It's been that long??

Yes, yes it has. It's been 2 stinking long and short at the same time years since we sat in the waiting room while they remade my daughter's forehead, so so thankful for family and friends who distracted us.

Two years since we kissed the great canyons that were her temples and felt the bony ridge running up from her nose.

Two years since she was a swollen mess. 

Two years since she was broken, then healed. 

Two years since I was a total wreck until I felt the total relief of unexplainable peace sweep over me and knock me off my feet and into His arms.  Two years since the helmet. Two years...seems like a lifetime ago though! 

BUT check her out now!!! 

Perfectly perfect mostly round head!

No bony ridge!!  The little dips in her temples are growing deeper though. We are not sure if this is normal or of concern. We go for a follow up soon.

Another view of this adorable forehead....and her perfect teeth!!  Can you hear the contagious and wonderful laugh??

Nothin wrong with this kid....except a little sas! Is there surgery for that??? 

I am confident she is the most beautiful girl in the world!! 

Thank you Jeus for blessing us with her and for putting her in a place she could get help! 

For by YOUR stripes, she was healed!! 

Oh Strep, You Haunt Me!!!

In the old days or PJ (Pre-Jenna), I would delight in a Strep Diagnosis. I would go to the doctor and say, "my throat hurts and I have a fever, please test me for strep." I would walk away with a sore hiney from the penicillin magic shot that would make my strep throat disappear!  I would take Cale in and say the same thing. A strep diagnosis meant there was medicine to help you!  It meant I didn't have to hear the dreaded "It's just a virus, push fluids" which really means, "sorry sweetie, suck it up, it'll get better in 7-21 days!!!"   Those are DREADED words in my book. However, in AJ times (you know, after Jenna), things have changed.  Ever since our first and hopefully last case of strep head, I am terrified of strep. THEY (infectious disease docs) tell me it was a one in a million thing and that for Jenna to get strep head again, it would be another one in a million chance. Well, I say Jenna likes to beat the odds and can be that one in a million, again.  And need I remind you that I had my tonsils out to eliminate part of the threat of strep.  And I have ordered a bubble to keep her in and am waiting on its arrival...

So, Mr. Cale has been running a fever since Wednesday morning sometime. Nothing seemed to help break the fever, he just kept on being a little hottie, even if we alternated Tylenol and Advil.  So, I called the doctor today and my favorite Nurse Kelly called me back. She suggested that we take him in, strep is going around and he had 3 of the 4 main symptoms...

1. Fever - CHECK
2. Stomach Ache - CHECK
3. Headache - CHECK
4. Sore Throat - no check

So good Daddy takes him in, and the doc takes one good look at him and says, "Oh ya, I think it's strep. Let's do a strep test."  And lo and behold if it doesn't come back positive as strep, which used to woulda been my favorite diagnosis, if a diagnosis had to be made. 

But now....

I am moving Jenna to China til Cale is not longer contagious, which is sometime tomorrow morning.  Because LORD HELP ME if that girl gets strep head again!!!!! 

Acceptance Speech

Recently I described the prize that I have WON!  WOO HOO for me, it was a tonsillectomy!  Well, with any great prize, there should be an acceptance speech.  So, here is it.

I just first want to thank my family for their support in the last couple of week.  My husband has been working weekends and late nights thanks to the recent hail storm, and on top of that, he is having to do more at home.  My mother was so lucky to get to take care of me the 1st couple days after surgery when I was my whiniest and most demanding.  BUT WAIT, there's more!  She also had the pleasure of taking care of Jenna, who had the stomach flu.  She did lots of running for me also, to Sonic for ice and slushes and to Price Chopper for sherbet, pudding and jello.  Then my mother in law got to take a turn and has been my care taker during the week.  She has had the opportunity to get the kids ready for school and daycare, take the kids, along with the neighbor girl to school, cook and clean all our meals, do some after school pick up and has managed to get my house clean too. We even found some counter tops that Eric and I thought were permanently covered in paper!  So, a giant thank you to them for taking all this good care of me and the kids.  And thank you to Dad and Larry for giving them to us so willingly during my time of no lifting and driving. 
My sweet grandparents have come to visit and brought beautiful flowers.  Kudos to my wonderful boss Suzy and my co-workers at the bank.  They all completely understood the importance of this surgery for Jenna's sake and have been uber supportive of this time off of work.  AND they also sent beautiful flowers.  The Lafferty's made me a GIANT tub of homemade vanilla ice cream, YUM!  My fiend Karen was our life saver a couple Saturdays ago by coming to get Cale and entertain him ALL day while Mommy and Jenna were feeling yucky.  My lovely neighbors took charge over me at our neighborhood party by taking great care of my kids while I just chilled out.  Countless friends have checked on me and prayed for us during this time too. 
Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you for your help and support. I am nearly back to normal and have my 2 week check up appointment tomorrow afternoon.  I even will get to drive again!!  I will tell you, it hasn't been fun, but I wouldn't say it is the worst experience ever either.  It definitely gets you down though.  It is a weird thing, but there are waves of light-headedness that just came over me and frequently!  Hmmm, maybe that's one of  the reasons they say don't drive! 
What are my next big plans you wonder  (or maybe not!)  ??  After my appointment on Friday, I plan on picking Jenna up and carrying her around for the rest of the day!  And soon very soon, I hope to eat a wonderful meal at a Mexican restaurant, complete with crunchy chips and spicy salsa!

The Things We do for our Kids

Well, it happened.  One of our scenarios and predictions from our hospital stay in December panned out, and Mommy got the brunt of this one.  You can refresh your memory here, specifically in the "BAD" section.  Turns out I do, I guess DID, carry strep and so I won the prize! Yay for me!!  Insert happy dance here! 

A tonsillectomy was the prize and I received it on Thursday. Dr. Hannah Vargas at Midwest ENT did the honors. I do have to give a shout out to the supporting roles in this win.  My mom, Eric and his mom have gotten to do most of the glorious duty of taking care of me, the house and making sure I am not overdoing it.  I am not supposed to lift or drive for two weeks.  As a result of not being able to lift my tiny 23 pound daughter, she has perfected asking her grandmothers to pick her up by saying a sweet little "up" with her arms lifted high as they go.  And of course, how can they say no?  (By the way Ann, our apologies now, but the little terror is getting held A LOT!) . 

They say, yes there is the infamous they. Who are these "They" people anyway?  THEY say that this is worse for adults than children, way worse.  It could quite possibly be the worst thing ever.  Well, here's what I have to say about that.

1.  Childbirth is worse. The kind where your epidural never really takes and they let it wear off, what little was working, and the kid is twisted and you push for 3 hours, that kind is worse.  The kind where they wisk you to the OR in the middle of the night and you don't have to work for it, well, that kind of childbirth is easier than this.  (No offense c-section mama's, I've had both).

2.  What is up with this pain medication?  Seriously, it has the most rancid flavor every created.  That's a great idea.  Let give something that is hard to swallow to someone who has a horrible time swallowing!  But wait, let's make it so disgusting that they want to vomit and cough, when they have strictly been told NO COUGHING and vomiting would be extremely painful!

3.  Still on the medicine....let's make it constipate a person who is not supposed to exert any energy for any reason!   What a great idea!!!

4.  Ice cream, Sonic slushes, Popsicles and sherbet....a 5 year old's dream diet, NOT mine!

5.  Someone should have told me that it would feel like there is a Kleenex stuck to the back of my throat. 

6. Yes, mashed potatoes get stuck back there when I swallow them.  Yes, I am making them the consistency of water.

7.  Sonic slushes are SWEET!!  Like super sugary syrupy sweet.  Like make me want to gag now kind of sweet.  My tip for future winners of this delightful surgery....get a plain slush.  It is much nicer and more tolerable.  Also, get Sonic ice.  It is great and rivals hospital ice. You can buy it by the bag or 35 cents for 2 large cups of it. 

8.  My hands are FREEZING from holding the bowls and cups of ice cream, sherbet, ice, jello and pudding.  One should have a cozy pair of gloves handy. 

9.  It hurts to talk.  This coming from the queen of gab, I do not like to talk right now. It hurts even more to talk loudly to my children who are crazy insane right now. 

10.  This hurts LESS than the week we spent in the hospital not knowing what was wrong with Jenna.  The constipation, the freezing hands, the boring bland butter soft diet, the disgusting make me want to hurl medicine, the helpless feeling of not being able to care for my babies, the constant pain and ache in my throat, neck and/or ears, none of it is as bad as not knowing what is going on in your baby's head, or watching her hurt and go through procedures and tests and pokes and prods and worrying about her day and night.  That was worse, way worse, than this.   So I guess, if this event prevents another event like the one we had in December, well, I guess that I am the winner.

In other news, today is my darling husband's 39th birthday!!  Let the over the hill jokes begin ladies and gentleman, because Eric is nearly old!!!  We had glorious plans of a romantic candlelit dinner of ice cream and mashed potatoes, but due to last night's hail storm, the poor guy is not even home yet. 

Feel free to comment, as I like to read right now and have nothing else to do.  And a small disclaimer, I am highly drugged and so if things don't make perfect sense, use your best judgement and figure it out.  And Shonda, pick your shocked self up off the ground, yes, its me and I made another post, FINALLY!

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.

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.