makes us smile while we are waiting for her during surgery too.  :)  Make sure you hashtag it #purpleforabby so that we can find the pictures easily!

Tomorrow is the big day, and I'd love to show Abby lots of purple pictures when she wakes up after surgery!  She really loves seeing all of her family and friends wearing their purple--especially the doggies.  :)  Tag me on Facebook with the hashtag #purpleforabby so that they are all in one spot and easy to find.  Thanks so much for your support!

We've got our purple picked out!!  How about you??  Are you ready to go #purpleforabby on Tuesday??     For those of you who are newer around here, every surgery day lots of our family, friends, and even people we don't know personally wear purple in support for Abby and take selfies to post on Facebook.  Purple is her favorite color, and she absolutely LOVES seeing pictures of people dressed up in purple to show their love to her.  Her favorites are the animals wearing purple!  Those often bring the first smiles we see post-op!  We will seriously look at all of the pictures multiple times while in the hospital.  The more creative, the better!  They seriously bring her SO much joy, which is what it's all about when you go through what she has to endure.   If you post a selfie, be sure to hashtag it #purpleforabby so that it is easy for us to find it later.  That way, all I have to do is search that hashta...

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!

Abby went back around 8:45.  They were able to put the anesthesia meds right in he picc, so she didn't have to have a mask.  It was the easiest induction ever!  I held her the whole time and she was very calm.   We were just notified that she was successfully intubated, so now we wait. Abby thoroughly enjoyed looking at the #purpleforabby pictures while we were in pre-op.  I am certain we will look at them multiple times over the next week!   Thank you all for your prayers!

Abby's surgery for her jaw, ears, and gtube is tomorrow at 12.  (It just got changed on us a little while ago).  I know she would love to see lots of pictures of people in their purple!  If you wear purple, take a selfie and post it on Facebook with the hashtag #purpleforabby so that I will be able to easily find them all in one spot.    If you can't do it tomorrow, post it anytime over the next week!  Abby will be a Sleeping Beauty for at least the next six days because the doctors want to give her jaw time to heal before they take the breathing tube out.   When she wakes up, she will absolutely LOVE seeing everybody go #purpleforabby!!  The ones that got the biggest laugh out of her were the purple pets.  We seriously still look at the purple pictures from last summer! Thank you all for your cobtinued support and love for my girl!  I will write updates on my blog tomorrow throughout the day after surgery starts.  Lay out your purp...