Emma's Hospital Adventure(s)

On Tuesday, March 2nd, Emma and I drove to Children's Hospital in Waltham for her surgery. She was scheduled at 10:30, with an arrival time of 9:15. She arrived like this-



Prior to surgery-



The plan was to remove her tonsils and adenoids and open her ears enough to see her ear drum, then determine if she needed tubes. Our surgeon spoke with me before the surgery to see if I would be ok if they put in tubes no matter what. Then, as we further explore the hearing loss issue, we will always know it is not fluid (as it is common for fluid to come and go, which can result in hearing loss). I agreed that the tubes were a good idea. They took me back in the operating room with her while they put her to sleep- and though I know she was in no pain, it was very hard to watch her go under. Her little eyes rolling around and smiling faintly... I had to work hard not to cry!
After about an hour, our surgeon came out to let me know that everything went well. Emma's tonsils and adenoids were very enlarged and showed signs of repeated infections (though Emma has only been diagnosed with Strep once!) The Doctor reported that Emma's ears were the smallest she has ever worked in and they could only fit the smallest titanium tubes in her ears. There was no fluid in the ears or sign of past fluid. So the Doctor asked me to schedule Emma's follow-up visit at the same hospital so we could check the tubes, test her hearing, and have a CAT scan all in the same day.
Emma had a really hard time coming out of the anesthesia. She cried and cried. They finally gave her more morphine to put her back to sleep a little. When she woke up she was much happier, but then the nausea set in. 4 hours in the recovery room stretched to 5 and she still could not hold anything down, so we were admitted. Nothing like an un-expected hospital stay to shake you up a little. Here's what Emma looked like once she was settled in her overnight room-

By 9pm she was holding food down. When her breakfast came at 7am, she was so hungry! But because of all the trauma in the back of her nose-she couldn't smell, which meant she couldn't taste and she was MAD! I'm not talking just a little mad-but full on kick and scream in her bed mad. I couldn't blame her, she hadn't had anything to eat for over 36 hours! Finally, by 9am, the hunger overcame her and she just ate the food anyway! We were discharged that day and here's what she looked like on the car ride home-


Emma was recovering great at home! She was eating and drinking well and I was feeling really positive about her healing. Then, Wednesday at 4:40AM, Emma woke up crying. She said she had a big hair in her throat. It took me a minute to wake up- then I realized she had something dark on her pillow. I turned on the light to find a pool of blood on her pillow and blood on her hands, neck, and face. Luckily, she's been sleeping on a crib mattress next to my bed ever since we got home and the nurses, doctor, and hospital had warned me this could happen. The 'scabs' that form after a tonsillectomy or adenoidectomy will typically slough off between 7-10 days after surgery. In a small percentage of cases, when this happens, bleeding may occur and they take it very seriously. I called the on-call doctor at Children's and took Emma to the nearest Emergency room. They then transported her by Ambulance to Children's Hospital Boston. I was holding it together until they put her in here-


and I got in my car to follow. The on-call Otolaryngologist determined that Emma would need to go back into surgery to re-cauterize the bleeding spot. Gasp! They got her into surgery within an hour and a half. She was only 'under' for about 20 minutes. When the Surgeon came out to talk, he told me we were very lucky. Once they got into her throat, there was a spot further down that was actively spurting blood across her throat. We feel blessed that it was taken care of now, instead of suffering from symptoms of internal bleeding several days later! They had already determined to keep her overnight for observation, so the rest of the day went well.

Our recovery clock was reset, so Emma cannot return to school until Wednesday, March 24th. Overall, she feels great, so now my challenge is keeping her calm so she can heal. And we'll keep praying that when these new scabs slough off, history will not repeat!! Pray for my sanity! We have 9 more days of at home togetherness!

Sunday Afternoon Fun

I always laugh when the kids get ahold of the camera. This is a small snippet from a Sunday afternoon, three weeks ago (but since I just barely uploaded the photos...)
When I asked Bekah about it, she said, "What, I was just doing what Emma told me!" They always make me laugh!

Winter Vacation

I'm a week late on this vacation update- Here's what 4 kids look like after taking "the scenic route" (which took about 2 hours longer than taking the Mass Pike- but we loved it anyway Daddy!!) to Rome NY to eat dinner at Denny's. I know, Denny's would not have been our top pick, but when you're in Rome NY, you eat what you find! Lately, we cannot get Brayden to smile for a picture. He always pulls a weird face, so when we teased him about it- this is what happens... He's got a great smile!
All the kids wanted to do was swim in the hotel's indoor pool-
The entire family Monday night-

The kids and I Tuesday morning (for 3 hours while Adam was working)- The kids love to make bubble beards in the hot tub. I remember those days. I used to annoy my sister to no end with my bubble antics!
Again Tuesday night (with Daddy only- I stayed poolside reading a book!) and Wednesday night at our hotel in Buffalo, NY-

AND THE BIGGEST AND BEST THING TO COME OUT OF THE TRIP-
And
So cute!

Other highlights include-
Chair Beds-

A visit to Fort Stanwix National Monument

Watching Old Looney Toons Cartoons from the front row of the Mezzanine of the Capitol Theatre in downtown Rome-

Dinner at Jim's Steakhouse, which had a huge cow statue out front and this old carosel in the bar (very random)

And finally, what could be better than Niagara Falls in the winter?



If you ask my kids, they'll tell you the hotel's indoor pool is much better!

This is the news...

We had some friends over last Sunday for a Super Bowl Party- thus my lack of blogging. We had a great time- unfortunately, I forgot to take any pictures.

Bekah's indoor soccer season came to an end Monday night. They had a fun time and learned a lot throughout the season! Adam called it a 'building year' as none of the girls had ever played indoor before and they let the other teams win every game! It didn't get them down though and Bekah is looking forward to playing on a travel team this spring (with Dad still as her coach!)

Our long awaited appointment with the pediatric otolaryngologist (have no idea if I spelled that right) came on Thursday. Even the specialist cannot see Emma's ear drum! We will start to unravel the great hearing mystery with the removal of her tonsils and adenoids, either late this week or early next. While they have her under, they will also check if she has fluid in her ears. If yes, they will put in tubes. If no, we will return for a CAT scan once Emma has fully recovered from her surgery. The Dr suggested that Emma will need to stay out of school and all activities for 2 WEEKS. It felt like a death sentence the moment it left her mouth! Has anyone else had their school-age child's tonsils and adenoids removed and if so, what was their recovery like? Adam and I both feel confident in our Dr and the path ahead!

All the kids were very excited for Valentine's this year. Cooper and Emma were both eagerly awaiting their class parties- as was I, since I am the party Mom for both classes and the Valentines party is the final party of the year. Both parties were great!
I made my usual pink heart pancakes with bacon and OJ for breakfast today. Adam and I gave each of the kids a valentine candy-since their valentine cards for school could not include any treats.


Here's the kids all ready for church! (We had to stay after church today for a parent meeting, so the kids were all packing a lunch- Brayden chose cold pizza!)


We have Winter Break this week- so the kids and I are going with Adam on his business trip to upstate NY until Thursday. It will be fun to get away- even for a few days!

COLD

Another crazy week has blown by here in MA- literally. Last Sunday, the high temperature for the day was 54 degrees with 1.5 inches of rain. It melted off a huge amount of snow and left the kids with sad faces. By Thursday night, an arctic front moved in. With a daily high of 19 degrees and sustained winds between 25-35mph, we have been freezing! Friday night Brayden participated in the Scouting Klondike Derby. They have been building their sled and prepping for the event for the past month. (I even donated my ski's to the cause- which was VERY hard to do, since my brother had given them to me for Christmas my Junior year in high school- size 220 Red Pre's. I thought I was awesome on those baby's! Sorry Trav) When we dropped him off at the church, it was 7 degrees with wind chills nearing -10! I could not believe I was sending my boy out into those temperatures! He survived the event without any harm- I'm thankful to his scouting leaders who braved the cold to give him this character building experience.
This week Bekah's Strings class at school recorded a Podcast. Please take a minute to listen to it HERE then please fill out the form and let the class know you heard them. This is a great program and Bekah is always excited to add a pin to the "We Have Been Heard Here" map. (You only get to add pins when someone fills out the form online and says they know you) In the podcast, it is Bekah who says, "Please remember to click the link to tell us where you are" and she is the one cello!

Journaling=Blogging

I realized this week that I am about as good at writing a blog as I am at keeping a
journal... so, I made a choice. Instead of adding one more thing to the increasingly long list of mother guilt, I have committed to write on this blog once each week and count it as a step in the right direction. We'll see how it really works out!
I also know that if I try to go back and recount all the things that have happened in over six months since I last posted, I will become discouraged. So here's a quick look at some of the things Happening Now (or in the recent past)!
We hosted Thanksgiving Dinner at our house this year with our friends the Forsyth's, the Foate's, and Four Missionaries currently serving in our ward. Here's a shot of the adult table! Notice- Brayden made the cut!!

Once we got our Christmas tree up, Chloe took up residence under the tree. She was hilarious! She was quite annoyed when the presents blocked her spot.

Adam and I had the chance to get away to Philadelphia for his companies Holiday Party. We were so thankful to good friend who kept our kids (again) so we could enjoy this weekend on AGI!! This is the view of the city from the front of the Art Museum-

The kids wrote to Santa to ask if he could come a day early to our house so we could get on the road to TX. We celebrated Christmas Eve a day early with the missionaries. We acted out the nativity and everyone got PJ's! Thanks Gram and Papa for the super soft PJ's for the kids!

We got in the car by 11:30am on Christmas Eve day to begin our 30.5 hour drive to Dallas TX for our nephew's wedding. Here's what the first hour of the car ride looked like from Emma's point of view...


Emma loves to take pictures. As the wedding luncheon was wrapping up, she asked if she could borrow the camera to take a picture of her favorite Cousin-in-law. Here's a small sampling of the photos I found...





We had a great time in TX with almost all of Adam's family there! Our kids loved all the cousin time, but were excited to get back to our home and the snow. And I am proud to report that after two 30.5 hour car rides(straight through), we still like each other!
Adam is super busy with work, with soccer, and with Young Mens. I am staying busy with the gym, volunteering, and Relief Society. Brayden has been learning to ski. He is really having fun with it and is happy to report that he made it up the lift and back down the mountain, several times, without screaming! Bekah has been playing indoor soccer ever since the snow came and really likes her team and her coach(Adam)! She has made a goal to practice her cello for 25 minutes everyday and she's doing great! Cooper, too, made a goal to practice his viloin everyday and it's really paying off. His playdate calendar now includes a waiting list! Emma still loves kindergarten. In our town, Kinder is half day. She was in afternoon, but on Jan 19th, all the classes switched. I am loving having her in morning kinder!
In mid December, we realized that Emma's tonsils were very enlarged and that she snored worse than Papa or Grandpa Jarny! I took her to the Dr- they strep tested her and it was negative. I was told to wait 2 weeks to see if it improved. I told the Dr I thought she couldn't hear very well and was dismissed. So after 5 weeks of being dismissed by the Pediatrician, we decided to take things up a notch! We are still waiting to see an Ear, Nose, and Throat Doc, but was able to get her into an Audiologist over a week ago. It was confirmed that Emma has severe hearing loss. Her inner ear is fine, but somewhere in the outer or middle ear, things are getting lost. The Audiologist thinks that Emma's hearing loss may not be linked to the enlarged tonsils as she has made many adaptations on her own. (Did you ever notice how Emma had two volumes? Loud or asleep? Did you ever notice how Emma acts like she's ignoring you? She might look right at you when you talk to her and then not respond? Did you ever notice how Emma likes to get right up in your face and touch you when she's talking? I could go on and on) We are hopeful and prayful as we look forward to her upcoming Dr. appointment!
Here's a cute picture of Emma with our snowman named Fred!