5th Surgery & Counting

 Sophia is having a fundoplication surgery tomorrow because her acid reflux is really bad.  Basically, a portion of her stomach is going to be sewn around her esophagus.  This procedure increases the pressure at the lower end of the esophagus and thereby reduces acid reflux.  She's not gaining weight anymore and it's probably because she spits up so much.  On top of that she's aspirating.  Her spit up is going into her lungs and that is part of the reason that her lungs keep collapsing.  Well, that and the fact that she has chronic lung disease due to her prematurity.  Her lungs never developed and they are in pretty bad shape.  If this doesn't work, a tracheotomy is next.

This is actually a good representation of what Sophia is having done.  The image on the left is pre-op.  The image on the right is post-op. 

I caught her smiling in her sleep on Sunday.

The nurse and I were joking that Sophia looked liked she was on the beach getting some sun all sprawled out.

That is a "No No" on her right arm.  She got a pair when she went to the PICU after her heart surgery.  I think her original pair was discarded.  Apparently, missy here decided to extubate herself one night.  I asked for another pair of "No No's" so that she couldn't reach and pull out the tube that is KEEPING HER ALIVE!

Today I gave her a bath because she had a HUGE spit up.  It went behind her ears, neck, and back.  Just wiping her off was not an option.

All clean and ready for another big day tomorrow.

Father's Day

Father's Day was a little busier than usual this year.  We went to church, to my parents, then to the hospital, and up to Jeremiah's sisters house to drop off Liz for two weeks.  Diana offered to keep Liz for a week and I managed to get two weeks.  Liz has been extremely patient with our crazy schedule since school has been out so she is hanging out with her cousins for a while.  That's quite the treat for her so I hope she's enjoying herself.

Other than my Wordless Wednesday posts, this is probably the shortest post I've done.  Enjoy it.  The next post is a doozie!

Mark this day.  Everyone is smiling AND looking at the camera.  I didn't have to take a ton of pictures to get this one either.  That may never happen again.  I've declared this one our official Father's Day picture.  Happy Father's Day Jeremiah!  Luff hugh!!!

My dad and his posterity.  I was busy "directing" and didn't jump in.  My brother wasn't there either so I don't feel too terribly bad.

On June 20th, these two crazy kids celebrated their 42nd wedding anniversary.  Some days I don't think I'll make it to 40 let alone be married for 40 years!  I can't wait to see Jeremiah and I on our 42nd wedding anniversary.  Anyway, happy anniversary mom and dad!!!

Post-Op Update

Three days after Sophia's surgery was a big day.  Sophia was doing so well with her breathing that the doctors took her off of the ventilator, yay!  Baby girl was breathing on her own.  Well, she needed a little oxygen but she was doing great considering she always need life support after her surgeries.  

She's starting to wake up from her drugs.  Her expressions crack me up.

Her incision is almost across her entire back.

She was so alert that day and I couldn't get enough of her.  She's almost outgrown her incubator.  Jeremiah inquired about a crib and she might get one tomorrow.  It might be pink, too :o)

All good things must come to an end.  Friday morning at 6:09AM, the doctor called.  Sophia's right lung collapsed.  Needless to say, she had to go back on the Bubble CPAP for additional breathing support.  I was done and the nurse was kind enough to get a bouncer.  I turned it toward the windows so that baby girl could have a view other than another piece of equipment.


Yesterday, she had another x-ray and her right lung is clearing up.  It's not perfect by any means but it is clearly getting better.  Now, her left lung is looking like it is starting to collapse.  WTH?!

Heart Surgery Update

Yesterday was a BIG day and our baby girl ROCKED it!!!  Surgery days are always rough for her and yesterday was no different.  When we arrived, she was in an incubator and ready to go.  Then the drama began.  Apparently, there was some confusion as to whether or not she should be transported to the operating room in an incubator or a crib.  Then there was an issue of whether or not she needed to be transported to the operating room intubated or not.

In the meantime, Sophia is SCREAMING bloody murder because I'm sure she's tired of being messed with.  Plus, with all of the commotion I'm sure that added to her stress.  At one point she was on 100% oxygen.  I read The Little Engine That Could twice and sometimes it'll calm her down.  That didn't work.  Well, for thirty seconds it did.  Jeremiah sang to her and that helped very little.  I'm frustrated and finally told everyone "somebody make a decision before she's too worked up to go into surgery".  45 minutes later, Sophia is BACK in her crib AND intubated.  

FINALLY, we are headed off to surgery.  There were so many people in that room that I couldn't count them all.  Without fail, the nurses in our unit are on it.  I'm thinking the breakdown was somewhere with the operating team.  Anyway, after that everything went flawlessly.  She went into surgery at 9:53AM and came out at 2PM.  At 3:15 we were able to see her and she looked amazing!

Jeremiah singing to her to calm her down before surgery.  

Moments before the screaming started.

She got so worked up they finally sedated her after they intubated her.

We walked with her as far as we could go.  Right before this picture they were about to take her on back.  In true Gwendolynette fashion I yelled STOP!  I told them that we had to pray for her one last time.  They stopped and allowed me to pray.  In fact they even prayed with us!  The nurse on the right touched my hand while I was praying to comfort me.  That was sweet of her.

Around 1:40PM we received a call from the operating room.  The nurse said that we could come down to the cardio surgical waiting room around 2:30PM to see Sophia for a brief moment before they took her to the PICU.  Here she is fresh out of surgery.  The nurse that touched my hand put the bow on Sophia.

You could barely see her!  She was connected to so many monitors that were monitoring so many things.  The nurses said that there weren't any complications during surgery.

This is a tube at the surgical site.  It is stitched to her to keep it stabilized.  Its function is to drain blood from the surgical site.  I thought it was cool.  The dressing is the location of the surgical incision.  The doctor went through her back, underneath her shoulder blade, and cracked her ribs to get to her heart.

See those white things above the gray cord?  That is some kind of IV chamber.  That was pretty cool, too.  She was on so many drugs I didn't even bother to count.  As she needed something different, the nurse would just snap on another IV like they were Lego blocks or something.

The big picture!  Ironically, she looked a mess but she also looked good.  It was nice to see her breathe without it looking like she was struggling for every breath.  I'll have to get use to that.  When we left, she was resting comfortably and doing well.  

The hardest part of the day was a few minutes before we left.  I could see Sophia's eyes were watery.  Suddenly, a tear fell.  I asked the nurse why her eyes were watery.  The nurse replied "she's crying because she's probably in pain".  I asked why isn't she moving or showing other signs of discomfort.  The nurse said that Sophia is on so many drugs and still heavily sedated that she can barely move...but she can still feel the pain.  The only thing that Sophia could do was cry silently.  THAT was hard to watch.  They gave her something else for pain and that seem to have calm her down.

Anyway, thank you all for your prayers and support.  This entire process would have been more stressful than it has been without y'all.  Hopefully, this is the last surgery.  All I want to do is focus on her recovery so that we can bring her home soon.  Sophia, job well done today!!!

Sophia's Heart Surgery Tomorrow

Our sweet baby is having heart surgery tomorrow.  She's having her PDA removed and her coarctation of the aorta removed.  She's had a rough two weeks and it has worn me out physically and emotionally.  Hopefully, this surgery will help her chronic lung disease, too.  It's our prayer that this will be the surgery to turn her around so that she can come home.  For the medically challenged, myself included, here's what's going on.

Coarctation of the aorta is a narrowing, or constriction, in a portion of the aorta. The condition forces the heart to pump harder to get blood through the aorta and on to the rest of the body.  Coarctation of the aorta may range from mild to severe.  Sophia's has been mild to severe and the results of her echo from last Monday were moderate.  Her doctor recommended surgery as her best shot to help her heart and lungs heal.  The objective of the surgery is to cut the coarctation out and reconnect the aorta.   

 The pink vertical thing inside the yellow circle is the PDA valve.  It is a connection between the blood vessels of the heart and lungs that does not close as it should after birth.  The opening allows oxygen-rich blood from the aorta to mix with oxygen-poor blood from the pulmonary artery. This can strain the heart and increase blood pressure in the lung arteries.  The plan is to remove the PDA valve so that Sophia's blood will flow where it needs to flow.

The overall objective of heart surgery tomorrow is to repair Lynette's heart.  Subsequently, this will help her chronic lung disease to heal.  This will also allow her to breathe on her own for good.  Since her heart and lungs were already compromised at birth, they are not working well together and never has.  Her best chances of surviving is to have this surgery so that her heart and lungs can start to heal.  I was told that the surgery will last four to five hours but the actual cutting and repairing will only take one hour if everything goes well.  This will be her fourth surgery in four months.  I sure hope it's the last.

Goodnight baby girl.  You'll do great tomorrow!  BTW, that pink pillow came from the girls dentist.  I took them in for their cleaning appointments a month ago and the dentist gave me an extra pillow to take to Sophia.  All of the pillows are a different color but I knew the pink one would be perfect for Sophia.

I Shouldn't Do Laundry Anymore

There was a time when my favorite two chores were vacuuming and doing laundry.  Now, I am sick to death of doing both.  In my last post I failed to mention that it takes me three days to do the laundry.  I have to start the laundry on Friday and finish it on Sunday.  Or, start on Friday and finish it on Monday.  That's in addition to the Wednesday loads!  On Monday, I was trying to finish up the laundry.  I was on the other side of the apartment when I heard this loud noise.  I thought it was the laundry basket falling of the dryer like it does at the house sometimes.  Then I thought "I'm not in the house go check it out."  I turned the corner to enter the hallway and this is what I saw...

 A HUGE bottle of detergent all over the floor.  Remember when the same thing happened this time last year and it resulted in a new kitchen?  Anyway, I've only been using this bottle for about three weeks so it was still pretty full.  Then I look up to see how it POSSIBLY could have jump off the shelf and I saw this...

 Detergent all over the wall AND the washer AND specs on the dryer.  My guess is that it fell off of the shelf, onto the washer, and then onto the floor.  I called the office to see if maintenance could come with a shop vac and suck the detergent.  He came and while scratching his head said "it would take me all day to clean this up... you need to call professional carpet cleaners."  Like any desperate housewife, I called my man to bail me out of trouble.  Jeremiah said to call the pro's and I did.  $55 later, Jeremiah wasn't pleased with what they did.  He went to Albertson's to rent a Rug Doctor to clean it up himself.  $30 later, he did the best he could all evening and called it a night.

 These girls screamed from the time Jeremiah started cleaning to the time he stopped cleaning.

 He had to stop many times because the darn thing kept bubbling up.  Savannah escaped when Jeremiah went to get more water for the Rug Doctor.  She bolted back to their room when he said he was about to turn it on again.

You may not be able to tell but the tub was filled with suds.  This was right after he got started.

 Still crying.

Finally finished.

I still can't figure out how that bottle jumped off of the shelf.  As I push the red button on the spout to dispense the detergent, the bottle would cave in and I would lose pressure as the detergent came out of the spout.  So I unscrewed the regular top, let the bottle pop back into its regular shape, placed the cap back on, and put the bottle back on the shelf.  A few minutes later, it's on the floor.  I promise, the bottle was completely on the shelf before I walked away.  Oh well, stay tuned for next weeks drama.

Liz Graduates

On May 29th Liz graduated the 6th grade!  She was so excited and had so much fun.  Every year the school has it's own version of American Idol.  I think she won the other year and she won again this year.  Because she won, she had the privilege to sing Star Spangled Banner after the welcome.  She also performed a solo later in the program.  I wanted to upload the performances but the files are huge.  After trying 5 or 6 times I surrendered to technology and gave up trying.  

It's been a great year for her.  She made straight A's every six weeks and she received 9 awards on awards day.  She was also selected to be a reporter for the junior high newsletter next year.  We are SO proud of her!  I would like to say that she worked hard all year.  Fortunately, she's like her daddy and doesn't have to break a sweat to make an A.  I had to work my behind off to get an A when I was her age.  Anyway, we made sure that she signed up for all AP classes next year.  I'm not worried.  She can do it.  Here's to a new chapter.  Now, it's off to junior high! 

 Singing the Star Spangled Banner.  It's out of focus because I took this picture on accident while I was trying to record her performance.  

Taking her last deep breath before her solo.

I don't know what this face is about but it cracks me up.

My sister watched Savannah for a while.  I guess Savannah was bored and was starting to climb the walls...or escape.

The choir performed a song that I remembered from The Office.

Finally, receiving the coveted 6th grade diploma.

I wanted to get a picture of the balloons dropping at the end but there was a malfunction and the execution didn't turn out exactly the way it was suppose to.  The plastic bag holding the balloons got hung or something and the kids had to swat at it to make the balloons fall.

We ended the night by deciding on Little Caesars for dinner.  Jeremiah gave her some instructions on what to order and how to pay with the credit card and off she went.  Usually, Liz is so shy about interacting with strangers but she did great.

Apartment Living

We've been in the apartment for a month now.  Jeremiah has made it very clear that this is not home.  This is the apartment.  He has trained the girls and I to say apartment.  We had to do some serious adjusting after we moved in.  The unit itself is pretty nice but it is definitely NOT my house.  

My biggest challenge is not having my garage.  The parking lot here is going to be the death of us.  Literally.  We live at the front of our complex and people SPEED by our unit all of the time.  Our parking spot is across the street and I've had to teach the girls to hold hands and mine when we are leaving.  When we come home, I have to make three trips into the apartment if the girls are asleep.  Trip #1, to bring Savannah in.  Trip #2, sprint back to the van to get Scarlett before she is suffocated by the heat.  Unfortunately, I have to turn the van off when I take Savannah in because the apartment key and the van key is on the same key ring.  That means I have to lock Scarlett in the van to ensure nobody takes off with her.  Trip # 3, to bring all of our belongings into the apartment.  But there's more...keep reading!

Here's the "pantry".  The shelves are 7.75" deep.  There is no way that I can put my family size containers or bulk items in here.  So, I designated the "pantry" to my seasonings and smaller items.

This is my real pantry.  There are two sets of built-in bookshelves in our unit and I designated this one as my pantry.  It is actually working out pretty well.  These shelves are 11.75" deep.  The kitchen cabinets are too small for my cookware, pots, and pans.  So, I have to keep them here too and not in the kitchen.

The knobs to the stove are on the front.  Unfortunately, the knobs have to stay in the drawer.  The girls discovered real fast how to turn the stove and oven on.  It is such a hassle to remember to put them on and take them off.

I chose to leave my front load washer and dryer at the house.  If something happened to them while moving, it would not have ended well for anyone within ear shot.  Our insurance company was kind enough to rent these machines for me.  I absolutely hate them.  I have gone from washing 4 loads a week to 6.  And, I have to cycle the dryer twice on every load.  Furthermore, what's with the water heater being above the dryer?!  I have come close several times to hitting my head on that ledge.  Last week I finally hit my head on it rotating the clothes.

The girls are loving the garden tub.  Especially, Scarlett.

Here's another beef.  WHO thought it was a good idea to put carpet in the eating area?  Now, I have to vacuum instead of sweep my tile.  Also, the girls can't pull out their own chairs either.  I have to do it.  If I take too long to get to them, they attempt it themselves, get stuck, and get mad!  BTW, Jeremiah broke one of the spindles on the chairs trying to slide it across the carpet.  Honestly, I think he was really frustrated with the apartment situation that day and used more force than necessary.

Bless her little heart.  Savannah was mad about being stuck between the chair and the table.  Look how sweaty she is.  She was working so hard to get out.  She was crying hard, too.  She was MAD!

The shower head is a complete joke.  The pressure is completely useless and I never felt clean for days.  I told Jeremiah to bring the shower head from the house.  Here he is taking the ridiculous shower head down.  He's being completely sarcastic but we were so glad to get rid of that thing.

Installed and ready for a test drive.  He was imagining taking a great shower like he use to do in our house.

My little munchkin fell asleep while eating.  These kids get so exhausted.  I'll be glad when we can get back to some type of normalcy.

Just because.

Stuck AGAIN!