I got a call from my mom Thursday afternoon telling me they were going to put my dad in the hospital for some much needed relief from pain and nauseu. After talking with her a little I decided to load the kids up in the car on Friday morning and head to Memphis. After a 10 hour drive and very well behaved kids we got to Memphis. I met some very awesome friends at our old church and they took the kids so I could go straight to the hospital. I have to say it is very hard to see my dad like he is but I am thankful for the medicine he is on that is giving him some relief from the pain.
We are praying that when the doctors come in on Monday they will find the source of the pain and it will be something that can be taken care of. We are not sure if it is the cancer in his back or if he has injured his back. We just have to wait and see what the doctors find.
Each one of the kids got to go in the room with my dad for a few minutes today to visit with him. Emma got to spend about an hour with him. The others only got about 5 minutes because I felt that was about all they could take (and my dad too!)
Hopefully they will get a chance to see him tomorrow and Monday before we head back to Ohio on Tuesday.
Tonight I'm praying for my mom and dad to get some good rest and that my dad will not have much pain. And I'm thanking Jesus for my precious friends Justin, Julie, Jojo and Mr. John that love my kids and have helped me with them the past 2 days. Ya'll are awesome and I love you!
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
What a beautiful day!
Today turned out to be a wonderful day. The sun was shining and the temps were in the low 50's. While Maddie was napping this afternoon, Miles and I went outside to get in the sunshine. It was so nice to be outside and just made us look forward to spring even more! I love being outside and can't wait to put my new flower beds in the back and watch the kids run and play!
Here are a few pics from playing outside today...Swinging, Sliding, Playing on the hayfort, chasing bubbles, baseball, and basketball all in about 30 minutes!
Here are a few other pics from our day...
Here are a few pics from playing outside today...Swinging, Sliding, Playing on the hayfort, chasing bubbles, baseball, and basketball all in about 30 minutes!
Here are a few other pics from our day...
Thursday, March 3, 2011
It's been awhile...
Well, about 10 months that is. Life with 4 kids is hectic and at the end of the day I'm exhausted! haha! I think about blogging all the time and it's been so long I just didn't know where to start. Since it's been so long I'm going to just pick up with where we are today and try not to think about all the great things that have passed that I could have blogged about.
Our most recent excitement is that Maddie has teeteed in the potty. I usually put her on the potty before her bath and last night she actually went in the potty. She just kept looking at me, then looking in the potty. She was so puzzled! It was like she was thinking..."How'd that happen!" Of course, when I saw what she had done, I screamed and clapped and scared her!
Ok, so after her nap I go in to Maddie's room and I find her NAKED! No pants or diaper!!! She looks up at me and says, Hi, Momma! Oh my goodness! I was so glad she had not gone to the bathroom in her bed. I picked her up and she said, Potty. So we went to the potty but nothing happened. Then, this morning when I went in to her room, I found her naked again. She had taken her pj's and diaper off. Oh, THIS GIRL! So at nap time I put her diaper on backwards with the velcro in the back. I stood outsider her room, peeking in the door. As I watched her take her pants off, I tried not to laugh. Then the grunting began. She could not figure out how to get her diaper off. I had to leave because I was laughing so hard. I figure I won this one but I'll probably have to pull out the duct tape or use a pull-up for nap and bed time. I SURE DO LOVE MY MADDIE!
Tonight I went to the dentist for the first time since we've lived here. I know, I know...3 yrs is too long! But YAY no cavities. And I need to give a shout out to Tammy Ervin!!! Yay for doing a great job cleaning my teeth!
Ok, I'm off to finish watching American Idol and I'm going to try to do better blogging more often.
Night night...
Our most recent excitement is that Maddie has teeteed in the potty. I usually put her on the potty before her bath and last night she actually went in the potty. She just kept looking at me, then looking in the potty. She was so puzzled! It was like she was thinking..."How'd that happen!" Of course, when I saw what she had done, I screamed and clapped and scared her!
Ok, so after her nap I go in to Maddie's room and I find her NAKED! No pants or diaper!!! She looks up at me and says, Hi, Momma! Oh my goodness! I was so glad she had not gone to the bathroom in her bed. I picked her up and she said, Potty. So we went to the potty but nothing happened. Then, this morning when I went in to her room, I found her naked again. She had taken her pj's and diaper off. Oh, THIS GIRL! So at nap time I put her diaper on backwards with the velcro in the back. I stood outsider her room, peeking in the door. As I watched her take her pants off, I tried not to laugh. Then the grunting began. She could not figure out how to get her diaper off. I had to leave because I was laughing so hard. I figure I won this one but I'll probably have to pull out the duct tape or use a pull-up for nap and bed time. I SURE DO LOVE MY MADDIE!
Tonight I went to the dentist for the first time since we've lived here. I know, I know...3 yrs is too long! But YAY no cavities. And I need to give a shout out to Tammy Ervin!!! Yay for doing a great job cleaning my teeth!
Ok, I'm off to finish watching American Idol and I'm going to try to do better blogging more often.
Night night...
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
Updates from facebook...
Well, life is back to normal...BUSY! On Friday, Apr 9 I said I would update "tomorrow" and tomorrow has become a few weeks later. It is so hard to try to find time to blog. Maddie is doing great although she wants to be held all the time and I don't mind!! With that said, I am learning to do a lot of things with one hand but not blogging! It just takes to long to type with one hand!
The purpose of this post is to transfer all the updates that Brent sent out on facebook to my blog so I have a record of them. So if you read those updates you may not want to read any further! :)
Friday, Apr 9...
Well, I stayed with Maddie last night and we had a pretty good night. She slept for a good amount of the night just waking up every now and then. She was getting frustrated because she really wanted to be on her side to sleep, but she wasn't quite far enough over and every time she relaxed to fall asleep, her arm would fall back to her side and she would jump when her arm fell. Then she would cry out, I would get up and put her paci back in and then she would do it again. Finally, one of the nurses help me put a roll behind her back that gave her just enough support on her side to let her sleep.
Last night, one of the nurses turned off Maddie's oxygen and she has been doing great without it. Her oxygen has remained in the mid to high 90s (and even 100%) some. This is great progress.
Also, last night, Maddie took some formula. She took close to 3 ozs. Everyone has heard the saying, 'drive it like you stole it.' I have a new one for the way Maddie took her formula last night -- "Drink it like you stole it." She took that first 2 oz. bottle like she was running the last lap of the Daytona 500. (shout out to all my NASCAR buddies out there. Of course I should have probably said Talladega instead for my AL family and friends!!).
The drainage out of her test tube has been much slower and is showing positive signs.
She still has her cough, but it has not gotten worse. It may be a little better but not much.
Overall, she continues to improve. As Maddie and I woke up this morning, I could see that she was so much closer to the way she was before her surgery. She was giving me some great big smiles. She completely melted my heart with those big smiles. If she could talk right now, she could have asked for anything in the world and I would have said a great big resounding YES.
This whole ordeal has really made me think a lot lately. It certainly has put a lot of things in perspective and has really helped in my walk with Christ. I don't know what I would do if I did not have Him to lean on and trust. On one of the first days after Maddie's surgery, I was begging for God to let me take her pain for her so that she would not have to face it. I was pleading with Him. As I sat back, I thought about Christ dying on the Cross for our sins and taking our punishment and God allowing His Son to die on the Cross for our sins. It really made me think about how Christ is begging with us and pleading with us to repent of our sins and put our faith in Him and accept the free Gift that He has given us. While I was unable to take Maddie's pain for her, Christ was able to take our punishment / pain because of who He is and because He was sinless. This is something that each of us must receive individually. It has nothing to do with us being good people, trying to keep some commandments, helping others, etc. It only has to do with us repenting of our sins and putting our faith in Christ and what He did on the Cross for us.
We appreciate all of the prayers and support on Maddie's behalf, but our prayer is that out of all of this that Christ be glorified and everything that we have been through points to Christ. If there is someone reading these updates and following these that has not repented of their sins and put their faith in Christ, our prayer is that this group, these messages, the prayers of others on the group will make you think about where you would spend eternity and would make you think about what you would say if you were to stand before God and He were to ask you "Why should I let you in to My Heaven." Would you answer something related to how good of a person you have been, the things you have done, the people you helped out, etc., etc. and base it on your own works? Or would you be able to point to Jesus' life and what He did for you and how He died on the Cross for your sin and has already taken your punishment and that you have repented of your sin and put your faith in Him?
If you would not be able to point to Christ and what He did, the Bible says that you will face your punishment and that you will be cast in Hell. If there is someone out there that would like to talk further about this, please message me or Kim and let us know. We would love to walk through scripture with you and show specific passages in the Bible that speak about Christ and what He has done for us and how we can have that personal relationship with Him.
Thank you again for all of your prayers and all of the encouraging words that we have received. We are truly blessed and honored to be surrounded and supported by so many that care for us and have lifted prayers on behalf of Maddie and ourselves.
In Christ,
Brent
Sat. Apr 10...
We have had a great day! Maddie continues to improve!
We just hung out in our room today and Maddie just wanted to play while she was awake.
She is eating great. Please pray she keeps eating. If she keeps eating the way she is, and the fluid continues to drain we can go home. We have heard we may be able to go home Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. I am ready to go home but I want to stay until they are sure she is good to go! I don't want to come back!!
Thanks so much for your continued prayers and support! We are so thankful for you!
Have a blessed night!
Sun. Apr. 11...
Just wanted to give an update to everyone since there hasn't been too many updates lately. It's a good thing that we haven't been able to give too many updates lately. That means things are getting somewhat back to normal (busy) and that Maddie is feeling a lot better and doing a lot better so we have much less "sit around" time at the hospital. Maddie is still in the hospital and Kim has been staying with her. Maddie has all tubes out except for one IV that they are keeping in just in case they need it sometime before we leave the hospital plus they are still administering one of her meds through itl. All other medicine has been oral. She has started having some poopy diapers after surgery. Even though the surgery didn't really do anything to her system in that area, the medicines do have an affect and the doctors like to see the poopy diapers before leaving.
The other big praise is the fluid on her lungs appears to have gotten better. The left side drained when they put the chest tube in. Apparently, the right side has drained as well!!!! One of the ICU doctors that we had earlier in the week came by the floor to check on us today and he said that he heard through the grapevine that Maddie's right side fluid was gone. That means that we are much closer to leaving the hospital.
Maddie is really getting back to her normal personality from prior to surgery. We are getting lots of smiles and a few laughs and she is moving all around just like normal. Her color is really good, her oxygen saturation remains high. Additionally, her heart rate and rhythm have also been very good.
Please just continue to pray for Maddie's body to continue healing. Also, pray for her to be in a state where the doctors feel comfortable letting us bring her home. We are ready to be home with our little girl.
Thanks again for your continued prayers for Maddie and her recovery.
Monday, Apr.12...
Just a quick update to let everyone know that Maddie came home from the hospital today!!!! Glad to have everyone back home. Thanks for your prayers and continued prayer for her recovery. We will update more at a later time. Going outside to play with the kids!!!!!!!!!
God is good!!
Wednesday, Apr. 21...
I know that we haven't updated in a while, but it is because things are back to normal around here....BUSY! Maddie is doing really well. Her incisions and pokes and such are all healing up quite nicely. We'll have to get a current pic on her for everyone just to give you an idea of how well it is healing up. She is as active as she was before surgery. All of her bruising and such is now gone as well. We are so thankful for God's healing hand on her life. Our prayer is for continued recovery and for one day for God to heal her spiritually through repentance and faith in Christ. Thanks again for all of your prayers and the encouraging words.
The purpose of this post is to transfer all the updates that Brent sent out on facebook to my blog so I have a record of them. So if you read those updates you may not want to read any further! :)
Friday, Apr 9...
Well, I stayed with Maddie last night and we had a pretty good night. She slept for a good amount of the night just waking up every now and then. She was getting frustrated because she really wanted to be on her side to sleep, but she wasn't quite far enough over and every time she relaxed to fall asleep, her arm would fall back to her side and she would jump when her arm fell. Then she would cry out, I would get up and put her paci back in and then she would do it again. Finally, one of the nurses help me put a roll behind her back that gave her just enough support on her side to let her sleep.
Last night, one of the nurses turned off Maddie's oxygen and she has been doing great without it. Her oxygen has remained in the mid to high 90s (and even 100%) some. This is great progress.
Also, last night, Maddie took some formula. She took close to 3 ozs. Everyone has heard the saying, 'drive it like you stole it.' I have a new one for the way Maddie took her formula last night -- "Drink it like you stole it." She took that first 2 oz. bottle like she was running the last lap of the Daytona 500. (shout out to all my NASCAR buddies out there. Of course I should have probably said Talladega instead for my AL family and friends!!).
The drainage out of her test tube has been much slower and is showing positive signs.
She still has her cough, but it has not gotten worse. It may be a little better but not much.
Overall, she continues to improve. As Maddie and I woke up this morning, I could see that she was so much closer to the way she was before her surgery. She was giving me some great big smiles. She completely melted my heart with those big smiles. If she could talk right now, she could have asked for anything in the world and I would have said a great big resounding YES.
This whole ordeal has really made me think a lot lately. It certainly has put a lot of things in perspective and has really helped in my walk with Christ. I don't know what I would do if I did not have Him to lean on and trust. On one of the first days after Maddie's surgery, I was begging for God to let me take her pain for her so that she would not have to face it. I was pleading with Him. As I sat back, I thought about Christ dying on the Cross for our sins and taking our punishment and God allowing His Son to die on the Cross for our sins. It really made me think about how Christ is begging with us and pleading with us to repent of our sins and put our faith in Him and accept the free Gift that He has given us. While I was unable to take Maddie's pain for her, Christ was able to take our punishment / pain because of who He is and because He was sinless. This is something that each of us must receive individually. It has nothing to do with us being good people, trying to keep some commandments, helping others, etc. It only has to do with us repenting of our sins and putting our faith in Christ and what He did on the Cross for us.
We appreciate all of the prayers and support on Maddie's behalf, but our prayer is that out of all of this that Christ be glorified and everything that we have been through points to Christ. If there is someone reading these updates and following these that has not repented of their sins and put their faith in Christ, our prayer is that this group, these messages, the prayers of others on the group will make you think about where you would spend eternity and would make you think about what you would say if you were to stand before God and He were to ask you "Why should I let you in to My Heaven." Would you answer something related to how good of a person you have been, the things you have done, the people you helped out, etc., etc. and base it on your own works? Or would you be able to point to Jesus' life and what He did for you and how He died on the Cross for your sin and has already taken your punishment and that you have repented of your sin and put your faith in Him?
If you would not be able to point to Christ and what He did, the Bible says that you will face your punishment and that you will be cast in Hell. If there is someone out there that would like to talk further about this, please message me or Kim and let us know. We would love to walk through scripture with you and show specific passages in the Bible that speak about Christ and what He has done for us and how we can have that personal relationship with Him.
Thank you again for all of your prayers and all of the encouraging words that we have received. We are truly blessed and honored to be surrounded and supported by so many that care for us and have lifted prayers on behalf of Maddie and ourselves.
In Christ,
Brent
Sat. Apr 10...
We have had a great day! Maddie continues to improve!
We just hung out in our room today and Maddie just wanted to play while she was awake.
She is eating great. Please pray she keeps eating. If she keeps eating the way she is, and the fluid continues to drain we can go home. We have heard we may be able to go home Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. I am ready to go home but I want to stay until they are sure she is good to go! I don't want to come back!!
Thanks so much for your continued prayers and support! We are so thankful for you!
Have a blessed night!
Sun. Apr. 11...
Just wanted to give an update to everyone since there hasn't been too many updates lately. It's a good thing that we haven't been able to give too many updates lately. That means things are getting somewhat back to normal (busy) and that Maddie is feeling a lot better and doing a lot better so we have much less "sit around" time at the hospital. Maddie is still in the hospital and Kim has been staying with her. Maddie has all tubes out except for one IV that they are keeping in just in case they need it sometime before we leave the hospital plus they are still administering one of her meds through itl. All other medicine has been oral. She has started having some poopy diapers after surgery. Even though the surgery didn't really do anything to her system in that area, the medicines do have an affect and the doctors like to see the poopy diapers before leaving.
The other big praise is the fluid on her lungs appears to have gotten better. The left side drained when they put the chest tube in. Apparently, the right side has drained as well!!!! One of the ICU doctors that we had earlier in the week came by the floor to check on us today and he said that he heard through the grapevine that Maddie's right side fluid was gone. That means that we are much closer to leaving the hospital.
Maddie is really getting back to her normal personality from prior to surgery. We are getting lots of smiles and a few laughs and she is moving all around just like normal. Her color is really good, her oxygen saturation remains high. Additionally, her heart rate and rhythm have also been very good.
Please just continue to pray for Maddie's body to continue healing. Also, pray for her to be in a state where the doctors feel comfortable letting us bring her home. We are ready to be home with our little girl.
Thanks again for your continued prayers for Maddie and her recovery.
Monday, Apr.12...
Just a quick update to let everyone know that Maddie came home from the hospital today!!!! Glad to have everyone back home. Thanks for your prayers and continued prayer for her recovery. We will update more at a later time. Going outside to play with the kids!!!!!!!!!
God is good!!
Wednesday, Apr. 21...
I know that we haven't updated in a while, but it is because things are back to normal around here....BUSY! Maddie is doing really well. Her incisions and pokes and such are all healing up quite nicely. We'll have to get a current pic on her for everyone just to give you an idea of how well it is healing up. She is as active as she was before surgery. All of her bruising and such is now gone as well. We are so thankful for God's healing hand on her life. Our prayer is for continued recovery and for one day for God to heal her spiritually through repentance and faith in Christ. Thanks again for all of your prayers and the encouraging words.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Day 5
All I can say is Well Glory! We have had a great day and I know it is because of all the prayers.
I am so tired to I'm going to just say that Maddie only has 1 iv, her oxygen monitor and her heart rate monitor. YAY!!!! They removed her chest tube and took some x-rays and all looked good. We still have some fluid on the right side but hopefully the meds they are giving her will take care of that.
I'll write more details tomorrow, maybe, when I'm not so tired!
I am so tired to I'm going to just say that Maddie only has 1 iv, her oxygen monitor and her heart rate monitor. YAY!!!! They removed her chest tube and took some x-rays and all looked good. We still have some fluid on the right side but hopefully the meds they are giving her will take care of that.
I'll write more details tomorrow, maybe, when I'm not so tired!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Slowly moving in the right direction...
Well, alot has happened since yesterday afternoon. Maddie got her chest tube out and her iv line that was going directly into her right atrium. She had a really good afternoon and evening. They took her off of her iv pain meds and she seemed to be able to handle that. They also took her off one of her meds that was helping her to relax and she started to become more alert. Before when she looked at me, it was like she was looking right through me. She was finally starting to respond to our voices and look around. Once she was rested from everything they had been doing, I got to hold her. It was so wonderful, for me and her!!
While I was holding her, some of our Living Hope family, Pam and Aaron Hines, came by to visit. It is nice to have visitors because it helps pass the time. They brought Maddie this cute little pink hedgehog named smitten. It is holding a little heart, which is very appropriate. They also brought some crossword puzzles for me and Brent.
Brent went home this afternoon and picked up the kids and his mom and dad and came back up to the hospital so the girls could see Maddie. It is still very hard for the girls to see Maddie with the lines that she still has. Even though she only has 2 ivs, there are about 3 or 4 lines coming off 1 iv. It is very overwhelming to look at.
Maddie had a pretty good night. She slept most of it. I on the other hand was up every time the monitor beeped, which was quite a bit. She had an x-ray at 5 and then she ate at 6.
After looking at her x-ray the doctor felt like more fluid was accumulating around her left lung so they decided to put a chest tube in to drain it. Because of this, the plan was for us to stay in the icu for most of the day. They sedated Maddie and put her tube in and she did great. I could not believe all of the fluid that drained out, so I took a picture.
We had a few visitors today that helped the day pass. My mom and dad and Brent's mom and dad came by. And our sweet friend Allie Burghardt came for a visit and she also brought a bag of goodies! So sweet! Thanks, Allie! Our pastor, Jeremy Westbrook also came by for a visit and prayed for Maddie! We are so thankful for Jeremy and his family!
After lunch, the ICU doctor came in and said he thought it would be fine to move Maddie to the step down floor! YAY!!!! Our sweet nurse, Jill, came in and took Maddie's catheter out and got us ready for our move. We loaded up all our stuff and headed to C5. This is the cardiac floor that you move to after ICU. Our next move will hopefully be home! Maddie's cardiologist came by and was very pleased with her progress so far, but she felt like Maddie has about 5 more days here.
Prayer requests...
1. We need Maddie to eat!
2. That the fluid will be gone when they do the chest x-ray in the morning and that it will not return!
3. That she can come off the oxygen.
4. Maddie's cough...that she doesn't have a viral infection
5. No pain
6. My dad...he's not feeling well
Thanks so much for being so faithful to pray for us!
Maybe I'll post pictures later. For some reason, my computer is not recognizing my iphone...
While I was holding her, some of our Living Hope family, Pam and Aaron Hines, came by to visit. It is nice to have visitors because it helps pass the time. They brought Maddie this cute little pink hedgehog named smitten. It is holding a little heart, which is very appropriate. They also brought some crossword puzzles for me and Brent.
Brent went home this afternoon and picked up the kids and his mom and dad and came back up to the hospital so the girls could see Maddie. It is still very hard for the girls to see Maddie with the lines that she still has. Even though she only has 2 ivs, there are about 3 or 4 lines coming off 1 iv. It is very overwhelming to look at.
Maddie had a pretty good night. She slept most of it. I on the other hand was up every time the monitor beeped, which was quite a bit. She had an x-ray at 5 and then she ate at 6.
After looking at her x-ray the doctor felt like more fluid was accumulating around her left lung so they decided to put a chest tube in to drain it. Because of this, the plan was for us to stay in the icu for most of the day. They sedated Maddie and put her tube in and she did great. I could not believe all of the fluid that drained out, so I took a picture.
We had a few visitors today that helped the day pass. My mom and dad and Brent's mom and dad came by. And our sweet friend Allie Burghardt came for a visit and she also brought a bag of goodies! So sweet! Thanks, Allie! Our pastor, Jeremy Westbrook also came by for a visit and prayed for Maddie! We are so thankful for Jeremy and his family!
After lunch, the ICU doctor came in and said he thought it would be fine to move Maddie to the step down floor! YAY!!!! Our sweet nurse, Jill, came in and took Maddie's catheter out and got us ready for our move. We loaded up all our stuff and headed to C5. This is the cardiac floor that you move to after ICU. Our next move will hopefully be home! Maddie's cardiologist came by and was very pleased with her progress so far, but she felt like Maddie has about 5 more days here.
Prayer requests...
1. We need Maddie to eat!
2. That the fluid will be gone when they do the chest x-ray in the morning and that it will not return!
3. That she can come off the oxygen.
4. Maddie's cough...that she doesn't have a viral infection
5. No pain
6. My dad...he's not feeling well
Thanks so much for being so faithful to pray for us!
Maybe I'll post pictures later. For some reason, my computer is not recognizing my iphone...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)