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September 29, 2013 By Kimberly
Last night Haley slept better then in the hospital but still not the best. We had to wake her up to take her medicine. As you can imagine she did NOT like that at all. After screaming and yelling she finally took it. She is expecting it to taste horrible like the steroid medication. Luckily we are done with that and all the others are flavored. She doesn’t understand taking her medicine will help her head feel better. For about an hour this morning she was fine. She stood in the shower letting the water fall over her head. I really want to wash out all the yucky stuff from surgery and help her now matted hair, but it is too early, no washing yet. At least she was able to choose to do a … [Read more…]
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September 29, 2013 By Kimberly
I got to the hospital early this morning to swap with Jeremy. The nurse was wanting to stay on top of her pain which I loved to hear even though Haley doesn’t want to take it but finally does. I was told we are going home today but there are certain things we need to do. The Neurosurgeon came in and again gave me the impression he was excited about how well the surgery went. We will see him in a few months when her brain has had a chance to recover. We will do another MRI and discuss then what, if anything, we need to do next. We had a few visitors from speech, PT, and OT but I told them we did not need a consult. Of course they didn’t like that answer but once I explained my mom is a PT … [Read more…]
Previous Post: Day 2 post-op, Thursday
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September 26, 2013 By Kimberly
A great Nurse Practitioner came on duty last night and solved some problems. Haley had one IV in each foot. Each time medication was pushed through the IV she screamed in pain! The day shift nurse observed this, checked the IV and said it was good each time. The NP decided if it hurt her that much lets take it out. She still has one in the other foot and all they only needed one. She also told the nurse if she screams and cries for 10 minutes immediately inject the stronger medication. Jeremy, being there at night was so happy this NP was willing to change some things to lessen her pain. She seemed to be more of an advocate for Haley then anyone else had been. She didn’t want Haley to be in … [Read more…]
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September 25, 2013 By Kimberly
What began as a calm morning did not continue throughout the day. Haley was off doing the MRI when I showed up at the hospital this morning. She came back and was sleeping for a while. That was great because she had a bad night. She woke up happy, smiling, laughing, drinking and drinking some more which is very normal for her. She is my thirsty child! She ate a few bites of food. She tried watching a movie but the tv was on the left side. She would need to lay her head on the left side (the surgery side) to see it. That was something she was not willing to do. So instead she listened to the movie while she rested. Then she saw the buttons on the bed. She had great fun pushing them to make … [Read more…]
Previous Post: Day 1 post-op morning
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September 24, 2013 By Kimberly
Today was the big surgery day. We started the day out with Little Chef C waking me up just after 4am to tell me it was after 4. I told her I was waking up at 4:30 and would get her up at 5:00 so she could go lay back down in her bed. When I finally woke the girls, one said she was tired but the others woke quickly super excited about their day. We dropped off kids to fly on an airplane and have a great few days at Disneyland. They saw their cousins and didn’t even turn around to say “good bye.” Haley didn’t want to stay in the car with her sisters gone. She was even worse when we dropped the baby off at Grandma’s. She did not want to go to the hospital. She was still very tired which … [Read more…]
Previous Post: The day before surgery.
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September 23, 2013 By Kimberly
I’ve been packing and packing. The older girls are going with my SIL and BIL to Disneyland! There is no better place for them to go to keep their minds off their little sister. Yes, we are trying to shelter them from most of the events this week. We do not find it necessary for them to see her at her most awful state in the hospital. They might see pictures later (if we take them), but it won’t be terrible because they will know she is fine. We are thankful plans worked out that our girls are able to tag along. We hope that they will be on their best behavior. I have been packing for the baby. I’m praying he will take a bottle so he does not need to be at the hospital much. If he needs to … [Read more…]
Previous Post: It’s all in the details.
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September 22, 2013 By Kimberly
In the process of finding out what was wrong with Haley I was frustrated with the communication channel to obtain test results. Looking back that poor communication was a blessing. Supposing results were reported to me immediately and the next test performed we would have found out about Haley’s brain tumor a week earlier (or so). I would have taken her by myself to the MRI with the baby because I would have been on my own. That would have been horrible only because I now know she does not respond well to sedation medication. I would have found out the test results and called Jeremy on the phone as I did, but this time he would not have been able to go with me to talk with the Neurosurgeon. … [Read more…]
Previous Post: How are the other girls?
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September 19, 2013 By Kimberly
I have been asked how the older girls are doing and how much do they know and understand. On Saturday, the day after we found out, we explained in very simple terms to all three what was going to happen in the near future. Later that day I was with just the 2 older girls and told them more, still leaving out the really scary details. My oldest was making frightening faces as I was explaining. I didn’t think she was going to be ok. She is my super sensitive, emotionally tender child. But, she said she was fine and immediately went on talking about something else. My second didn’t say anything but it didn’t seem to phase her either. I left that conversation thinking they don’t get it at … [Read more…]
Previous Post: Our first Neurosurgeon appointment.
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September 18, 2013 By Kimberly
Haley was released from the Outpatient Clinic. We were on our way home to pick up everyone and go to the other hospital when my mom called. She started out with, “What do you know and what do you want to know?” I said I didn’t know a lot. She kept saying it is benign, it is benign. That was the best news of the day. She reminded me she used to work with some Doctors, nurses and staff members in Neurosurgery. That was comforting. After dropping off kids and making sure the other girls were taken care of after school we were up at the hospital as soon as we could. My Mom met us up there to make sure we didn’t miss asking questions we needed to ask. From the moment I walked in and told them … [Read more…]
Previous Post: The first of many MRI’s.
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September 18, 2013 By Kimberly
Plans worked out that I was able to take Haley to her MRI alone. If the baby became hungry before we returned Jeremy would give him a bottle. If that didn’t go well they would meet me at the hospital to feed him. At this point we were happy the hospital was only 10 minutes away. We checked in, went to a small room where the nurses did their regular check up and took some history. Then they had Haley sit facing me on my lap and holding her arm a particular way so they could put an IV in her tiny hand. She was very brave and didn’t cry or make a peep. They wrapped her hand so she wouldn’t take it out with yellow tape with bees on it. Then came the waiting game. We were in that tiny room for … [Read more…]
Previous Post: Doctors visits began.
Next Post: Our first Neurosurgeon appointment.