Thursday, June 24, 2010
Post-Op Visit
Hannah is recovering nicely. The problem the last few days has been how to keep her from being as active as she wants to be! We've been visiting the library and reading a lot, doing puzzles, painting, and other more calming activities. She's still limping slightly and tires easily, but is ready to take off and GO. Go turn cartwheels, Go jump on the trampoline, just GO! She can't do those things quite yet though. Her surgeon was happy with how she's doing, both hip-wise and mouth-wise. As far as activity level, he said I could let her start doing a little more. He said she could swim anytime, which made her very happy. Hannah asked him if she could run and play at the park. He said yes, but to be very careful and cautious. Um, right. I think we'll skip the park for a few more days. At this point, she can do whatever she can tolerate as far as her hip is concerned. What we have to be careful with is not bumping her mouth and messing up the graft. As far as food, he said she still needed to be careful what she ate. No hard foods such as chips, pretzels, etc. But he did tell her that a small cheeseburger and fries from McDonald's would be just fine. Guess where we had to stop for supper on the way home? We go back in a month and they will take x-rays then to see if the bone is there in her gumline and growing. But basically, he said to have a nice summer. Sounds good to me!
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Feeling Better
What a difference today has made! Of course, the fact that grandma came to visit might have something to do with it. The bruising on Hannah's face is worse, but the swelling is better. (You can't tell in this photo, but she really does look like someone beat her up.) She's able to eat some non-liquid food now too which has made her happy. Still very soft food only, but she managed some eggs, some spaghettios, and some mandarin oranges cut up really small.
Hannah's hip is still bothering her quite a bit, but she's off the heavy-duty pain medicine (mostly - may still give it tonight at bedtime for one last night) and on just regular ibuprofen. She's walking around more too and spending more time off the couch than on it. Though she's still walking very carefully, very slowly, and hunched over like she's 90. But she's making progress. She even managed a shower tonight, despite her protests that she didn't need one (you know, since her last one was *only* 4 nights ago..) Well, she sort of managed a shower - let's just say parts of her body got clean. We'll try the whole thing tomorrow. :-)
She also managed a trip to Wal-mart with grandma. There was absolutely no way she was going to be able to walk through the store though, so we got her the wheelchair. She was a bit self-conscious until I put Sadie in there with her..then they thought it was a grand adventure.
But the *real* sign she was feeling better? When she announced that she had to get out of "these clothes" (just t-shirt / comfy shorts) and "put on something fancy". :-) Yep, the princess is back. :-)
Hannah's hip is still bothering her quite a bit, but she's off the heavy-duty pain medicine (mostly - may still give it tonight at bedtime for one last night) and on just regular ibuprofen. She's walking around more too and spending more time off the couch than on it. Though she's still walking very carefully, very slowly, and hunched over like she's 90. But she's making progress. She even managed a shower tonight, despite her protests that she didn't need one (you know, since her last one was *only* 4 nights ago..) Well, she sort of managed a shower - let's just say parts of her body got clean. We'll try the whole thing tomorrow. :-)
She also managed a trip to Wal-mart with grandma. There was absolutely no way she was going to be able to walk through the store though, so we got her the wheelchair. She was a bit self-conscious until I put Sadie in there with her..then they thought it was a grand adventure.
But the *real* sign she was feeling better? When she announced that she had to get out of "these clothes" (just t-shirt / comfy shorts) and "put on something fancy". :-) Yep, the princess is back. :-)
Friday, June 18, 2010
Bone Graft Experience
This post is primarily for a couple folks I know who have younger children with clefts - who will have this surgery eventually. So, if that doesn't apply to you, feel free to read on if you want, but it may be a much of medical mumbo jumbo. :-)
We arrived at UAB hospital EARLY Wednesday morning (I think it was about 6). Surgery was supposed to be at 8:30, but I think it was more like 9:30. We had to go to the office for admitting first to pay the co-pay, fill out forms, etc. It was a very different experience than at Children's. Not better or worse - just different. Then we were directed to a surgery pre-op area. When it was time to prep someone for surgery, they called them to go to the back to get ready. They were only letting the one individual who was having surgery back (and later when they were ready, they'd get a family member to come sit with them). But being a minor, they allowed me to go back with Hannah and stay with her the whole time. She was the only child I saw..though I know from the nurses they actually had several children that morning. When we were in the pre-op room, it was pretty standard...vitals taken, meet with nurse, anesthesiology, dr., etc. They all asked the same questions. Interestingly, the all asked me how much she weighed and how tall she was, but not once was she actually weighed and measured. Just different because it seems like at Children's they are ALWAYS weighing and measuring! I knew how much Hannah weighed but didn't really know exactly how tall she was. They kind of laughed when I answered "tall enough for most rides at Disney World, but not tall enough to touch the bottom of a 4 ft pool" Everyone we met in this area was super nice. Any fears I had if it not being as "child-friendly" were erased. In fact, she may have gotten more attention being one of only a few children they saw. They actually couldn't find a child-size gown though, so Hannah was a given a gown that would fit me! Seriosly. I wasn't sure they'd be able to find her in there!! Hannah was pretty funny through the whole thing. She played video games and watched tv mostly. But she was not shy about answering questions honestly. "How are you doing today?" got the immediate answer of "bad. Want to know why? Because I have to have surgery". But when it was time to go, she seemed pretty comfortable. The nurse who took her was great and had her laughing as she wheeled her to the OR. They didn't put her IV in until she was asleep from the mask first. I actually heard of a slightly older child (9 I think) that day who was given the choice of an IV before or after and she chose before.
Anyway, surgery was about an hour and a half. I was directed to a waiting room area to "check in" and leave my cell phone number. Then I was able to go downstairs and get something to eat before heading back to the waiting room area. When it was over, her surgeon called the waiting room phone to tell me everything went well and she was headed to recover. It was probably a good 45 minutes later when I was taken back to recovery and she was just starting to wake up. Hannah was a little irritated, but within a few minutes was listening while I read Junie B. Jones to her. We went to the room after just a bit and settled in.
The night was pretty uneventful. Of course her medicines were spaced out far enough that someone was in her room every couple hours - so sleep was not really possible. But other than that, things were fine.
Hannah was able to get out of bed to go to the bathroom, but that was the only times she got out of bed that night. The next morning, a physical therapist came by to get her up and walking more. She protested and didn't want to do it, but once she got started, did pretty well. She walked around the whole floor and then settled back in her bed. Food wise - she was on clear liquids the whole time we were in the hospital. Apple juice, a little sprite, chicken broth, jello. That was pretty much all she ate.
Pain wise, she really wasn't in much pain the first night. She had a morphine pump that she could push when she was hurting. (and it "locked out" for so long after she pushed it so she couldn't accidentally give herself too much). She didn't use most of what she had available. And when she did push it, it was more often because she said her hand was hurting (where the IV was). I did get a mini-lecture when the nurse brought it about how Hannah was the only one who knew how much pain she was in so she was the ONLY one who was allowed to push the button. She kept reapeating it. I promised I wouldn't go push the button! But actually, Hannah would forget about it. She'd cry and say something was hurting and I'd have to remind her she could push the button. She also had a pain pump that attached directly to her incision site in her hip with a small catheter. It just automatically kept pain medicine slowly going to her hip.
The next morning the pain pump was taken away and the pump in her hip was removed as well. She was put on strictly oral pain medicine at that point to get her ready to go home (which she's still on about every 6 hours).
The first night Hannah didn't have much swelling, but by the time we left the next day, she had a good bit of swelling. Now (day 3), she's still pretty swollen, but it may have gone down some. She's also got the beginning of some bruising - also normal.
Food wise, since we've been home yesterday afternoon - she's had mostly liquid, but not just clear liquids. She's had a milkshake and some tomato soup and instant mashed potatoes that are so thin they were liquid, along with some yogurt. Tonight, she can start trying soft, but not liquid things. (eggs, thicker mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, soft pancakes, etc.). She'll stay on that diet for 2 weeks. A dietician did come by to give food ideas and talk to us while we were there.
Since we've been home, Hannah's hip is still really sore. Moving from lying to sitting to standing and back is the hardest. Once she's up - she walks around okay. I let her sleep downstairs (started on the couch, ended up on a blow-up mattress) so she wouldn't have to climb the stairs. But she's climbed the stairs twice now anyway on her own. She'll slowly start walking more and more on it and she's supposed to be back to normal in two weeks.
While in the hospital, we were on what seemed like a pediatric heart floor. I think because most of the pediatric patients at UAB are heart patients. But there were 3 girls including Hannah there for the same bone graft surgery. Interestingly, we knew one of them! We didn't know they were going to be there. I was walking down the hall that first night and saw a man I recognized. I couldn't remember his name in that moment but knew I knew him. Sure enough. He and his wife have children also adopted from China through the same agency I used. Their oldest daughter was there for the same surgery as Hannah. The girls didn't actually get to see each other until the next day, but Hannah was interested to know that someone else was there who was going through the same thing she was. The girls' mother stopped by our room for a chat and Hannah bombarded her with questions about her daughter "she's from China like me?, does she have a cleft lip and palate too? is she still bleeding too? (from her nose), is her face swollen too? does her hip hurt too? did they scoop out bone and put it in her mouth?,etc?" We ended up being discharged at the same time and walked out together. Both girls from China in wheelchairs with their faces swollen in similar manners. We were stopped and asked about them being twins and the people who asked found it hard to believe they weren't related at all and weren't from the same family.
Hannah's surgeon was very happy with how her surgery went. Both immediately afterwards and when he came by to see her later that day. The residents who saw her that night and again the next morning all said the same thing. They all said her surgery had gone very well, no suprises, and they expected success. We will go back to see them later next week for a post-op visit.
So for now, Hannah's on the "you have permission to be lazy" summer plan. Watching TV, playing video games, eating ice-cream, and asking for things to be brought to her on on her agenda. And I'm guessing she gets a pass on chores for up to two weeks!
We arrived at UAB hospital EARLY Wednesday morning (I think it was about 6). Surgery was supposed to be at 8:30, but I think it was more like 9:30. We had to go to the office for admitting first to pay the co-pay, fill out forms, etc. It was a very different experience than at Children's. Not better or worse - just different. Then we were directed to a surgery pre-op area. When it was time to prep someone for surgery, they called them to go to the back to get ready. They were only letting the one individual who was having surgery back (and later when they were ready, they'd get a family member to come sit with them). But being a minor, they allowed me to go back with Hannah and stay with her the whole time. She was the only child I saw..though I know from the nurses they actually had several children that morning. When we were in the pre-op room, it was pretty standard...vitals taken, meet with nurse, anesthesiology, dr., etc. They all asked the same questions. Interestingly, the all asked me how much she weighed and how tall she was, but not once was she actually weighed and measured. Just different because it seems like at Children's they are ALWAYS weighing and measuring! I knew how much Hannah weighed but didn't really know exactly how tall she was. They kind of laughed when I answered "tall enough for most rides at Disney World, but not tall enough to touch the bottom of a 4 ft pool" Everyone we met in this area was super nice. Any fears I had if it not being as "child-friendly" were erased. In fact, she may have gotten more attention being one of only a few children they saw. They actually couldn't find a child-size gown though, so Hannah was a given a gown that would fit me! Seriosly. I wasn't sure they'd be able to find her in there!! Hannah was pretty funny through the whole thing. She played video games and watched tv mostly. But she was not shy about answering questions honestly. "How are you doing today?" got the immediate answer of "bad. Want to know why? Because I have to have surgery". But when it was time to go, she seemed pretty comfortable. The nurse who took her was great and had her laughing as she wheeled her to the OR. They didn't put her IV in until she was asleep from the mask first. I actually heard of a slightly older child (9 I think) that day who was given the choice of an IV before or after and she chose before.
Anyway, surgery was about an hour and a half. I was directed to a waiting room area to "check in" and leave my cell phone number. Then I was able to go downstairs and get something to eat before heading back to the waiting room area. When it was over, her surgeon called the waiting room phone to tell me everything went well and she was headed to recover. It was probably a good 45 minutes later when I was taken back to recovery and she was just starting to wake up. Hannah was a little irritated, but within a few minutes was listening while I read Junie B. Jones to her. We went to the room after just a bit and settled in.
The night was pretty uneventful. Of course her medicines were spaced out far enough that someone was in her room every couple hours - so sleep was not really possible. But other than that, things were fine.
Hannah was able to get out of bed to go to the bathroom, but that was the only times she got out of bed that night. The next morning, a physical therapist came by to get her up and walking more. She protested and didn't want to do it, but once she got started, did pretty well. She walked around the whole floor and then settled back in her bed. Food wise - she was on clear liquids the whole time we were in the hospital. Apple juice, a little sprite, chicken broth, jello. That was pretty much all she ate.
Pain wise, she really wasn't in much pain the first night. She had a morphine pump that she could push when she was hurting. (and it "locked out" for so long after she pushed it so she couldn't accidentally give herself too much). She didn't use most of what she had available. And when she did push it, it was more often because she said her hand was hurting (where the IV was). I did get a mini-lecture when the nurse brought it about how Hannah was the only one who knew how much pain she was in so she was the ONLY one who was allowed to push the button. She kept reapeating it. I promised I wouldn't go push the button! But actually, Hannah would forget about it. She'd cry and say something was hurting and I'd have to remind her she could push the button. She also had a pain pump that attached directly to her incision site in her hip with a small catheter. It just automatically kept pain medicine slowly going to her hip.
The next morning the pain pump was taken away and the pump in her hip was removed as well. She was put on strictly oral pain medicine at that point to get her ready to go home (which she's still on about every 6 hours).
The first night Hannah didn't have much swelling, but by the time we left the next day, she had a good bit of swelling. Now (day 3), she's still pretty swollen, but it may have gone down some. She's also got the beginning of some bruising - also normal.
Food wise, since we've been home yesterday afternoon - she's had mostly liquid, but not just clear liquids. She's had a milkshake and some tomato soup and instant mashed potatoes that are so thin they were liquid, along with some yogurt. Tonight, she can start trying soft, but not liquid things. (eggs, thicker mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, soft pancakes, etc.). She'll stay on that diet for 2 weeks. A dietician did come by to give food ideas and talk to us while we were there.
Since we've been home, Hannah's hip is still really sore. Moving from lying to sitting to standing and back is the hardest. Once she's up - she walks around okay. I let her sleep downstairs (started on the couch, ended up on a blow-up mattress) so she wouldn't have to climb the stairs. But she's climbed the stairs twice now anyway on her own. She'll slowly start walking more and more on it and she's supposed to be back to normal in two weeks.
While in the hospital, we were on what seemed like a pediatric heart floor. I think because most of the pediatric patients at UAB are heart patients. But there were 3 girls including Hannah there for the same bone graft surgery. Interestingly, we knew one of them! We didn't know they were going to be there. I was walking down the hall that first night and saw a man I recognized. I couldn't remember his name in that moment but knew I knew him. Sure enough. He and his wife have children also adopted from China through the same agency I used. Their oldest daughter was there for the same surgery as Hannah. The girls didn't actually get to see each other until the next day, but Hannah was interested to know that someone else was there who was going through the same thing she was. The girls' mother stopped by our room for a chat and Hannah bombarded her with questions about her daughter "she's from China like me?, does she have a cleft lip and palate too? is she still bleeding too? (from her nose), is her face swollen too? does her hip hurt too? did they scoop out bone and put it in her mouth?,etc?" We ended up being discharged at the same time and walked out together. Both girls from China in wheelchairs with their faces swollen in similar manners. We were stopped and asked about them being twins and the people who asked found it hard to believe they weren't related at all and weren't from the same family.
Hannah's surgeon was very happy with how her surgery went. Both immediately afterwards and when he came by to see her later that day. The residents who saw her that night and again the next morning all said the same thing. They all said her surgery had gone very well, no suprises, and they expected success. We will go back to see them later next week for a post-op visit.
So for now, Hannah's on the "you have permission to be lazy" summer plan. Watching TV, playing video games, eating ice-cream, and asking for things to be brought to her on on her agenda. And I'm guessing she gets a pass on chores for up to two weeks!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Home
more later - but we are home. Surgery went well. Hannah was a trooper. She's very glad to be home, even though she is still quite swollen and sore. Her hip is bothering her more than her mouth. She's walking, but she looks like a 90 year old woman! :-) I'll post more sometime this weekend.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Hannah's Smile
I really love this 6 year old, teeth-missing, fading scar, not quite symmetrical smile! But she may not be smiling quite so brightly for a few days. Hannah will be having her next cleft surgery on Wed (the 16th). This is her bone graft. The surgeon will be taking bone from her hip to place in the cleft of her gumline (which is the only part that still has a hole - the rest of her palate was repaired almost 4 years ago). This will provide bone for her permanent teeth to anchor to when they come in. It's important that this surgery be done *before* her permanent top teeth come in..and well, she's at the age that it's time to do it. (We probably could have waited several months, but being a teacher - I really wanted it done in the summer. Waiting until next summer would have been pushing it). While we're not strangers to surgeries around here, this will be a new experience for us in some ways. It is a different surgeon and a different hospital. Hannah's regular cleft surgeon Dr. Grant (who is wonderful!!) doesn't do this one particular surgery. We still see him yearly, but he refers this one out to an oral surgeon. The particular surgeon we are using (the one who does a lot of these surgeries) doesn't use Children's Hospital, where we've been before. So this will be our first experience at UAB. I was a little concerned that it might be a little less "child-friendly" than Children's and it is definately less familiar to Hannah. But, I have some friends whose children have had experiences at UAB and they said they were very well taken care of and have had very good experiences there.
So, Tuesday we go for our pre-op with the surgeon and to meet the anesthesiologist. Then Wed. is our surgery. I have no idea yet what time. We'll get all our questions answered Tuesday I guess. What I do know is that we will spend 1 night in the hospital. The mouth part of the surgery is really not supposed to be that bad. She'll be swollen and bruised, but it's not supposed to be all that painful. Less than her original palate surgery I've been told, but I don't really know. She will be on a soft diet for a while, but I don't know the specifics of that (how long, how soft, etc.). I do know that her hip will be the more painful site, at least at first. She'll have a pain pump to give med. directly to the site on her hip while we're in the hospital. I expect her to be sore for a while afterwards and activity will be limited for a while, maybe a couple weeks.
So, say a prayer for my sweet Hannah this week. She's handling the anticipation remarkably well. She admits to being a little scared, but overall I think she's doing well. She did ask me in the car this morning if we could "send out invitations" for people to pray for her! love it! Consider this your invitation. :-) I also wrote out a prayer request at church and I was going to put it in the offering basket (which is one way at our church to make prayer requests known - then they e-mail them to people later). But Hannah would have none of that. She wanted to carry the prayer request slip directly to our pastor. Which she did after church. And then she told our pastor she wanted to send "invitations" to everybody so they would pray for her. Our pastor told her if she'd put that request in the basket, they'd e-mail it to the whole church and then it would be like the whole church got an invitation to pray. Hannah smiled really big and told her okay, and dropped it in the basket. I love that she's not shy about asking! Of course, neither of my girls are shy about very much. :-)
Meanwhile, Sadie is being so very sweet to Hannah about the whole thing..telling her not to be scared, she's going to pray for her, she's going to make Hannah a "beautiful card", etc. But, she's also let it be known that she's glad it's Hannah this time and not her! ha ha!! Sadie is really super excited to be spending the night at "nana and granddaddy's house!" rather than the hospital!
Friday, June 11, 2010
No New T-Shirts Club!
The girls and I have formed a club. Because clubs are kind of a cool thing when you're 6 / almost 7. (And when you're 4, whatever is cool to your big sister is cool!) We're calling it the "No New T-Shirts Club!" It's a very very small step to simply life. I've been reading a book called Simple Life. It's about simplifying life in regards to time, relationships, money, and God. Good book. But it's had me thinking. My girls are very very blessed with clothes. They have been given hand-me-downs galore. And of course, grandma likes to treat the girls to new dresses from time to time. Our closets runneth over! Literally. And they have such variety..summer, winter, spring, fall, dressy, casual, school, play, "fancy" (Hannah's favorite!) I almost never need to buy them new clothes other than underwear and socks, and sometimes shoes for Hannah. Oh, and she needed a couple pairs of jeans this past year for the first time. When they outgrow a set of clothes, we have a set in the next larger size waiting to unpack. And they like it. They are thrilled with their "new" old clothes each time it happens. Sometimes, we come home from church or school or something with a bag of clothes from a friend. The first question asked (with eager anticipation) is "is it mine?". They both are hoping it's clothes for them. And *just* when I think..uh oh..I'm going to have to go buy Hannah some new clothes, this is her last size of hand-me-downs, well, someone blesses us with a set of clothes in the next larger size. It's amazing really. God is truly clothing my children every year. (Makes me think of the passage in the Bible about seeing how God dresses the lillies of the field..how much more he meets our needs). So, the point is, my children do not need new clothes. They are not in any danger of not having something to wear. But I'm wondering how many parents have noticed how many oranizations / actitivites / schools / even churches sell t-shirts for everything!! There's the school t-shirt, the field trip t-shirt (sometimes same as school but not always), the dance recital t-shirt (not that they wear it in the recital - just that they purchase it to wear after the recital), the field day t-shirt, the baton t-shirt, the vacation bible school t-shirt, and more. And I? usually buy the t-shirt. Because I don't spend money on new clothes so I can't say "it's too expensive". Because I don't want my kid to be the one without the t-shirt. Because everyone gets it. And you know, those arguments don't hold water with me for most things. But I usually give in and buy the t-shirt. And my girls really don't care about t-shirts. They don't. And a confession? Sometimes I have to actually MAKE my girls wear the t-shirt we bought for said occassion. Like tonight, Hannah did not want to wear her VBS t-shirt for the VBS celebration! She wanted a "fancier shirt". But I made her wear the VBS shirt - because I bought it.
So, we are done with new t-shirts. Mostly. Of course, some come free with participation in a certain event. If my child is handed a t-shirt, fine. But we will not blindly buy t-shirts for activities any more. By the way, this is not just about my kids. Even as an adult, it seems that some group is trying to sell me a t-shirt at least 2-3 times a year. And there's nothing wrong with that. If you buy a t-shirt to support a group you are connected with - great. And there are a few times I could forsee we *might* consider buying a shirt. But we're going to think long and hard first. And if there's not a compelling reason to do it, we're not going to do it. When Sadie starts kindergarten (not this year, but next)- I will buy her the kindergarten field trip t-shirt. Because it's a safety issue. I want the teachers to be able to glance around and know "yep, she's with us" when they're all at the pumpkin patch. So sometimes, there is a good reason. I've realized that I don't really support a group when I buy a shirt from them. Not really. Most sell the shirts cheap enough that they are not making a profit. The t-shirt company gets the profit. So it's not a fundraiser opportunity for an organization (generally with us..I realize that's not always true). Sure, we show our support by wearing the shirt..or team spirit..or whatever. And there's nothing wrong with that. But like I said, we're going to think long and hard first. We don't need t-shirts for everything we're involved in.
So - we started the "No New T-Shirt Club". But maybe we'll change the name to something else if we think of a good title. Basically, any time we choose NOT to purchase a t-shirt that an organization is selling, we're going to put a construction paper cut-out of a t-shirt on the wall in the kitchen. Then, next summer, we're going to count how many t-shirts we *didn't* buy. (I'm predicting 10 total: 5 for Hannah, 3 for me, 2 for Sadie..but we'll see. And we're not actually involved in that many activities!). Then, we're going to go buy new shirts for children who *do* need them in our community. Because there are children right in our own community that would find having 10 new t-shirts very very special. Kids that need them. So, that's our plan in the "No New T-Shirt Club". A very very small way to simplify our own lives by not buying what we don't need and a very very small way to help my kids learn to give to others.
In case you're curious about my kids' reaction to this idea: one of them thought it was great. The other had some hesitation..and I told her she didn't have to do it, but that I was going to do it and would love to have her join me. I told her I could not / would not buy a t-shirt for everything she was involved in, but if there was one or two special ones during the year..we could think about it and decide then. She informed me this morning "I don't even wear most of those t-shirts. I want to be in the club and help kids who need clothes, because we have enough clothes".
So, if anyone would like to join us - let me know! My children would love to have some more members in their "club". (And we don't even charge dues or have meetings!)
Open for All
I just changed the setting on my blog that allows anyone to read without logging in. I'm not sure how long I'll leave it this way. But I'm not sure who really reads this much anymore anyway. For reasons that make sense in my head but that I don't know if I can articulate yet, I decided to experiment with making the blog public again. If you were a reader while it was private, your information is saved on the readers list. If I move back to private in the future (which I'll post and inform everyone first), those who were already listed as readers will still be able to login and read. Anyone else will need to be added by me.
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
Catching up? Or Maybe Not!!
6 Months!! I can't believe I haven't written anything for 6 months. But now it's summer and I'd like to get back to writing. Only, so much has happened in the last 6 months there is no way I can "catch up". So, I'm not going to even try. But here's just rundown of the girls. And then, I'm going to try to move on and post things that are current more often. Try. :-)
Sadie:
Sadie is doing great! She's done with surgeries (at least for now..there's the possibility of 1 more when she's a good bit older, but maybe not). She's wearing a splint only at night and has been for quite some time. We haven't even been to the OT in probably 3 months or more. We will visit the OT at least once this summer. And probably an opthamologist to have her vision rechecked. But that's all for her. The last time we saw her hand doctor in Atlanta was March. We don't go back until September. 7 months without driving to Atlanta! It's been wonderful!! (though we do love Dr. P and his amazing staff!)
Sadie is doing wonderful developmentally. She's been receiving speech services through our school system for the past year and while she does have some language "quirks"..her speech has really come so far. She talks NONSTOP! I mean that literally - she never ever stops until she goes to sleep. (To her future teachers: I'm sorry. But it's true.) And she doesn't meet a stranger. ever. She's engaging and friendly and precious and people are just attracted to her personality. Just do me a favor. If you see us in the grocery store and you don't actually know her (or she doesn't know you!), please don't try to hug her. We've been working hard on her hugging people she knows only. Sadie played soccer this spring and loved it. Well, she loved the fun little games they played at practice. At the games, she loved socializing with "ALL MY FRIENDS!". She did score one goal in a game - it was for the wrong team..but hey, in 3 & 4 year old soccer, it just doesn't matter. She did a victory dance and everyone cheered for her regardless. Sadie celebrated her 2nd "Family Forever Day" in early May. Hard to believe it's been 2 years. She is the perfect fit to our family. Her wish list for the summer (we wrote them down tonight) includes playing in the sprinkler, putting a cup of water under her shirt and dumping it on herself, making a hat for her stuffed Mickey Mouse, tickling mommy, and blowing bubbles.
Hannah:
Also good. She's had a break of all things medical until recently. We've gone back and forth with hearing tests, ENT visits, and audiology visits this spring. Hannah had her tubes removed at the end of January. And has had a couple ear infections since then. She's failed hearing screenings and tested with a mild hearing loss. But she still has holes in her eardrums from the tube removal (they'd been in 3 years so it was a risk). We just went back to the ENT today and the holes are still there. Her ENT wants to surgically close them but thinks we might want to wait a bit first. The holes act like a natural tube and prevent fluid build up. And Hannah has another surgery coming up this summer so we're putting the ear surgery on hold until probably next spring. The only downside of that is it means she will continue to have a mild hearing loss for most of her 2nd grade year, just as she did for her 1st grade year. It's mild, and didn't seem to effect her academically, but it's something we'll be watching closely. She has a harder time in noisy environments particularly.
Hannah had 3 teeth pulled by her oral surgeon about 2 months ago. She racked up with the tooth fairy for 3 teeth since she was so brave! The teeth were pulled so they'd have time to heal before her did surgery in that area of her mouth this summer. Actually, in about 2 weeks. Hannah will have her bone graft surgery to repair the hole in her gumliine left from her cleft. They will be taking bone from her hip and packing it in her gumline where there currently is no bone. This will give her permanent teeth a place to anchor to when they come in. She'll be on a soft diet again for a while (not sure exactly how long, but after her regular palate repair it was a month!). She'll also have some activity restrictions for a couple weeks.
Hannah just finished 1st grade and she had a wonderful year. She's reading like crazy and one of her favorite things to do is have me give her math problems to solve in the car. She was also just dismissed from speech. We had a "graduation from speech" celebration and she was quite proud of herself. She should be. She's worked hard and done beautifully. To go from absolutely no speech and language at 3 years old to where she is now at not-quite 7 is amazing. Of course, she's had some great help with her wonderful therapists! She has a few little "quirks" left, but they are so minor that we just address them as they come up and move on. And I've realized - many 6 year olds have a few little language "quirks" anyway. Hannah's extracurricular activity of the year was Girl Scouts. She was a Daisy Scout and she had a blast. Her favorite thing was Daisy Camp this spring (just for the day - they won't spend the night until next year as Brownies). She tried her hand at canoeing and archery. She was pretty good at the archery and she loved every minute of it! She's also made some great friends through her troop this year. I limited Hannah to one activity outside of school (other than church) this year because 1st grade was enough of a jump for her with no nap and homework, etc. It was definately the right decision for us. We're going to have to do some discussion and compromising on 2nd grade I think. Hannah has informed me that next year she wants to do Brownies, dance again (she used to be in dance and took the year off), play basketball, and be a football cheerleader. Oh, and she wants to do baton too. I'm glad she has many interests, but it's too much for me and it will be too much for her. She needs "down time" to just play. And we all need down time to just be together and do things as a family. That time is sometimes hard to come by during the school year. So, we'll be hashing all that out this summer to come up with one or two activities. Hannah celebrated her 4th "Family Forever Day" just a few days ago. 4 years ago I became a mom for the first time..I can't imagine living a life different from the one I live now. Hannah's wish list for the summer included: dumping buckets of water on each other, bubbles, the park, making a hat and a crown, riding her bike, painting all over her whole body (we did that a couple summers ago), going to grandma's house, and fishing.
Ah, summer! I love summer!!
(okay - was going to go back and add some photos..blogger is being crazy. Maybe they'll get added later. But I'm going to post anyway)
Sadie:
Sadie is doing great! She's done with surgeries (at least for now..there's the possibility of 1 more when she's a good bit older, but maybe not). She's wearing a splint only at night and has been for quite some time. We haven't even been to the OT in probably 3 months or more. We will visit the OT at least once this summer. And probably an opthamologist to have her vision rechecked. But that's all for her. The last time we saw her hand doctor in Atlanta was March. We don't go back until September. 7 months without driving to Atlanta! It's been wonderful!! (though we do love Dr. P and his amazing staff!)
Sadie is doing wonderful developmentally. She's been receiving speech services through our school system for the past year and while she does have some language "quirks"..her speech has really come so far. She talks NONSTOP! I mean that literally - she never ever stops until she goes to sleep. (To her future teachers: I'm sorry. But it's true.) And she doesn't meet a stranger. ever. She's engaging and friendly and precious and people are just attracted to her personality. Just do me a favor. If you see us in the grocery store and you don't actually know her (or she doesn't know you!), please don't try to hug her. We've been working hard on her hugging people she knows only. Sadie played soccer this spring and loved it. Well, she loved the fun little games they played at practice. At the games, she loved socializing with "ALL MY FRIENDS!". She did score one goal in a game - it was for the wrong team..but hey, in 3 & 4 year old soccer, it just doesn't matter. She did a victory dance and everyone cheered for her regardless. Sadie celebrated her 2nd "Family Forever Day" in early May. Hard to believe it's been 2 years. She is the perfect fit to our family. Her wish list for the summer (we wrote them down tonight) includes playing in the sprinkler, putting a cup of water under her shirt and dumping it on herself, making a hat for her stuffed Mickey Mouse, tickling mommy, and blowing bubbles.
Hannah:
Also good. She's had a break of all things medical until recently. We've gone back and forth with hearing tests, ENT visits, and audiology visits this spring. Hannah had her tubes removed at the end of January. And has had a couple ear infections since then. She's failed hearing screenings and tested with a mild hearing loss. But she still has holes in her eardrums from the tube removal (they'd been in 3 years so it was a risk). We just went back to the ENT today and the holes are still there. Her ENT wants to surgically close them but thinks we might want to wait a bit first. The holes act like a natural tube and prevent fluid build up. And Hannah has another surgery coming up this summer so we're putting the ear surgery on hold until probably next spring. The only downside of that is it means she will continue to have a mild hearing loss for most of her 2nd grade year, just as she did for her 1st grade year. It's mild, and didn't seem to effect her academically, but it's something we'll be watching closely. She has a harder time in noisy environments particularly.
Hannah had 3 teeth pulled by her oral surgeon about 2 months ago. She racked up with the tooth fairy for 3 teeth since she was so brave! The teeth were pulled so they'd have time to heal before her did surgery in that area of her mouth this summer. Actually, in about 2 weeks. Hannah will have her bone graft surgery to repair the hole in her gumliine left from her cleft. They will be taking bone from her hip and packing it in her gumline where there currently is no bone. This will give her permanent teeth a place to anchor to when they come in. She'll be on a soft diet again for a while (not sure exactly how long, but after her regular palate repair it was a month!). She'll also have some activity restrictions for a couple weeks.
Hannah just finished 1st grade and she had a wonderful year. She's reading like crazy and one of her favorite things to do is have me give her math problems to solve in the car. She was also just dismissed from speech. We had a "graduation from speech" celebration and she was quite proud of herself. She should be. She's worked hard and done beautifully. To go from absolutely no speech and language at 3 years old to where she is now at not-quite 7 is amazing. Of course, she's had some great help with her wonderful therapists! She has a few little "quirks" left, but they are so minor that we just address them as they come up and move on. And I've realized - many 6 year olds have a few little language "quirks" anyway. Hannah's extracurricular activity of the year was Girl Scouts. She was a Daisy Scout and she had a blast. Her favorite thing was Daisy Camp this spring (just for the day - they won't spend the night until next year as Brownies). She tried her hand at canoeing and archery. She was pretty good at the archery and she loved every minute of it! She's also made some great friends through her troop this year. I limited Hannah to one activity outside of school (other than church) this year because 1st grade was enough of a jump for her with no nap and homework, etc. It was definately the right decision for us. We're going to have to do some discussion and compromising on 2nd grade I think. Hannah has informed me that next year she wants to do Brownies, dance again (she used to be in dance and took the year off), play basketball, and be a football cheerleader. Oh, and she wants to do baton too. I'm glad she has many interests, but it's too much for me and it will be too much for her. She needs "down time" to just play. And we all need down time to just be together and do things as a family. That time is sometimes hard to come by during the school year. So, we'll be hashing all that out this summer to come up with one or two activities. Hannah celebrated her 4th "Family Forever Day" just a few days ago. 4 years ago I became a mom for the first time..I can't imagine living a life different from the one I live now. Hannah's wish list for the summer included: dumping buckets of water on each other, bubbles, the park, making a hat and a crown, riding her bike, painting all over her whole body (we did that a couple summers ago), going to grandma's house, and fishing.
Ah, summer! I love summer!!
(okay - was going to go back and add some photos..blogger is being crazy. Maybe they'll get added later. But I'm going to post anyway)
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Just some pictures..
Running to the playground (Thanksgiving)
The blessings of life are better when shared (Nov. 2009)
Decorating the tree
It's a stocking, not a sock...having fun being silly
Hannah painted this snowman picture at a friend's birthday party
Let me think, what do I want for Christmas?
"Santa, your glasses are falling down"
I took Hannah and a friend to see the Nutcracker
Playing a game with Bobble, the Elf
Making muffins
Christmas Pictures
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Monday, December 28, 2009
Update
I know it's been a really long time since I've posted. Don't know that anyone still reads anyway. But that's okay..it's for me mostly. To document and remember. I'm not a scrapbooker! So this is what I'll have to recall these wonderful days.
Since last post..Sadie is doing well. We hit some minor snags with her latest surgery. Basically, after we got the new cast off, her wrist was still bent in some. She had a splint for 3 weeks that was supposed to be a wrist splint/ thumb splint combo. It was okay..but not ideal. But it was the best they could do for both at the same time. After that, we moved to just a wrist splint. It holds her wrist straight beautifully. But, when taken off, it still turns in some. Not bad..but the concern is that since her wrist almost immediately moved back inwards after taking the pin out, that it will slowly continue to move inwards over time. The splint is suppossed to help prevent that until her muscles "tighten up" and her wrist decides where it's permanent location will be. Then we'll move to just wearing the splint at night. She *might* have to have a "revision surgery" on the wrist according to her surgeon, but it's just kind of wait and see for now. Her thumb is doing okay. It looks good. She doesn't use it near as well as her other thumb. But she never used that hand as well as her other hand anyway. Her fingers on that left hand are more stiff and always have been. But she uses it some and she's happy. She picks things up with it and smiles from ear to ear. And she'll sing "Where is Thumbkin" and is thrilled that she can do it with TWO thumbs now. We've been doing OT once a week since she got her cast off and will probably move to every two weeks soon. We go back in a week to Atlanta to have her thumb / wrist checked out again there.
Sadie also had a nephrology appointment to check up on her kidneys early December. It went very well and there are no problems with her kidneys. We don't have to go back for two years this time..so that was good news. Her dr. there reinforced what he told me the first time. He doesn't expect kidney problems in Sadie. But because one kidney was a bit small and because they are located in unusal positions, he wants to keep a check on them "from time to time". But he told us to just enjoy life and "check in every once in a while" as she grows.
Hannah, meanwhile, had an appointment with an oral surgeon back in Nov. She's had a break from all things medical for a while. But that's changing (and she doens't like it one bit). The appointment itself was not a big deal. He looked at dental x-rays, looked briefly in her mouth, and that was pretty much it. But he thinks it's time to do her bone graft to repair the small hole left in her gumline soon. He said she's a great size / weight and age to do it now. And she will need significant orthodontic work at some point afterwards (which we knew). However, she does not need any orthodontic work before the surgery, which is good news. Some kids do before this surgery. I decided to wait until early summer for the surgery, because Hannah will need to be home resting for several days post-surgery. The surgeon felt fine about waiting that long. He does want to pull 3 upper teeth before the surgery if she doesn't lose them before then. She's at the age where she *could* lose them on her own, but seeing as she doesn't have any loose teeth yet, it's not looking very likely. (But I'd love it if she did..much less traumatic!). So, we go back April 1st to have the teeth pulled, and then will have the surgery late May or early June most likely.
Hannah also had an ENT appointment the week before Christmas. I had become slightly concerned about her hearing and her ears back in October. I asked her speech therapist at school to check her hearing, which she did. (because she's wonderful!). I was concerned about Hannah's ear tubes being blocked or falling out. ANd Hannah's LOUDNESS made me wonder if she was having a problem with fluid in her ears and having fluctuating hearing loss. (By the way, turns out Hannah is just LOUD). Anyway, her speech therapist checked her hearing 3 times for me between Oct. and Dec. She failed the first screening, and passed the second two. I could "hear" fluid in Hannah's ears when she pushed her hand up on her ear (gross, I know), so I called and made her an appointment. Hannah HATES anything to do with her ears. I mean, the girl hates shots, but I think she'd rather have a shot than have anyone mess with her ears. So, she was very NOT excited about this appointment.
However, I pulled out the heavy encouragement..complete with Bobble, our magic Elf, appearing in her backpack with a note "be brave! you can hold me!". First, she had a hearing screening. Her hearing was *mostly* normal. She was showing a mild loss at the low frequencies (which is what she showed on her very first audiogram right after adoption..since then she's shown normal though). The audiologist did a bone conduction test afterwards, which bypasses her outer ear and shows what her hearing is like without factoring in fluid, etc. That test was normal. (good news..it just means she has fluid or wax or something). They were also able to tell that her tubes were still in and open. So, then we see the ENT. Hannah lets him look in her ears, and then he (an intern..actually a pretty wimpy intern!) tells her he has to clean the wax out because he can't see. Hannah didn't like that idea at all and started crying, just a little though. But the intern didn't know what to do once she started crying. (we're talking very mild..and still very cooperative!). In the end, he decides he can't do it and to let her see the regular ENT. who is great. But he decided not to clean her ears out anyway because he wants to just remove her tubes. They've been in over 3 years, so it really is time. They don't like to leave them in any longer than that. So, now we have an appointment towards the end of Jan. to have her tubes removed. Very simple outpatient surgery. No IV. Should be easy...except that nothing medical is easy with Hannah so we'll see. The good news is that once the tubes are out and the hole heals, she can get her ears wet without it bothering her so much. And I can put drops in her ears to control the wax (which I can't do with tubes). So, hopefully it will be a good thing. And she hasn't had an ear infection in close to a year. However, he did tell me that sometimes in kids with clefts, they have to put a 2nd set of tubes in. So, they'll re-evaluate in 6 months.
Well, life here has been about much more than medical appointments. I wanted to write about Christmas and some other things..hmm..guess that'll be the next post.
Since last post..Sadie is doing well. We hit some minor snags with her latest surgery. Basically, after we got the new cast off, her wrist was still bent in some. She had a splint for 3 weeks that was supposed to be a wrist splint/ thumb splint combo. It was okay..but not ideal. But it was the best they could do for both at the same time. After that, we moved to just a wrist splint. It holds her wrist straight beautifully. But, when taken off, it still turns in some. Not bad..but the concern is that since her wrist almost immediately moved back inwards after taking the pin out, that it will slowly continue to move inwards over time. The splint is suppossed to help prevent that until her muscles "tighten up" and her wrist decides where it's permanent location will be. Then we'll move to just wearing the splint at night. She *might* have to have a "revision surgery" on the wrist according to her surgeon, but it's just kind of wait and see for now. Her thumb is doing okay. It looks good. She doesn't use it near as well as her other thumb. But she never used that hand as well as her other hand anyway. Her fingers on that left hand are more stiff and always have been. But she uses it some and she's happy. She picks things up with it and smiles from ear to ear. And she'll sing "Where is Thumbkin" and is thrilled that she can do it with TWO thumbs now. We've been doing OT once a week since she got her cast off and will probably move to every two weeks soon. We go back in a week to Atlanta to have her thumb / wrist checked out again there.
Sadie also had a nephrology appointment to check up on her kidneys early December. It went very well and there are no problems with her kidneys. We don't have to go back for two years this time..so that was good news. Her dr. there reinforced what he told me the first time. He doesn't expect kidney problems in Sadie. But because one kidney was a bit small and because they are located in unusal positions, he wants to keep a check on them "from time to time". But he told us to just enjoy life and "check in every once in a while" as she grows.
Hannah, meanwhile, had an appointment with an oral surgeon back in Nov. She's had a break from all things medical for a while. But that's changing (and she doens't like it one bit). The appointment itself was not a big deal. He looked at dental x-rays, looked briefly in her mouth, and that was pretty much it. But he thinks it's time to do her bone graft to repair the small hole left in her gumline soon. He said she's a great size / weight and age to do it now. And she will need significant orthodontic work at some point afterwards (which we knew). However, she does not need any orthodontic work before the surgery, which is good news. Some kids do before this surgery. I decided to wait until early summer for the surgery, because Hannah will need to be home resting for several days post-surgery. The surgeon felt fine about waiting that long. He does want to pull 3 upper teeth before the surgery if she doesn't lose them before then. She's at the age where she *could* lose them on her own, but seeing as she doesn't have any loose teeth yet, it's not looking very likely. (But I'd love it if she did..much less traumatic!). So, we go back April 1st to have the teeth pulled, and then will have the surgery late May or early June most likely.
Hannah also had an ENT appointment the week before Christmas. I had become slightly concerned about her hearing and her ears back in October. I asked her speech therapist at school to check her hearing, which she did. (because she's wonderful!). I was concerned about Hannah's ear tubes being blocked or falling out. ANd Hannah's LOUDNESS made me wonder if she was having a problem with fluid in her ears and having fluctuating hearing loss. (By the way, turns out Hannah is just LOUD). Anyway, her speech therapist checked her hearing 3 times for me between Oct. and Dec. She failed the first screening, and passed the second two. I could "hear" fluid in Hannah's ears when she pushed her hand up on her ear (gross, I know), so I called and made her an appointment. Hannah HATES anything to do with her ears. I mean, the girl hates shots, but I think she'd rather have a shot than have anyone mess with her ears. So, she was very NOT excited about this appointment.
However, I pulled out the heavy encouragement..complete with Bobble, our magic Elf, appearing in her backpack with a note "be brave! you can hold me!". First, she had a hearing screening. Her hearing was *mostly* normal. She was showing a mild loss at the low frequencies (which is what she showed on her very first audiogram right after adoption..since then she's shown normal though). The audiologist did a bone conduction test afterwards, which bypasses her outer ear and shows what her hearing is like without factoring in fluid, etc. That test was normal. (good news..it just means she has fluid or wax or something). They were also able to tell that her tubes were still in and open. So, then we see the ENT. Hannah lets him look in her ears, and then he (an intern..actually a pretty wimpy intern!) tells her he has to clean the wax out because he can't see. Hannah didn't like that idea at all and started crying, just a little though. But the intern didn't know what to do once she started crying. (we're talking very mild..and still very cooperative!). In the end, he decides he can't do it and to let her see the regular ENT. who is great. But he decided not to clean her ears out anyway because he wants to just remove her tubes. They've been in over 3 years, so it really is time. They don't like to leave them in any longer than that. So, now we have an appointment towards the end of Jan. to have her tubes removed. Very simple outpatient surgery. No IV. Should be easy...except that nothing medical is easy with Hannah so we'll see. The good news is that once the tubes are out and the hole heals, she can get her ears wet without it bothering her so much. And I can put drops in her ears to control the wax (which I can't do with tubes). So, hopefully it will be a good thing. And she hasn't had an ear infection in close to a year. However, he did tell me that sometimes in kids with clefts, they have to put a 2nd set of tubes in. So, they'll re-evaluate in 6 months.
Well, life here has been about much more than medical appointments. I wanted to write about Christmas and some other things..hmm..guess that'll be the next post.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Pick your title: "God is Good" OR "How Sadie Learned Her Colors"
God is good. God is SO good. I know that, but God has been reminding me of that over and over these last couple days. My heart is overflowing with gratitude for the life God has given me, and the life He is giving me now. I don't know what the future holds, but I want God to be in it whatever it is, because God is good.
Just one (of many!) blessings in my life: little Sadie. Sadie turned 4 a couple weeks ago and now tells everyone "I'm not free (three) anymore!" Today, we had a little trip. By "little", I mean with no notice, I picked her up from her babysitter's house mid-morning and whisked her off to Atlanta. On the Friday before Halloween. On the Magic City Classic AND the Talledega Race weekend...yeah, traffic was chaotic. That was on the way there. On the way home, how about 5 o'clock traffic in Atlanta on Friday afternoon, construction, and rain? It was a LOOOONG day. But God is good..and the trip was good..and God was in it.
Let's start this story back at the beginning. Well, the middle anyway. :-). Sometime late summer 2008, I met with a hand surgeon here locally. Let's just say she didn't thrill me. She may be a wonderful surgeon, but she was not a good listener. She didn't listen to my questions, concerns, and opinions at all. So therefore, I won't ever find out if she's a good surgeon or not. I just wasn't comfortable. My pediatrician referred me to someone else. Much better listener, but he clearly didn't have the experience and knowledge. (remember my story of him googling treatment options?). But then I heard of a surgeon in Atlanta that had a great reputations and had done multiple surgeries on children whose hands were like Sadie's. I went and met with him. At the time, I didn't know if I wanted to do surgery or not. He was wonderful!! He spent a long time with me listening, talking, answering questions, drawing diagrams, etc. He spent a lot of time with Sadie..not just examing her hands but looking at her as a whole..and he was clearly very knowledgeable. He left me with information on pros and cons of what he would reccomend, along with directions to call him if I wanted to ask any more questions. Long story, short..we'd found a surgeon. And for multiple reasons, I decided the surgeries would be a good thing for Sadie in the long run. In December 2008, Sadie had her first surgery on her hands. She had her "floppy" thumb on her right hand removed and this lovely contraption called a fixator placed on her left hand. Here's her hands pre-surgery:
Several weeks after surgery (1st pic is the fixator, 2nd is the fixator with cover over it. Sadie picked red)
Several weeks after surgery (1st pic is the fixator, 2nd is the fixator with cover over it. Sadie picked red)
After that surgery, I had to turn a screw on the fixator twice a day. That slowly straightened her hand. During this process, Sadie and I travelled to Atlanta periodically to get things checked. It was weekly for the first month. We had a couple minor infections during this..totally normal, cuught quickly, and nothing that a round of antibiotics didn't cure. We were very fortunate. And Sadie tolerated this contraption SO well. And there were really no limitations on what she could do with it. She could shower, but wasn't supposed to immerse it in the water. Just as a precaution, we put a plastic bag over it for particularly messy activities or wet activities. Here's Sadie playing in the snow with the bag over her fixator.
Then in March, Sadie had surgery #2. Here she is at the hospital before surgery #2.
Surgery #2 was to remove the fixator and do a "radialization" of her left hand. In other words, her hand was "straightened" on the end of her ulna bone (she has no radius in the left arm). A pin was placed inside to hold everything in place. Once the bandages were removed a week post-surgery, Sadie got her first cast..orange.
Then in March, Sadie had surgery #2. Here she is at the hospital before surgery #2.
Surgery #2 was to remove the fixator and do a "radialization" of her left hand. In other words, her hand was "straightened" on the end of her ulna bone (she has no radius in the left arm). A pin was placed inside to hold everything in place. Once the bandages were removed a week post-surgery, Sadie got her first cast..orange.
When the cast came off, Sadie got this lovely pink splint with purple straps. And she wore it all day, every day from the time she got it at the end of March until mid-October. Everywhere she went..including swimming, the lake, and the beach. I learned to soak it in vinegar occassionally to get the smell out. Although I don't know if the lake smell ever totally dissapeared. We did take it off for baths.
At the end of May, Sadie had surgery #3. Here she is pre-surgery.
Surgery #3 created a thumb on her right hand (it came from her index finger). Amazing. She came out of surgery all bandaged up. But when the bandages came out, here's the little thumb that was there. A pin was left in the thumb for the time being. It was quickly put in a cast and this time Sadie chose black. She now had a black cast on one hand and a purple and pink splint on the other. We got some stares and questions in public. Sadie took it all in stride.
Once that cast came off (3 weeks later), the pin was removed, and Sadie got this cool blue splint with green straps for her new thumb. She wore it all the time for 3 weeks, except for occupational therapy and showers. Then she wore it just at night for another 3 weeks. She went to OT regularly during those 6 weeks and learned to use her new thumb. So, during this time, we had a blue splint on one hand and a pink splint on the other. (At our agency reunion this summer with Lifeline's facilitator in China)
Sadie has been so proud of her new thumb! And she's quite amazing at what she can do with it now. She can cut with special scissors, color, zip, turn little locks on the door, etc. What she loves most though is singing "Where is Thumbkin?" She has spent the last few months walking up to people in the grocery store and saying "I have a new thumb!". 
Finally, in mid-October, Sadie had surgery #4. The PA at her surgeon's office had pity on me and actually faxed me the pre-op paperwork this time to save us a trip to Atlanta the week before surgery. We love them! For so many reasons. Here's some pics of Sadie in the couple weeks leading up to surgery. Just because they were cute and I wanted to stick them in here. First, the beach. Next, Sadie sliding with some friends at her 4th birthday party. Finally, pre-op.
This time, the pin was being removed in her left wrist (the one that'd been there since surgery #2 in March) and she was getting a new thumb on her left hand. When the bandages came off, Sadie chose pink for her cast this time. And then at a fall festival at Hannah's school a few days later, she got pink hair to match her cast. (Hannah had purple hair..didn't show up too great in the photo). 
We were supposed to have that pink cast on for 3 weeks. But we ran into a little snag. Sadie's left hand was very swollen post-surgery. And when the swelling went down, the cast "slipped". Her dr. had done everything he could to prevent that and minimize the swelling in the first place (including these little "drains" in her thumb at first) but it just happened. Which brings us to today. I took Hannah to school and Sadie to her babysitter's. Then I called the dr. office. I was seriously thinking "I'm a little concerned about this, but I'm sure it's fine and I'm probably over-reacting, but I want them to tell me I'm over-reacing and it's fine". I spoke with the surgeon's assistant who said it was "probably fine" but she wanted to talk to the surgeon to be sure. He was in surgery at the moment however, so she'd call me back. So I went on to work. Mid-morning, she called me to tell me he wanted the cast off, wanted the hand x-rayed, and wanted a new cast put on and he wanted it done today. We talked about me doing it locally instead of going all the way to Atlanta. But in the end, the surgeon wasn't comfortable with that and really wanted me to come to their office. I chose him because of his reputation. He's proved himself to me multiple times already. So I trusted him. So, I made some phone calls to cancel appointments, set up care for Hannah this afternoon, and I picked Sadie up. We headed to Atlanta...We arrived in Atlanta at the surgeon's office just before 4:00 (they're an hour ahead of us). And Sadie is fine. But I'm glad we went. They all know Sadie there and she's charmed them completely! And they take very good care of her. They joke with her and laugh with her..but they're serious about doing a good job. I sat in amazement. It was the end of the day on a Friday, and they treated her like their first patient Monday morning. or better. I know they stayed late just to make sure everything was okay with her. The surgeon wasn't there (it was his day to be in surgery at the hospital all day). But he might as well have been. They took pictures and e-mailed them to him in surgery. And they took pictures of the x-rays and sent him those too. They texted and talked back and forth. And seriously, he might as well have been standing there. He directed everything..do this..do that..another x-ray, an x-ray in a different postion..hold the hand in this position while you put the new cast on..wanted an x-ray in the cast to be sure..etc. And the bottom line is Sadie did need a new cast..but she's fine. No damage was done. But it could have been if the problem hadn't been corrected. Her new thumb wasn't the problem..it was fine. The problem was when the cast slipped, it made her wrist bend inwards. We've spent much time and surgery and effort getting that wrist to turn out..not in. Sadie will be able to turn it in when she needs to. But it did not need to sit in that position immobile or it could have started to permanently move back inwards. But they were able to get it in the correct position in the new cast, and everything is good. God is good. Oh yeah, and Sadie chose orange this time for her cast. Because it matched her butterfly wings of her Halloween costume. I actually told her that was why we were going back for a new cast: so she could pick out another color to go with her costume!
As I was driving home, I was amazingly not stressed at all about the traffic or the time or anything. I felt God's hand on my life and my children's lives and I felt like we were being very well taken-care of. Today was just one example. I listened to my insticts say something wasn't right. I had dr.'s I trusted who also trusted me that if I was concerned, they wanted to check it out. I had dr.'s who didn't take the "easy way out", but insisted I see them, today, right now. And they stayed late to make it happen. And a surgeon who directed everything from an OR across town! I'm so grateful to have found them. Sure, driving to Atlanta 21 times over the past 10 months (today was the 21st time!) has been a bit of a pain at times. But only because I get caught up in convenience and busyness at times. But when I truly stop and think of the care Sadie gets there...it's a no-brainer. I'd drive 21 more times over the next 10 months in a hearbeat. But luckily, I don't have to. If all goes well, we'll go back in a week and a half, and then in probably another 3 weeks, and then probably 1 more time after that. And that's it. These two pics show how Sadie feels about our treks to Atlanta.
(actually, she seems to mostly enjoy the trips..and when she gets bored, she sleeps.) I am incredibly blessed..God is good. Just one example of how Good He is. Now, if I had not chosen to do any surgery on Sadie, I would be just as blessed and God would be just as good...and Sadie would be just as delightful, charming, and amazing. But because I *did* choose to do surgery, I sure am glad God put the right team in place for Sadie and that everything has worked out so well. And yes, Sadie has had a multitude of colors on her arms / hands during this past year. And yes, when we started, she knew no colors. Now she knows them all. :-)Friday, August 07, 2009
Summer: Going, Going, Gone
Just found this today..I wrote it in August!! Yeah, I'm behind. But it made me smile to read it..so I'm posting it.
It's over. Officially. I start back to work on Monday and school for the kids start Thursday. It's been a good summer and we've done a lot. We've had some accomplishments too. Here's a little run-down at what we've learned this summer.
1. Hannah learned to swim. And to trust God. At the same time. It was fun to watch her progress. She can now swim about half the length of the YMCA pool and back. She can also jump in unassisted and swim to her instructor and can float on her back. And she totally gives God the credit for all that. She was nervous in her first session about taking off the "floatie" they have the beginners wear the first few days. Nervous doesn't actually describe it - terrified! I'm talking she was clinging and crawling up her teacher's back and wouldn't let go. Her teacher finally shoved her off (in as nice a way as she could..but her options were a bit limited) and Hannah made it to the wall. Lots of cheers and claps and then it was time to try it again. Did Hannah have confidence? nope. More clinging and fear. Repeat again the next day. It was definately a fear thing and not an issue of inability. Hannah could swim anywhere well with the floatie. Finally, one day on the way to swimming lessons I suggested we pray about it. Hannah agreed so we prayed that God would give her courage and help her swim without her floatie. What do you know..she took it right off and swam to the wall with no coaxing. Several times. From then on, it was never an issue. She went from "I can't do it at all" to swimming half the length of the pool very confidently. In her second session of swim lessons, Hannah's new task was to jump in the water and swim out to her instructor. The first few days, she reached for his hand. She would try to pump herself up 'I'm going to do it myself' and at the last minute, she would get scared and refuse to jump without his hand. So, we prayed again that she would have courage to jump in and swim. That day, she hesistated slightly, but she did it. She jumped in on her own and swam to her instructor. And then she started YELLING at the TOP OF HER LUNGS "It's a miracle! It's a miracle!". She turned to the kid next to her and said "God just made me have courage in my heart to jump and then he made me just POP back up out of the water so I could swim! It's a miracle!".
2. Hannah learned to ride her bike without training wheels. All it took was to come upon some friends who were a year older riding their bikes in the same parking lot we went to practice in. Competition set it and Hannah decided she would master it too. And she did..in less than half an hour. Although remembering to brake took an extra day. :-)
3. Hannah overcame her slight disgust of creepy crawly things enough to actually enjoy playing with worms at the lake. I'm sure the fact that her friend Joy loved playing with worms had something to do with this.
4. Hannah memorized the fruits of the spirit..in song form.
5. Hannah learned that all babies don't actually come from China. :-)
6. While Sadie didn't learn to swim, she did learn to enjoy the pool. You know, as long as she had her life vest on and mommy was just an arm's reach away.
7. Sadie learned the difference bewteen a fork and a spoon. Sounds simple, I know. But life is so much easier now that I can count on my helpful 3 year old to put the right utensils on the table. It's the little things. :-)
8. Sadie learned most of her colors. Still working on a couple, but she's getting there.
9. Sadie learned to sing her ABC's, although she doesn't give us any credit for that. When asked "where did you learn that?", she delights in answering "in china!". Actually, that's become her answer to everything lately. "I learn that in CHINA!"
10. Sadie has learned to use her new thumb! Quite well, in fact. In fact, she's doing it well enough that her OT said to me last week "I'm comfortable with you not coming for a while and just continuing to play and encourage her on your own.".
11. I learned that as much as I think my children have beautiful voices and love to listen to them sing, a 20 minute car ride is my limit for listening to them sing their "special songs" (i.e. totally made up on the spot songs, even though Sadie insists she learned all hers in China!). sorry, but true.
12. I learned that when a preschool remote control toy car thingy has a warning label that says "adult supervision required. If child's hair comes in contact with moving wheels, entanglement can occur", I should pay attention. It actually can happen. Thankfully, no one was hurt and it just took a quick little "snip" to free the child from the toy.
13. I learned that no matter how long summer vacation is, there's never enough time to complete half the "projects" I said I'd do at the beginning of the summer.
14. I learned that some things are more important than those projects anyway. You know, things like teaching a child to ride a bike, watching the girls swim, making forts out of all the blankets, watching the impromptu puppet shows in living room, etc.
15. I learned that in between all the fun play times with the kids and the "projects" that are being procrastinated, there's still time for naps!
I love summer!
It's over. Officially. I start back to work on Monday and school for the kids start Thursday. It's been a good summer and we've done a lot. We've had some accomplishments too. Here's a little run-down at what we've learned this summer.
1. Hannah learned to swim. And to trust God. At the same time. It was fun to watch her progress. She can now swim about half the length of the YMCA pool and back. She can also jump in unassisted and swim to her instructor and can float on her back. And she totally gives God the credit for all that. She was nervous in her first session about taking off the "floatie" they have the beginners wear the first few days. Nervous doesn't actually describe it - terrified! I'm talking she was clinging and crawling up her teacher's back and wouldn't let go. Her teacher finally shoved her off (in as nice a way as she could..but her options were a bit limited) and Hannah made it to the wall. Lots of cheers and claps and then it was time to try it again. Did Hannah have confidence? nope. More clinging and fear. Repeat again the next day. It was definately a fear thing and not an issue of inability. Hannah could swim anywhere well with the floatie. Finally, one day on the way to swimming lessons I suggested we pray about it. Hannah agreed so we prayed that God would give her courage and help her swim without her floatie. What do you know..she took it right off and swam to the wall with no coaxing. Several times. From then on, it was never an issue. She went from "I can't do it at all" to swimming half the length of the pool very confidently. In her second session of swim lessons, Hannah's new task was to jump in the water and swim out to her instructor. The first few days, she reached for his hand. She would try to pump herself up 'I'm going to do it myself' and at the last minute, she would get scared and refuse to jump without his hand. So, we prayed again that she would have courage to jump in and swim. That day, she hesistated slightly, but she did it. She jumped in on her own and swam to her instructor. And then she started YELLING at the TOP OF HER LUNGS "It's a miracle! It's a miracle!". She turned to the kid next to her and said "God just made me have courage in my heart to jump and then he made me just POP back up out of the water so I could swim! It's a miracle!".
2. Hannah learned to ride her bike without training wheels. All it took was to come upon some friends who were a year older riding their bikes in the same parking lot we went to practice in. Competition set it and Hannah decided she would master it too. And she did..in less than half an hour. Although remembering to brake took an extra day. :-)
3. Hannah overcame her slight disgust of creepy crawly things enough to actually enjoy playing with worms at the lake. I'm sure the fact that her friend Joy loved playing with worms had something to do with this.
4. Hannah memorized the fruits of the spirit..in song form.
5. Hannah learned that all babies don't actually come from China. :-)
6. While Sadie didn't learn to swim, she did learn to enjoy the pool. You know, as long as she had her life vest on and mommy was just an arm's reach away.
7. Sadie learned the difference bewteen a fork and a spoon. Sounds simple, I know. But life is so much easier now that I can count on my helpful 3 year old to put the right utensils on the table. It's the little things. :-)
8. Sadie learned most of her colors. Still working on a couple, but she's getting there.
9. Sadie learned to sing her ABC's, although she doesn't give us any credit for that. When asked "where did you learn that?", she delights in answering "in china!". Actually, that's become her answer to everything lately. "I learn that in CHINA!"
10. Sadie has learned to use her new thumb! Quite well, in fact. In fact, she's doing it well enough that her OT said to me last week "I'm comfortable with you not coming for a while and just continuing to play and encourage her on your own.".
11. I learned that as much as I think my children have beautiful voices and love to listen to them sing, a 20 minute car ride is my limit for listening to them sing their "special songs" (i.e. totally made up on the spot songs, even though Sadie insists she learned all hers in China!). sorry, but true.
12. I learned that when a preschool remote control toy car thingy has a warning label that says "adult supervision required. If child's hair comes in contact with moving wheels, entanglement can occur", I should pay attention. It actually can happen. Thankfully, no one was hurt and it just took a quick little "snip" to free the child from the toy.
13. I learned that no matter how long summer vacation is, there's never enough time to complete half the "projects" I said I'd do at the beginning of the summer.
14. I learned that some things are more important than those projects anyway. You know, things like teaching a child to ride a bike, watching the girls swim, making forts out of all the blankets, watching the impromptu puppet shows in living room, etc.
15. I learned that in between all the fun play times with the kids and the "projects" that are being procrastinated, there's still time for naps!
I love summer!
Friday, July 24, 2009
Fun Times
Last week, we headed to Hannah's annual cleft clinic visit (and it's finally "annual" for us and not every 6 months! yeah!). It was a good visit and not too long. Everything is looking good. We got a good report from the speech therapists there - they thought Hannah was sounding very good. There are a few speech errors that remain, which I knew, but overall they felt like she was doing great. Her surgeon was also happy with how she was doing. Her hearing was not tested this time since she had good reports the last few times. They will test again next year. We were out well before lunch time. We will be going to see an oral surgeon in the next 6 months for a consultation on when to repair that last hole remaining in her gum line. Hannah's cleft dr. thinks it's still too early, but he likes to send his patients to the oral surgeon on the early side just so we know what to expect. But the fact that Hannah hasn't lost any of her baby teeth yet points to it being early for her still. When we go, they will do x-rays to see where all her permanent teeth are and to estimate when they will come in. The surgery will be planned to occur before her permanet teeth (on the top) are ready to come in.Last weekend, we headed to Tuscaloosa to visit a place that holds great memories for me. It was our Wesley Foundation (campus ministry) reunion. It was fun to visit with some old friends, and the girls had a blast hanging out on the campus with the other kids.
Then, we headed to the lake for a few days, also with a couple friends from college and their families. We had a great time swimming, fishing, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows, making s'mores, and more. The girls played in the sand, caught frogs, played with worms, and did a whole lot of giggling with their friends. And then at night, we adults put the kids to bed and then enjoyed hanging out, chatting, reminiscing about older days, and catching up on current days. You know those friends that you can seriously not see for a very long time, and then when you get together it's just easy and comfortable? I'm lucky to have some of those friends and enjoyed spending time with them this week. I guess I'm also lucky that one of those friends has access to an amazing lakehouse in her family! Fun times!
We have a little more fun planned in the next couple weeks - and then...(drum roll)..back to school! Hard to believe it's almost here. Sunday, July 12, 2009
Summer Fun
Some of what we've been up to in between dr. appointments and speech and OT (which actually we've had a whole lot less appointments than last summer)
Fun play spaces: Who knew if I just pushed the couch out from the wall and hung a blanket up...I'd have 2 whole hours to sit and read while these two happily amused themselves in their new play space!
Hannah enjoyed a week of "baton camp" (and no, not really a camp, but classes for a week) at a nearby church.
Vacation Bible School: Sadie wasn't actually old enough to participate this year and was in the nursery most of the time. But that didn't stop her from their end-of-the-week performance. She just marched herself up to the stage, squeezed in by Hannah, and acted like of course she knew all the songs and she belonged there.
Painting and simple crafts: We love to do this kind of stuff on those really really HOT afternoons.
Playing in the water:
Playing in the water:
Puppet Shows in the Living Room:
And this weekend, we attended Lifeline's annual China reunion. I had a great time visiting with old friends and making some new ones too. The girls had a great time running, playing, jumping, and swinging.
I love this sweet picture of Sadie with Lily, Lifeline's facilitator in China.
Hannah had a great time playing with our friend Quan.
Sweet Candace poses for a pic with Sadie.
More fun days coming soon...July seems to be our month for reconnecting with old friends..so stay tuned. :-)
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