Recovering...

Well..we survived another surgery. Alyssa had her surgery on Christmas Eve and has done really well pulling through. They sent her to the pediatric unit instead of recovery #2 so they could watch her more closely being a cardiac patient. She was a trooper. We are amazed by the difference. I'll post pictures when I get home. She still has packaging in her nose and that is annoying to her plus all the dry blood.

We are very blessed to have the surgeon that we had and I know this has been a good move. Thanks for all your prayers and support!!!! Hopefully it will be awhile until our next surgery. Have a Happy New Year!!!

"Mom, is Loren going to have nose surgery too?"

Yesterday, Alyssa says to me "Mom, is Loren going to have nose surgery too?" "Her nose is a little pointy", I think the doctors can go in and sharpen her nose down". Too funny!

We are having our "Christmas" on Wednesday since Alyssa's surgery is on Thursday. We have been talking with her and so far she seems to not be fighting it too much. They are giving me special permission to take her back in the ER until she falls asleep. So we have had a talk about if she wanted me to do that and that if I did, she still has to get up on the table and breathe in the mask until she falls asleep. Just because I am there doesn't mean you can get out of it basically. So that went really well and I think that is how we are going to do it. The hardest part of these surgeries is me holding it together. The children que into a lot of how the parents are acting. If the parents are crying and blubbering, the children will react the same. So we really try to act like it is not a big deal and just distract her with crafts beforehand. The doctors have mentioned that sometimes they would like to sedate the parents as well. : ) So we'll see how well I do.

Alyssa's ears are healing well. She told me that things were too loud when she got home. So that is good news.

Emma will be having surgery on her ears - she has Keritan Pearls. Probably a genetic thing - we think that is what Mike might have had as a baby. But they have never proven this one way or another. So we are having all our kids checked out. Emma's surgery will probably be in February.

It has been hard for us to enjoy this season. We are feeling the stress of these surgeries and the recovery period. I hope we can breathe a little after Alyssa's surgery but three days after we get back, we have Emma and Olivia's surgeries. I hope that we can take the time to relax a little but it also just might be this year is crazy and next year won't be as much.

I think Emma has labored breathing due to the cold weather. It really does a number on her lungs. We are just continuing with the breathing treatments in hope that she is not losing weight. The formula and rice cereal seems to be helping. That is really good. Easter Seals will come out and evaluate her in January. I really hope she is walking by then. She has taken 4 steps but isn't really trying for more. She knows that she can crawl much easier.

We are very grateful to friends and family that have supported us throughout this journey. The best gift for us this Christmas is just to have all our children alive and well and with us. We couldn't be more grateful for the love that we have for them.

P.S. Olivia likes to get on the table and walk on it while I'm out of the room. The other picture shows her cute self just being cute. Enjoy!

Alyssa's surgery went well for her ear tubes. She did not want to do it...she told me over and over but didn't fight too much. Grandma Miklik was there so that helped a lot. She had some crafts to do while we were waiting. That helped also. After her surgery, she was in pain but once the tylenol kicked in and the puple popsicle, she was much better. We were getting ready to leave and I asked her if I could stay and sleep in the bed for a couple of days. Alyssa turned to me and said very matter of fact, "This is not a hotel". We got a good chuckle out of that.

While she was in surgery, Mike was at the specialist with Emma for her ears. She has what is called Keritin Pearls. I'm sure I didn't spell that right. She will need surgery to remove them. She will also need a CTscan to see if they go into the ear drum and see if there are some on the "mast"????? This is all second hand from Mike. So I think that won't be until February.

So Alyssa has her surgery next week for her facial reconstruction. I'm not ready for that now but I should be by then. Please keep her in your prayers.

What a week! Full of updates...

After spending 5 hours at the hospital Monday, we found out that Emma's kidneys are improving enough that they don't want to see us for another year. Usually it is 6 months. Her kidneys are growing. She was also very positive in saying that she did not think that Emma would need growth hormones but that she would grow in her own time and at her own rate. She said most patients like Emma will just take off when they are ready. Very encouraging!

We also had her 18 month checkup and she has gained a pound since November 19th. Looks like we need to continue the formula and rice cereal. She is at 15 lb. 9 oz. Olivia is at 23 lbs.

Emma took 4 steps a week ago with the visiting nurse. I think she will be walking very soon. Won't that be a day!!!!

Alyssa had her plastic surgeon appointment. We are very encouraged to see what he will be doing and seeing the before and after pictures. I know this will be a hard surgery to get through but I know Alyssa will benefit in the long run. We will be needing to do crafts over Christmas to keep her from rough play. : )

Alyssa's ear surgery is Monday, Dec. 14th. He will be putting in another set of ear tubes. This should be minor and she will hopefully be back at school the next day. There is a Christmas party she really wants to go to. So let's keep our fingers crossed.

Emma had some findings in her ear exam and we are now going to be going to a specialist for her Monday morning. We will be seeing if she needs surgery. I don't know much about what is wrong but I will inform you as soon as I understand what the problem is. They also found fluid on Emma's ears so I'm not sure if they are considering ear tubes also...we'll see...

We will also be checking Loren's hearing. Why not? Maybe we should just have myself and Olivia tested too that way the whole family can go to the ENT. : ) There just gets to a point where you have to joke, otherwise you will cry. Yesterday, when we found out that Emma had ear problems too, I felt like I was trying to eat what was on my plate and someone was just loading on more food. Here I am trying to resolve the issues we are dealing with and here is someone else just loading more on. So Mike will be taking Emma on Monday while I am with Alyssa during surgery.

I heard great news today of some old school friends of mine that are pregnant with twin girls...they also had TTTS and just had surgery and their babies survived when there was no chance just like ours. Praise God!!!