Mol and I splurged on our way home yesterday :)
She made herself a cute little bed on the floor last night and conked out q-u-i-c-kThursday, July 29, 2010
NO PLACE LIKE HOME
There is honestly NO PLACE like home :) Despite the dirty dishes, laundry backed up and all that comes from being home, we'll TAKE IT!
We got home yesterday around 3:30pm and settled in. Unloaded dirty clothes that were at the hospital, put the pretty flowers around from different folks, Mol played up in her room for over an hour just getting reacquainted with her babies and such. Ahhhhh...
This morning Mol and I took Jack to camp. He loves it and I can see why! What a great week for him, Bible Camp from 9-4p and he is learning and growing and having fun rock climbing/swimming/water slides/all sorts of cool stuff. Mikie is in Ohio with Nanny and Papa, due back later today. So here's to hoping Mol and I can get some shut eye this afternoon, say starting around 12noon?
I need to make an appointment for Mol in the next week with our usual doc, then the surgeon in the next 2 weeks. I'll keep ya posted on that!
We got home yesterday around 3:30pm and settled in. Unloaded dirty clothes that were at the hospital, put the pretty flowers around from different folks, Mol played up in her room for over an hour just getting reacquainted with her babies and such. Ahhhhh...
This morning Mol and I took Jack to camp. He loves it and I can see why! What a great week for him, Bible Camp from 9-4p and he is learning and growing and having fun rock climbing/swimming/water slides/all sorts of cool stuff. Mikie is in Ohio with Nanny and Papa, due back later today. So here's to hoping Mol and I can get some shut eye this afternoon, say starting around 12noon?
I need to make an appointment for Mol in the next week with our usual doc, then the surgeon in the next 2 weeks. I'll keep ya posted on that!
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
STATUS (Wednesday morning): MOLLY
Good morning! Mol just had her fingernails repainted and now she's putting girlie girl stickers in a crossword puzzle book that someone brought for me. But she's happy so I am too :)
So, you may wonder... how did the wee hours of the night go last night? Or maybe you don't wonder, but I'll tell you anyways. They checked her vitals around 11pm and then we both tried to conk. I'd say we were successful in falling asleep. Mol woke up at some point crying, she had gotten all wrapped around in her IV cord. Then 3:30am came and 2 nurses came in to check her. Sure enough, she had rolled on to her drain bag so they had to roll her back over and change her pants. She wanted me. So I hopped up and comforted her and back to bed. Then 5:15am, I wake up to an annoying alarm. Hmmm. This one isn't in our room. I see flashing white lights from our window. I sit up and pull back the peach colored curtains to see the fluorescent white lights flashing in the hospital rooms across the courtyard. Umm, huh. Is this a fire drill? I sit tight figuring they'd come get us if this was the real deal. No one came and after a few minutes it shut off. Ok. Lay back down, the alarm goes off AGAIN. This time I hop up and open the door only to have a nurse hurry over and say "it's on another floor, we need to keep the doors closed, we'll let you know if we need to evacuate."
HUH? So I did what any other woman would do at that time of night/morning, I put my bra on and a sweatshirt and sat in the dark, waiting. Thoughts of unplugging Mouse and wrapping her in a blanket, making a run for it down the 7 levels of stairs. Ok, I'm ready for it. I think to myself, "are there firetrucks here? Maybe there are but they don't sound their sirens cause this is the place sirens bring people?" We are where we need to be, so people say, but what if we are sitting ducks? Crispy critters? But finally it went off. Nothing said, so back to bed finally. Molly never woke up.
A little after 8a in walks our pastor, he's so sweet. Here I was at my very best, morning breath, bed head, disoriented but it didn't matter. He whispered wondering how Mol was and left. So kind. Then Erk came down so I could shower. Somewhere between there and now they came into our room and took Mol's drain OUT! As long as it took to put it in, it took a mili-second to pull it out. GREAT news. We will wait now to see what they say as far as a release gameplan.
And now all of a sudden it's after 11am? Wow! I'm guessing today will be another nap day for us. At least I know one thing, I could use one...
So, you may wonder... how did the wee hours of the night go last night? Or maybe you don't wonder, but I'll tell you anyways. They checked her vitals around 11pm and then we both tried to conk. I'd say we were successful in falling asleep. Mol woke up at some point crying, she had gotten all wrapped around in her IV cord. Then 3:30am came and 2 nurses came in to check her. Sure enough, she had rolled on to her drain bag so they had to roll her back over and change her pants. She wanted me. So I hopped up and comforted her and back to bed. Then 5:15am, I wake up to an annoying alarm. Hmmm. This one isn't in our room. I see flashing white lights from our window. I sit up and pull back the peach colored curtains to see the fluorescent white lights flashing in the hospital rooms across the courtyard. Umm, huh. Is this a fire drill? I sit tight figuring they'd come get us if this was the real deal. No one came and after a few minutes it shut off. Ok. Lay back down, the alarm goes off AGAIN. This time I hop up and open the door only to have a nurse hurry over and say "it's on another floor, we need to keep the doors closed, we'll let you know if we need to evacuate."
HUH? So I did what any other woman would do at that time of night/morning, I put my bra on and a sweatshirt and sat in the dark, waiting. Thoughts of unplugging Mouse and wrapping her in a blanket, making a run for it down the 7 levels of stairs. Ok, I'm ready for it. I think to myself, "are there firetrucks here? Maybe there are but they don't sound their sirens cause this is the place sirens bring people?" We are where we need to be, so people say, but what if we are sitting ducks? Crispy critters? But finally it went off. Nothing said, so back to bed finally. Molly never woke up.
A little after 8a in walks our pastor, he's so sweet. Here I was at my very best, morning breath, bed head, disoriented but it didn't matter. He whispered wondering how Mol was and left. So kind. Then Erk came down so I could shower. Somewhere between there and now they came into our room and took Mol's drain OUT! As long as it took to put it in, it took a mili-second to pull it out. GREAT news. We will wait now to see what they say as far as a release gameplan.
And now all of a sudden it's after 11am? Wow! I'm guessing today will be another nap day for us. At least I know one thing, I could use one...
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Pix from today
time to warsh your hair, Mol! (like the Taco Bell cup? That's from my dear pal Phyllis who brought some lunch up today)
nothing like clean hair and clean teeth.
so cute... these are "from" JACK :)
notice the chips - they seem to be a food staple for Miss Mouse
hit her with your best shot... she ate like a champ tonight! til it all came out on me in the form of puke. in my face. when she got so upset that they came to flush out her drain. 
daddy taking Mol on a ride in the wagon and who did they meet in the hall? Jack, Shawna, Chet, Ivan and Ally!
tonight we had a real treat... the dogs came to visit! we met Sunshine (golden retriever), Teddybear (this dog), and Frankie (a weiner dog who rolled over and waved at us - so funny!)I know I should be sleeping right now, at least getting my bed pulled out and ready for sleep but I am enjoying this peace in the valley! Mol finally conked after she was dinking around (a GREAT sign but hey, a mom is a mom and it's my job to get her to chill and go to bed). Just when I was accomplishing that, they came in to flush her drain and she got worked up and puked (as stated above). So after sheets were torn off the bed, she was wiped down, new jammies were issued and she calmed down, she is now conked. So I watched GH on my laptop here and now wanted to fill you all in on the night's activities.
Ok, but I guess now that the nurse is in and it's getting later, I should probably take this window of time to sleep, who knows when an alarm will sound or Mol will wake up or the power will go out or who knows what! I'll chat with ya tomorrow (Good Lord willing)...
Status (Day 5): MOLLY
Who's tired? You can't see it but Molly and I are both raising our hands.
We are pooped. Last night was the shortest night yet here at the hospital. I'm not sure if it was a full moon or what, but her alarms kept sounding, the power in the hospital was clicking on and off (one of the nurses said they were "testing the generators") and they flushed Mol's drain at 3am. Lets just say no sleep was had from 3a - 5a and with not going to bed until after 11pm? We are tired. Did I mention the every 1/2 hour vitals visits? Ohh yeah, that too...
But the sun is shining in our window and Mol is noticeably better. She is smiling and talking and wanting to stand up. Good signs. We still have not heard a word from the radiology docs to see when/what the status is of the drain - how long we'll need it in - if they need to move it again - when we can get the heck outta dodge. I see a buncha "white coats" in the hall, perhaps one of them will be stoppin in to see us.
We are pooped. Last night was the shortest night yet here at the hospital. I'm not sure if it was a full moon or what, but her alarms kept sounding, the power in the hospital was clicking on and off (one of the nurses said they were "testing the generators") and they flushed Mol's drain at 3am. Lets just say no sleep was had from 3a - 5a and with not going to bed until after 11pm? We are tired. Did I mention the every 1/2 hour vitals visits? Ohh yeah, that too...
But the sun is shining in our window and Mol is noticeably better. She is smiling and talking and wanting to stand up. Good signs. We still have not heard a word from the radiology docs to see when/what the status is of the drain - how long we'll need it in - if they need to move it again - when we can get the heck outta dodge. I see a buncha "white coats" in the hall, perhaps one of them will be stoppin in to see us.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Some Pix from "Up Here"
Meg... what can I say - she was an amazing help and companion these past few days and I truly miss her being here every minute!
We were able to get Mol movin out of her room today - I never thought I'd be the one pulling my kid down the hospital halls in a wagon :(
They brought Froot Loops as part of her breakfast - she preferred Pringles at that time! Hey, as long as she's eating!!
Status (Sunday): MOLLY
This poor poor baby. She is now asleep with a sweaty head and letting out an occasional grunt. As we are mighty thankful that the fever has left (at least for the day today), she had a rough evening. We had some nice visitors again today - thank you all! When Nanny and Papa left, the nurse did her vitals one more time and then put a sign on our door that we were asleep and it was wonderful for me and Mousie to crash without interruption. We love the visitors and thoughtfulness of all who stop up, don't get me wrong, we are both just a little pooped...
So after her and my 2 hour nap, Pastor Riley came up. What a nice surprise, and a nice visit. He prayed with us and left. Then Granny and Grampa came up and Shawna too. During that time frame I decided to ask our nurse what exactly all is wrong in her belly. I have understood the "abscess" and appendix, but I haven't exactly been sure what was what. When one of the many docs we've met over the past few days told me "we couldn't see the appendix because of the size of the abscess" that confused me (I thought the abscess was the appendix) but that was simply stored in the back of my brain and I have been focused on this puss issue. So back to speaking with the nurse, she cleared it up for me (and Granny and Grampa sitting here). Get this...
Molly's appendix DID rupture. It did. The abscess is the puss and infection and crap that was blown outta the burst appendix that formed into a ball (so to speak) of nastiness that has been making her so sick. HUH? What? Why did I NOT UNDERSTAND this before? The nurse said that it's probably because doctors don't necessarily realize that they don't speak our language and they meant to tell us this, but in their words it was lost on us. So a ruptured appendix is the reason for all of this gunk and boy am I thankful her little body formed this nasty spot for the gunk to go so it didn't travel the "open road" in her poor little 2 year old body. No wonder in 6 weeks they will take her appendix - it's a popped balloon, a planet out in space that exploded. What the beak? And ohh my poor baby! When did the appendix rupture? There is no real saying...
So fast forward to after Granny and Grampa left and Shawna was here. They came in to give her some morphine for the pain and she started to cry saying her hand hurt. The nurse (who they had come up from the NICU to help out) checked her little right hand and noticed it was a tad puffy. Great. My heart sank. Really? Another IV needs to be put in. This poor baby cries when a nurse enters the room for fear someone is gonna cause her more pain. So in like 2 minutes 3 nurses come in, one a floor supervisor to take a look at the current IV. They are being gentle as they can, but let's face it, poor Molly was beside herself as I held my hand over her face (she likes me to be touching her face I've learned this week :( and they simply have to readjust it. Whew. No IV in the other hand or in her head or some other place. Ok. Well then comes the time to "flush her bag" of puss. Neat. She was sweating and crying and didn't know what end was up. Once all of that trauma was behind her, she slowly fell asleep lying next to me on her hospital bed while I visited with Shawna. Poor poor baby.
Looks like tomorrow morning they will be putting in another drain. So the crap we did yesterday will be repeated. The anesthesia, the new drain, the waiting room, the coming out of anesthesia, etc. Please pray for Miss Mol. She surely is a trooper but all of this hurts and my heart goes out to her - why can't they just poke and prod at ME?
So after her and my 2 hour nap, Pastor Riley came up. What a nice surprise, and a nice visit. He prayed with us and left. Then Granny and Grampa came up and Shawna too. During that time frame I decided to ask our nurse what exactly all is wrong in her belly. I have understood the "abscess" and appendix, but I haven't exactly been sure what was what. When one of the many docs we've met over the past few days told me "we couldn't see the appendix because of the size of the abscess" that confused me (I thought the abscess was the appendix) but that was simply stored in the back of my brain and I have been focused on this puss issue. So back to speaking with the nurse, she cleared it up for me (and Granny and Grampa sitting here). Get this...
Molly's appendix DID rupture. It did. The abscess is the puss and infection and crap that was blown outta the burst appendix that formed into a ball (so to speak) of nastiness that has been making her so sick. HUH? What? Why did I NOT UNDERSTAND this before? The nurse said that it's probably because doctors don't necessarily realize that they don't speak our language and they meant to tell us this, but in their words it was lost on us. So a ruptured appendix is the reason for all of this gunk and boy am I thankful her little body formed this nasty spot for the gunk to go so it didn't travel the "open road" in her poor little 2 year old body. No wonder in 6 weeks they will take her appendix - it's a popped balloon, a planet out in space that exploded. What the beak? And ohh my poor baby! When did the appendix rupture? There is no real saying...
So fast forward to after Granny and Grampa left and Shawna was here. They came in to give her some morphine for the pain and she started to cry saying her hand hurt. The nurse (who they had come up from the NICU to help out) checked her little right hand and noticed it was a tad puffy. Great. My heart sank. Really? Another IV needs to be put in. This poor baby cries when a nurse enters the room for fear someone is gonna cause her more pain. So in like 2 minutes 3 nurses come in, one a floor supervisor to take a look at the current IV. They are being gentle as they can, but let's face it, poor Molly was beside herself as I held my hand over her face (she likes me to be touching her face I've learned this week :( and they simply have to readjust it. Whew. No IV in the other hand or in her head or some other place. Ok. Well then comes the time to "flush her bag" of puss. Neat. She was sweating and crying and didn't know what end was up. Once all of that trauma was behind her, she slowly fell asleep lying next to me on her hospital bed while I visited with Shawna. Poor poor baby.
Looks like tomorrow morning they will be putting in another drain. So the crap we did yesterday will be repeated. The anesthesia, the new drain, the waiting room, the coming out of anesthesia, etc. Please pray for Miss Mol. She surely is a trooper but all of this hurts and my heart goes out to her - why can't they just poke and prod at ME?
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Status: MOLLY
Hey all - what a day. Poor Mousie... she is asleep now and it looks like her fever is coming down. She had a "drain" put in her belly today to get the puss out (puss, what an interesting word). She hasn't fully come out of the anesthetic but that's good actually, I hope for her sake that she can rest/sleep all night for a change. Poor baby. I tell ya what, she has handled all of this SO incredibly well.
So the drain was supposed to be at 9am. What time did it happen? 3pm. Now wouldn't you think with a huge abscess on the appendix area that they would like wanna like TAKE CARE OF IT QUICKLY!?! But they did. And we're in good hands (I hope). It was hard to see her wheeled down the hall as she dozed off in prep of the lil procedure. I won't call it a surgery cause they didn't really cut her open. But after they wheeled her away I went into the surgical waiting room to find my folks, Erk's folks, Meg (she drove here all the way from Chicago in the wee hours of the night last night, she is AMAZING), Andy, Kristen, Ryan and Rachel. They had all been up in the room as we were leaving to head for the drain, but it surely was a nice surprise to see them all waiting in there. We got laughing and it all felt great being as a family. It truly took my mind off of what was going on. (Should be noted that the boys had a birthday party this afternoon from 3p-5p that they were so geeked about so it was a nice distraction for them - being her at the hospital isn't really their fav thing to do). Anywho - they came and asked me to meet with the doc who was going to do the procedure. Nice guy. Explained that she had some "bowel loops" in the way of the abscess so they were going to move her around to see if they could get a good shot at the big problem brewing inside her lil tender hearted belly. A bit later they came out and said it went well. I went to recovery and she didn't really wake up, just lay there sucking her calloused thumb, taking a peaceful nap. Back up to our room we headed to be surrounded by more love (thanks Uncle Dick and Aunt Gill for coming up too - it meant a LOT!), and now it's just me and Meg and Mousie asleep. Meg will take off before long to sleep at our house (I bet Rocky will be licking her face again in the morning) and I'll pull out the fancy bed here and snooze. At least until they come check Mousie's vitals again.
We thank you all for praying for us, praise God for bringing her thru the little surgery bit and also for getting us here in time before her appendix ruptured. So far a tube full of puss has passed out thru the clear tubing leading to a baggie and I hope and pray for comfort for her tonight as she sleeps. I'll try my best to keep ya'll posted.
So the drain was supposed to be at 9am. What time did it happen? 3pm. Now wouldn't you think with a huge abscess on the appendix area that they would like wanna like TAKE CARE OF IT QUICKLY!?! But they did. And we're in good hands (I hope). It was hard to see her wheeled down the hall as she dozed off in prep of the lil procedure. I won't call it a surgery cause they didn't really cut her open. But after they wheeled her away I went into the surgical waiting room to find my folks, Erk's folks, Meg (she drove here all the way from Chicago in the wee hours of the night last night, she is AMAZING), Andy, Kristen, Ryan and Rachel. They had all been up in the room as we were leaving to head for the drain, but it surely was a nice surprise to see them all waiting in there. We got laughing and it all felt great being as a family. It truly took my mind off of what was going on. (Should be noted that the boys had a birthday party this afternoon from 3p-5p that they were so geeked about so it was a nice distraction for them - being her at the hospital isn't really their fav thing to do). Anywho - they came and asked me to meet with the doc who was going to do the procedure. Nice guy. Explained that she had some "bowel loops" in the way of the abscess so they were going to move her around to see if they could get a good shot at the big problem brewing inside her lil tender hearted belly. A bit later they came out and said it went well. I went to recovery and she didn't really wake up, just lay there sucking her calloused thumb, taking a peaceful nap. Back up to our room we headed to be surrounded by more love (thanks Uncle Dick and Aunt Gill for coming up too - it meant a LOT!), and now it's just me and Meg and Mousie asleep. Meg will take off before long to sleep at our house (I bet Rocky will be licking her face again in the morning) and I'll pull out the fancy bed here and snooze. At least until they come check Mousie's vitals again.
We thank you all for praying for us, praise God for bringing her thru the little surgery bit and also for getting us here in time before her appendix ruptured. So far a tube full of puss has passed out thru the clear tubing leading to a baggie and I hope and pray for comfort for her tonight as she sleeps. I'll try my best to keep ya'll posted.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Pass it ON!
Check these out! Phyllis (you ROCK) - puttin the word out there - on our bizz blog too!
http://blog.mlive.com/runningwithneedles/2010/07/barn_quilts_color_the_countrys.html
http://blog.mlive.com/runningwithneedles/2010/07/barn_quilts_color_the_countrys.html
Thursday, July 22, 2010
From the Beginning (of July)
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Jack was thrilled with his big wall map for his birthday!
watch out for the bear!.JPG)
Aunt Julie was there to celebrate too :) 
I love this pic of Jack and Ryan laughing :)So I thought I'd start at the beginning of July and walk you through the month in pictures. I know pictures are more fun than reading my wordy blog posts anyways :)
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Moments from the Campground
mikie with his fake teeth that make daddy wanna VOMIT!
Molly in her cute bonnet.JPG)
while camping, we got to see a hot air balloon take off like in years past - a definate highlight!.JPG)
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cute one of the kids eating ice cream.JPG)
sweaty mom and scary Jack at dinner one night while camping cause it was too freaking HOT to cook!.JPG)
the boys ready for a hayride!.JPG)
Mol talking life over with her lil buddy Bryan
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