Ali Update Part Deux

Alison is home! She was discharged on Saturday, for which we are so thankful. She loves being at home, but hasn't reverted back to her normal self yet. She is still very cautious, not as talkative, and uses only her left hand as her right arm has an IV port, or PICC line, in it. She's not eating much, but more than she did in the hospital. She is drinking alot and staying hydrated, so that's a good sign.

We have a doctor's appt on Thursday. They will do another chest xray (about her tenth) to determine if the pneumonia is completely gone or not. If so, then we can stop the IV antibiotics that we have to administer every day. She will still be on oral antibiotics (that taste like absolute crapola) for at least another week.

Then, on April 10th, she has an appt with the surgeon who did her thoracotomy. He will take out the stitches and determine if everything is going okay. Hopefully, after all this, we will have no more encounters with doctors for awhile.

Some of you have emailed me questions about how Alison's sickness came to be, and what the complications were. I will do a post later in the week detailing what happened and our experience in the hospital. (And by "later in the week", I really mean whenever I get a chance. You knew that, right?)

Our girl is doing so much better and we are happy to have her home with us where she belongs. On Saturday while driving home, I looked at my husband and said, "Do you realize this is the first time in seven days that all four of us have been in the car at the same time?" and I almost started crying. This experience has been even worse than pregnancy in terms of getting my emotions all crazyfied.

Have a good week, everybody. I know I will because my Sweet Girl is home. Everything else will just be gravy.

Ali Update

Alison is off the ventilator...good.

Alison still has two chest tubes...bad.

Alison realizes she has chest tubes and wants to pull them out...bad.

Alison's surgeon thinks everything looks great and wants to discharge her on Saturday...good.

Alison will have to have IV antibiotics for 10 days to 2 weeks after discharge...bad.

Alison's mommy and daddy will have to give them to her twice a day....really bad.

Alison is on pain medication....very very good.

Alison became combatative and loopy last night because of a medication she was overly sensitive to...bad.

Alison's doctor changed the medication and she received a dose of happy juice that ended her three and a half hour tirade....very very unbelievably good.

Alison soon gets to come home and be with her mommy, daddy, and big brother..........out of this world good.

Alison's mommy has the best friends in the world who pray for a little girl they may have never seen in person......also out of this world good.

Answered Prayers

Alison came through the surgery like a champ and the surgeon was able to remove all the gunk from her lung area. She is currently on a ventilator, but will be removed from that tomorrow morning sometime. She has so much medicine in her little body right now that I know she is feeling no pain, but seeing her in this condition hurts the three of us more than anything. We are thanking God that the surgery went well and she is on her way to a full recovery with no lasting side effects. All your prayers made a difference.

We know she is receiving excellent care. We know she is right where she needs to be to get over this horrible pneumonia related illness. We know that trained medical professionals are watching her 24/7 with nothing on their minds but getting her well. We know all this.

But what I also know? Is that I will crawl into an empty bed tonight, because my bestest friend slash husband is at the hospital spending the night on a folding cot in a room across the hall from the Pediatric ICU because my curly-headed little girl is breathing through a ventilator that makes her sound like Darth Vader. My baby is not at my house, in her bed, being watched over by loving parents and a brother who loves her with all his heart. I know that I won't get woken up by her calls of "Maaaaahm! I nee apple juice!" at three am. I know that she won't be here in the morning, waking me up too early all because she "nee to watcha show!" I know this, and it breaks my heart.

But thank you, all of you, for your prayers and support and listening and all of it during this time. You are the bestest peoples ever. Your comments, phone calls and emails have made a world of difference in this hard time. To quote my daughter, "I wuv you duys!"

Alison should be in the hospital for at least five more days. Please continue to pray for her speedy full recovery and for fortitude for us.

Thanks again,
Missie

Baby Girl Update

Hi everyone. This is Missie's friend Robyn posting for her- it looks like Ali will have surgery today to get all the crap out of her lung. Unfortunately, the stuff is too thick to drain, so they will have to remove it surgically.

It's never easy to see a loved one in a hospital, but there is a special level of stress when it is your small child. Missie said Ali had so many tubes and wires coming out of her she could pick up pay-per-view. She is asking again for your prayers and good thoughts. For those of you who are so minded, please join me:

Father God, we ask now that You be with Ali, to comfort her in her pain and fear. We ask You to help the surgeon; to guide his hands and give him supernatural wisdom, and to surround the medical team in every aspect of this operation from pre-op to post-op. And thank You for sending the Holy Spirit, our comforter, to give Missie, Roger, and Zach the peace that passes understanding. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Pray, Y'all...

We had to admit Alison into the hospital last night.

She has a pleural effusion around her lungs, which basically means a bunch of infected fluidy-type stuff has taken up residence there and needs to be drained. Which means my baby is going to have a chest tube put in this afternoon. I am 37 and I have never had a chest tube. Happy Easter.

Anyway, if you could see fit to take a minute and pray for my daughter, I would so appreciate it. She is going from a regular room to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit today. That is so hard to type. My baby should not be in any care unit but mine at home.

Please pray for my husband and son also, that they can handle this strain and stress and deal with their schooling too. Pray for me that I can go with no sleep for much longer, because I have a feeling that's what it's coming to. Just...just pray, please.

Thank you for reading this very disjointed and rambling post. I am out of sorts because my baby girl isn't here jumping on my lap and getting all in my grill 24/7. She should be overdosing on Easter candy and getting dressed up in a frilly dress for church right now, not be hooked up to IV antibiotics and wearing a faded hospital gown. This is not how Easter should be. I am whining and I am sorry.

Going to take a shower now and pack stuff to head back to the hospital. Please Lord, give me strength. And heal my baby. Thank You.

Ripley Won't Believe It...

Since I last posted, the following things have happened...

My flu progressed to pneumonia, requiring me to try to find a doctor here who would take a very sick new patient..

My daughter's cold progressed to pneumonia, requiring chest xrays, blood work, expensive prescriptions, etc...

My husband's flu progressed to a killer sinus infection which required me calling his walk in clinic doctor about four times to get a reasonably priced prescription...(did I mention we have no health insurance?)

Our car was stolen out of our garage. Pneumonia Girl left the keys in the ignition and we forgot to shut the garage door...Because it was a used car with about 100K miles on it, we only had liability coverage. Yeah. Digest that for a minute.

We found out that homeowners' insurance does not cover the theft of your own car...

We listed our house and sold it in four hours...

We are on our way back to Idaho, otherwise known as The Land We Should Not Have Left, at the end of April...

I realize this sounds like a bad Lifetime Original Movie, but yes, this has been our life for the past two weeks. Try not to envy me. It doesn't look good on you.

Sick Freak

Last Monday, I came down with the flu. Not to be left out, on Tuesday, my husband joined me. Yesterday, our son had a temperature of 102. As of now, our daughter is just onery, not sickly.

My friends, I am here to testify that this strain of the flu, KICKMYBUTTUS in Latin, is horrendous. Fever, chills, aches--check. Coughing, runny nose, head filled with cotton--check. Fatigue so intense that it makes the early days of my pregnancies look like I was running on espresso? Check. This is the worst sickness I have had in probably my entire adult life. While my husband and I are finally on the mend, we have heard from our doctor that some people are taking up to two weeks to get over this. And there is absolutely nothing you can do about it once you get it--other than ride it out.

Oh, and in case you don't hear about this in the news, because you really won't---the flu shot will not protect you this year, because the shot was for a different strain other than the one currently spreading across the country.

Please everybody....wash your hands frequently, stay away from anyone remotely sick, and get plenty of Vitamin C. You really really really do not want this.

Stay healthy, my friends. I will be back when I recover fully. (physically...we aren't waiting for the mental recovery, because that could be awhile.)

p.s. We aren't contagious anymore, so if anyone wants to come help me with the Laundry Pile That Can Be Seen From Space, let me know.