Operation Fumigation

Watch out germs, here I come!!  Everything in this house is getting washed, Lysoled, Clorox wiped, sanitized or Febreezed. I am now taking donations of 409 spray, Lysol, laundry and dish soap, Clorox Wipes and paper towels.   :)

Jenna is feeling okay today. She has kept everything down that she has eaten and played well. She is pretty clingy though.  Cale has escaped to Annie's to play with one of his BFFs.  And I kicked Eric out to Frank Ancona to push some dents!  Somebody has to bring some money into this house.  So now its me and sleeping Jenna and the germs. I better get to them!!

The Good, the Bad and the UGLY

The good, actually the GREAT wonderful and fantastic...no more surgery!!   We met with Dr. Singhal after our CT this afternoon. He is encouraged by her inflammatory markers (from her blood work), her reduction in swelling, her lack of fever, her happy disposition, the healthy incision from the drain procedure, and the CT which showed no further signs of infection!!! :)  He is not certain where the infection came from to begin with, just a common strain of strep that landed in her forehead instead of her throat. Of course, I asked, is Jenna going to get strep head instead of strep throat all her life?  The answer, well, bacteria decides to settle where it wants. Whatever that means. I choose to believe it will want to settle in her throat in the future, if it chooses to settle at all.   Bottom line, the meds and the drain combined are working great. The risks of taking the empty pocket out (which would mean opening up her incision from ear to ear from before) are far greater than our current treatment plan and there are no clinical signs to indicate it even remotely necessary.

The Bad....this common strain of strep, Miss Jenna could've picked it up anywhere. Dr. Singhal's theory, one of them, is that my giant tonsils carry the strep bacteria. So, off to the doctor for me to get my tonsils swabbed to see if I am a carrier. He said if I am, he would recommend getting my tonsils out.  The other bad, if this does come back in her forehead, we will be looking at other ways of removing it, like the big bad surgery we have avoided this go around. 

The UGLY...Jenna started in again tonight with her vomiting. She is getting quite good at it actually. This time she got 2 couch cushons, the laundry basket (thankfully empty and not full of clean clothes), the carpet and herself. Very impressive, huh?   She only had 2 total episodes this evening before she was done (I so hope she is done!!!). 

The Sweet...Yes, this is my own category I just now added. I have to say how sweet and concerned Cale has been through all of this.  Just one example, while we were trying to get things cleaned up after the couch/carpet/laundry basket/self episode, Cale came running into the bathroom a phone saying, "MOM what's Jenna's doctor's number and I'll call him!!!"  He was so concerned and wanted to help.  He had a pretty good plan too!  Too bad all they would say is sorry 'bout your bad luck!  And I have to say Eric has been a huge help this week too. While I was stuck in bed yesterday afternoon, he cleaned and disinfected the kitchen and did the laundry.  He and Cale have also finished their Clean Sweep of Cale's room. The Neurotic Hoarder in me is afraid the newest Clean Sweep host will be on a roll and hit our whole house!  

I am ready for this all to be over, that I can assure you of. I recently told my friend Shonda that God doesn't give us more than we can handle.  I say to both of them, I am about at my limit!!!!! :)  I do see that today's appointment is an answer to prayer, so many people have been praying for my baby. So many regulars at church, praying for Jenna is an everyday thing for them. I thank them for their faithful prayers. God has big plans for this girl, he must, for she is strong and determined and so good natured.  Her daddy and I just have to get her raised!

Oh What a Night!

You know the song, sing it with me...

"Oh, what a night.
Late December back in '63.
What a very special time for me,
'Cause I remember what a night!"

That was the night for Eric and I last night. What a night!  We spent the night at the Ritz downtown!  Oh, the luxurious bed, the plush towels, the delicious candy on our pillows, the stinky bowl and towels we carried as Jenna was so so sick....oh, shoot, we weren't at the Ritz, we were in the emergency room in Children's Mercy downtown!!!  They are so similar, I'm sure you can see how I got confused!

Yes, the ER. Miss Jenna started throwing up at 10:20 and threw up 8 more times before 2.  Around midnight we called the nurse line at CMH. We were concerned that it was somehow related to that stupid abscess that is causing so much turmoil right now. The nurse thought it best we be seen, so off we went to the ER. After a short 2 hour wait, we saw the doc, Eric got thrown up on again (for the 3rd time, Daddy was a champ last night!), and Jenna got blood drawn to check her infection markers.  We left shortly after 6 with a viral stomach bug diagnosis.  (And I want to take this time to thank Jenna for sharing with Mommy and Mimi, she is so kind and sweet).  We got back home around 7 this am after being up all night, took a tiny nap and headed back up to CMH for her infectious disease appt at 10:30. 
I heard from Dr. Singhal's office this morning.  We have a CT scheduled for noon tomorrow and an appt with him at 2.  And that will be our moment of truth.  Her ID appt went well this morning. We are to continue on her meds until we make a plan with Dr. Singhal. 
Okay, time for me to lay back down and continue on my clear fluids diet. It is so exciting!  ( please note the sarcasm here!!!)  More tomorrow after our appointment.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!!  Yes, I know, a day late, but who has time to blog when they have candy to make eat, cookies to bake eat, presents to wrap and CRAZY KIDS to holler at enjoy!?!?!  Because of our recent stay at the Ritz, aka Children's Mercy, we didn't venture up to good ol' Kirksville this weekend.  We had Christmas with Eric's parents promptly from returning home from the Ritz last Saturday and his aunt and uncle came down last Sunday.  We had festivities at Mom and Dad's on Friday, then headed to the big city of Paola for Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Crossland's.  We had a great time everywhere, but boy am I tired!!

The kids got MORE than their fair share of toys and not too many clothes:)  We are Eric is in the process of "cleaning" Cale's room, which really looks more like an episode of Clean Sweep, complete with a SALE pile (Cale doesn't "sell" things, he "sales" things) and a TRASH pile.  Neurotic hoarder that I am, I have been digging out of the TRASH pile, and Clean Sweep host that Eric is, he keeps putting things back and kicking me out.  I am thinking if we were friends with an anesthesiologist, Eric would have me knocked out for this episode!   I am afraid Jenna's room is next. 

Speaking of Jenna, it is back up to CMH we go tomorrow. We have a 10:15 appointment with infectious disease.  They will evaluate her head size (the swelling is minimal at this point) and they will be all sorts of concerned over her antibiotic.  They will ask... how is she taking it??   Is she fighting us?  What have we tried putting it in to mask the taste and get it down her?!?!?!?!?!?!?  And I will say that Super Sister has been taking it like a CHAMP!!  (They think it tastes terrible, to the point they almost gave us a different medication just because kids don't take it well.)   But Jenna is doing great at taking it!! 
Our next appointment is at......wait, we don't HAVE a next appointment. Our surgeon, Dr. Singhal, is back from Boston, FINALLY, but he has no open appointments this week. He also has surgeries all day Monday and Tuesday. So, his nurse's plan for him, which hopefully agrees with, is for us to wait around for him and hopefully he can see us during a surgery break.  This situation makes it sound  like it is an urgent medial condition, so I don't want to alarm anyone.  I don't know that her condition is urgent, but our situation is one that needs attention quickly. First, we have been waiting two weeks for this lovely man to get back from vacation.  Second, he is the only one in the land that can decide if she needs a second invasive surgery and the one to perform said surgery. Third, if he wants to do this surgery soon, we want him to do it this week. YES, I said THIS week. This is because of how our extremely high deductible insurance works.  Do it this week, I pay zero, zilch, nothing, notta, NO MONEY for her to get fixed.  If we do it next week, I pay..... a whole heck of a lot more!
So, to recap, if you want to specifically pray, these are my thoughts right now.  Pray for no surgery needed!  We do not want to put her through another surgery.  I do not want to hand my fully awake baby over to a stranger nurse and then have to walk away.  I do not want to explain another surgery to Cale.  However, I am fully prepared to hear him say he needs to take out the pocket that was holding the infection (think empty orange peel in her head, wanting to be filled with another infection).  So, if surgery is imperative, I pray he can get us in this week, for stupid insurance purposes.

I will post again Monday evening to give you the latest on our Clean Sweep episode, but more importantly to let you know how things went for Jenna.

Oh, almost forgot....here are some pictures from Friday!!

Such a sweet smiler!

Yep, that's a pooping polar bear and a nerf gun with a target. Thank you Uncle Eli!

My boys (one happy, one...well, it's better than the face he usually makes for picutres!)

Jenna playing with her new mixing bowl

Beautiful Jenna, she would NOT smile for a picture!

Mimi and Jenna



Papa and Jenna

 I was officially kicked off the set of Clean Sweep while those pictures were uploading!  Talk to you Monday!

My Own Mastercard Commercial

If I got to write my own Mastercard commercial, right now it would look like this...

One week in the hospital... agonzing
Pokes and prods for Jenna... painful
Hospital food for 21 meals.... expensive and disgusting
Five days of hearing "We just don't know".... frustrating
Having my baby home healthy and happy, PRICELESS!

I've always wanted to write one of those:) 

You are probably more interested in hearing about how Jenna is doing, so I'll quit with the silly and get down to the nitty gritty. Jenna is doing GREAT!  She is ornery, into everything, and crazy playful, inquisitive and energetic.  Her appetite is up and down, today up at breakfast and lunch and down at dinner.  But she is still drinking a lot and all systems are working well:)  Cale is thrilled to have her home and they are almost back to their normal growling!  Mommy spent lots of time on the phone today with infectious disease, plastic surgery, the regular pediatrician and my own doctor.  If you have been around me lately at all, you noticed my (non)smokers cough and I wanted to make sure I was being as healthy as possible. And yep, you guessed it, the verdict for me is sorry 'bout your bad luck!! keep drinking lots of fluids and taking the Delsym as needed for the cough.  This is a persistent cough they say. Rock on!!! So happy!!  
Anyway, we have 2 appts set up out of 3, so pretty good results I'd say.

That's about all on the Jenna update.  Thanks for reading, thanks for praying for continued health!

Going home!!!

Watch out world, Jenna is springin' outta here!  We talked the doctors shortly after Cale, Mama, Papa and I got up here this morning, They said she has a Group A Strep infection which will be easily treated at home with antibiotics. We are still waiting for the discharge papers and for her flu shot:)  One more stick before she leaves!!!  She is feeling great, playing and laughing. She found her coat while I was packing up her stuff and REALLY wanted to put it on!  She's so smart, she knows what to do! 

The infectious disease docs are recommending that she stay home for the next 2 weeks.  This is to minimize her risk of infection and optimize her healing. 

Will update more later, I just wanted to get this out there!!!  Thank you Lord!

My First Blog Post!

In the middle of this storm, I am starting a blog. It seems like a weird time to do this, but yet not.  Weird, because we are in the middle of this storm, and I feel a blog should tell a whole story in order.  And yet not completely weird because I need a good way to tell people information.  Well, this will take some creativity on my part then won't it?!


Since we are starting in the middle, I am going to assume you all know we are here at Children's Mercy.  Jenna has an abscess in her forehead (I should stop here and send a giant thanks to Eli for teaching me how to spell forehead after all this time of talking about foreheads!).  This abscess is a pocket of infection in her forehead between the skin, which is swollen, and the bone, which has been restructured in her previous surgery.  The restructured bone is making it difficult to see if there is an infection in the bone.  Her bone isn't smooth like a "normal" bone would be, so the MRI is inconclusive in this area. 
The plan:
Tomorrow, 12-17 at 9am they will do a procedure to drain the abscess as best they can.  They are not sure how much they will get from the site because it is so small.  They will test the bacteria they collect to see what kind it is and what antibiotic to use to best treat it. It will probably be the antibiotic we have already been on for a week, and we will be able to continue it orally once we get home. 
Sometime soon, we hope, we will be able to get back home.  I think Saturday, Eric thinks Monday or Tuesday. Sorry honey, I hope you are wrong! 
Jenna's surgeon, Dr. Singhal, is in Boston on vacation, and his associate Dr. Kaye who has been talking to us all week has not been able to contact him.  We will most likely be back soon, sometime after Christmas, for Dr. Singhal to "clean out" the rest of the abscess. This will require reopening the former incision, which by they way has healed perfectly if you didn't know.  It will be a less major surgery and will not require an ICU stay, any transfusions, have quite as much swelling and a shorter recovery.  It will still tear my heart out to hand her over to the nurse, that I can guarantee you.
Well, there is it, information for tomorrow, a lengthy update on Jenna, and my first blog post. I guess the hardest steps in blogging are the name (how hard was that?!?!?!?!) and the first post, you know, the start of the story from the middle.
Thank you for sharing in our storm. Thank you for reading this. Thank you for praying for a miracle.