Continued Healing

It's been a few days since the last update. You'll have to forgive me as the holidays have kept the family quite busy.

Let's see...... Cliff's notes of what happened last week:

I hadn't been sleeping much (thus Mom had not been sleeping much either) and Mom decided to call Dr F. in the late evening hours to see what could be done. He hemmed and hawed and sent us to our pediatrician, who found a pretty good ear infection in one ear and also that I had caught my Dad's cold. Got some different ear drops and kind words from the pediatrician.

Dad went back to work on the 19th, leaving Mom and I to fend for ourselves.

I like eating from my cup. Starting about Saturday the 22nd I was eating more than 3 ounces at a time.

Sunday we spent time at Nanna and Poppa's in the afternoon to celebrate Christmas. I got some wonderful toys and clothes, and everyone took turns entertaining me and passing me around. Sunday evening we went to Bubbe and Zayde's to celebrate my Aunt's birthday.

Monday evening, Aunt Robyn and Uncle Jason came over and had dinner and played games. Later on Bubbie and Zayde showed up with Aunt Caroline.

Tuesday we headed over to Nanna and Poppa's to hang out with family. We played my favorite game.....pass the baby!

The past two nights I have actually slept through the night. Mom sure looks quite a bit more rested...... Mom and Dad have been trying to keep the arm restraints off me as much as possible. This requires me to be watched at all times to make sure I don't put my hands, or anything else around me, in my mouth. I'm pretty sneaky and can manage to slip a hand in my mouth once and a while, but I always get caught and have to pull it right back out.

I go for my follow up appointment tomorrow with Dr F. He is going to take a look at my mouth and see how things are healing....

Better get back to work.... Chat later

Maybe I'd rather have a cup

Our feeding woes continue. Izzie takes the bottle however does not do it happily. We continue to struggle with the bottle even though it is the best option to feed her. At least we can get some of the formula down.

Izzie had sort of a rough day again. We all had a long night. Up every 55 minutes or so. Chris and I traded off getting up with Izzie. It's hard to tell what her problem is or if their is no problem and she just wants to get her frustrations out. In any case she let us know she was unhappy. This morning wasn't much better. Around lunch time I needed to get a few quick things done at the office and Chris and I thought maybe a change of scenery would do her a little good. We packed her up and got her in the car. The second she hit her car seat and the car she was out. I only wish it was always that easy. She slept for about forty minutes and woke up while we were eating lunch. In order to keep her entertained we let her hold a glass of water. The glass had ice water in it and she wanted a drink. She took several sips without spilling. It wasn't any worse than what she did with the bottle. She seemed to be pretty happy with a glass.

The rest of the afternoon she was pretty crabby. We still haven't figured out how to make her happy. The bath seems to keep her happy for a little while but the second you take her out she gets angry. I also think she caught Chris' cold which has not helped in her healing.

This evening we tried to get a couple of ounces of formula down with the bottle but she just wouldn't have it. I again got another grand idea; maybe we ought to try a cup of formula. Izzie totally went for it. We definitely had some formula that did not hit the mouth but for the most part it was success AND she liked it. We might continue to use the cup. We will see how things go. In the mean time the mom and dad variety show needs to get started because the princess is requiring entertainment.

Chris and I are counting down the days until the restraints come off her arms. We estimate that we have 19 days left of the arm restraints. That is encouraging.

The road to recovery

Mom posting for Izzie:

We know Izzie is still in pain. The road is still a little rocky but she has periods of happiness which we like to see. Chris and I are home with her the next two or so days and Wednesday it will be Mom and Izzie on our own. We will see how this all pans out.

Saturday night Izzie slept so well. She woke up about every three hours and had pain meds and a little (and I mean very little) to eat and then went back down to sleep. Last night we weren't so lucky. Izzie's internal clock is set to know when to get those pain meds. She was even napping this morning/early afternoon and awoke three minutes before she was scheduled to get her next dose. It truly amazes me that her little body is ready and waiting when she can have pain relief.

The cleft bottle and red catheter tubing are working out pretty well. Each bottle only holds about three ounces which when she was born sounded like a lot of formula but before surgery she was a master eater and was up to eight ounces severeal times a day and baby food. It has been very gradual but Izzie we believe is almost to the three ounce mark. She took a little over three ounces around lunch time. This was a huge victory. We hope she will increase the amount she takes in. We would hate for her to get dehydrated.

She still wants to be held all the time but we are beginning to have periods where she will play on the floor. We aren't able to let her play on the floor by herself. We have to be right there next to her otherwise she has figured a way to face plant on her toys and suck on them. We also picked up our dog Louie from my parents yesterday and he acts like he hasn't seen Izzie in ages. He wants to be right up in her face and kissing her all the time. She doesn't get to play on the floor by herself. She gets pretty angry when we don't let her suck things. Our saving grace has been bath time when she can splash and play. Matter of fact we are headed there now for a mid afternoon pick - me up. That always seems to put her in a good mood.

I'm BAAAAACCCCKKKK!

You will have to excuse me as I will have to dictate my posts for the next several weeks. I seem to have these awful arm restraints on and my parents don't allow them off much.

Mom will update for me today.

Last night (Saturday the 15th) at about 8 pm, Izzie was released from the hospital. It was really up to Chris and I what we wanted to do, stay or go. Izzie was getting such horrible sleep in the hospital (not to mention I was I getting no sleep) we decided that what they were doing for her at the hospital we could do for her at home. We thought she might be more comfortable in her our surroundings.
Izzie had a better day yesterday but the evening and overnight were pretty bad. Nurses and doctors were coming in and out. Everyone wanted to check out Izzie's neat surgery. It was rather irritating as just as I would get her back to sleep someone would come in and ask to check her breathing and heart beat which was their way of asking for a look at her mouth. They really were not monitoring much after the first day. The frequent overnight interruptions made for a long day. Izzie was much better yesterday in regards to pain and mostly stayed with Tylenol. By the time late afternoon came and I was back at the hospital after my short nap we knew that Izzie would be released. We waited and waited and waited some more for Dr. F. to come and give us his word. As the nurses on the floor and in PICU all told us Dr. F. runs on his on schedule. Apparently this is acceptable in the plastics world. We had to learn to accept this.

Izzie went home on a modified syringe feed. We sort of rigged up a syringe and red catheter tubing and she was eating from it. We did a couple of feeds at home this way and this morning I had an idea that if she would eat from the red tubing maybe we could place it on the cleft bottle that she hated some much from the hospital and she would eat from it without her knowing it was the bottle. It has worked which we are very thankful for because the syringe feed was so diffult to do with two people let alone if one or the other of us had to do it alone. You learn to just do the best you can.

Izzie is like a little Mcguyver. We knew she was smart but she has figured out how she can get the arm restraints off. We have given her a couple respites from the restraints but you have to keep such a careful eye on her even while holding her because she can sneak ANYTHING in her mouth. We are doing so much better know. Izzie is still pretty crabby but we definitely see periods where her smile is back. I can't tell you how good that makes us feel. Izzie boo-boo is still in there.
She has been quite chatty the last two days. We imagine this is because she can hear better. We are hoping that she doesn't have any lasting hearing problem which we are hopeful that she doesn't.

We will continue to update progress as we can.

Thank you for all of the kind thoughts.

It is a New Day ***UPDATED 5:40PM****

It's mom still posting for Izzie. She is not well enough yet to post. Plus she has her arm restraints on and will continue to have to wear them for the next six weeks or so they say. It makes typing on the computer hard for her.

Izzie and I had quite a long night. They continued to give her some meds through out the night. She slept from 11:45 pm until 2 am this morning which was sleep she certainly needed. We debated about when the next dose of pain med was going to come because we figured that we shouldn't wake her if she was good and asleep. Like clockwork her internal alarm went off before mine and at 1:59 she awoke screaming. Pain meds again and then it was difficult to settle her. The nurses have been great, one of the tech's keeps telling me that this is normal for the kids to be in so much pain. I am surprised that they don't want them more pain free but I am happy to fight for her and the nurses have been good about getting her what I ask for. She didn't sleep much more. A few twenty minute segments and then finally when she got more pain meds at 7 am she fell asleep around 7:30 am. She has been asleep but her neighbor in ICU is screaming at the top of his lungs and as I type she is getting fussy.

We will continue to try and update as we can. Thank you for all of your kind thoughts.

*****UPDATE*****
Izzie dictating to Dad:

What a day!! Dad showed up sometime around 9 to help Mom. We had a rough night. Neither Mom or I got much sleep. I wasn't comfortable all morning. Bubbie and Zayde visited and left early afternoon.

At about 3PM I finally was able to take some formula from a syringe. My nurse suggested that since I took my meds so well from the syringe, maybe we should try formula in the syringe as well. YES!!!! I WIN. No more of the crapy noodle bottle!! We had excellent luck with the syringe and was even able to get almost 3 ounces down, which is not too shabby if I say so myself. After eating I was much happier and smiled quite a bit. Nanna and Poppa came to visit. Uncle Aaron stopped by as well, and I hear that Bubbie and Zadie are coming back this evening. I am awefully tired, and believe I will take a nap now. Maybe we'll update later.

To all of my fans: I miss and love you all.

Surgery has started ****Updated- FOR THE LAST TIME** 11:45 pm

This is mom posting:

Izzie has had quite a good morning thus far. We were in surgical waiting for about two hours. She was in great spirits before we left her, laughing and charming all the nurses. She has put on the charm for all around. She left lots of friends in surgical waiting.

The anesthesiologist has promised us that they would give her the gas and let her get completely under before they put the IV meds in. That greatly put our minds at ease. When we left her with the Dr.s and we went one way and she went into the surgical area she was laughing. Thank g-d for that. I might have cried if I had known that she was upset.

The first portion of her surgery should be about done already. The ear tubes were only to take about ten minutes once she is completely out. We expect to see Dr. M. anytime. We will get periodic updates from the nurses in the surgery and we will let you all know as we here things.

We expect smooth sailing. Thank you to everyone that has kept us all in their thoughts. We are thinking of all of you too.

You will hear from us as soon as we know.

***UPDATED*** 12:55 pm

We just got an update from surgery. Izzie is doing well. Dr. F. is still separating the muscles and will be in surgery a few more hours. Dr. M. did the ear tubes and they went in easily. Their was quite a bit of fluid in her ears which we already knew. Her ears were quite infected and so Dr. M. put concentrated ear antibiotic in her ears. We hope this solves some of her ear problems.
So far so good with the cleft surgery. She seems to be doing OK. I know it will be rough when she wakes up. We expect another update around two pm from surgery.


***UPDATED*** 2:00 pm
Dad Posting:

Just talked with Dr Franks and he described Izzie's surgery as "Textbook." Everything could not have gone smoother. We are anxiously awaiting getting to see her. They are working on getting her up and around and up to PICU. Should know more in 30-40 minutes. We will get some pics when we get to see her.



***UPDATED*** 2:50 pm
Dad Updating:
Izzie is up in her room, recovering. She is draining from her nose a bit (normal) but is doing well. She was extremely fussy and not happy when she got up to the room, but they gave her some morphine and she is sleeping now. We'll update later on in the day after she really wakes up and we find out exactly how she is truly feeling.



****UPDATED*** 7:50 pm

Mom again:
Izzie is definately in pain. Lots of crying. She seems to settle herself for a little while and then getting all worked up. We're trying to get on a regular schedule of getting meds every 2 hours. She gets Tylenol every 4 hours and 2 hours after the tylenol she can have Lortab (the good stuff!) inbetween.

I'm going to be staying with Izzie tonight and Dad is going to head home in a while and take care of Louie. Izzie says thanks for all the kind thoughts and hopefully she will be able to update the blog herself later in the day tomorrow!

***UPDATE FOR THE LAST TIME TONIGHT*** 11:45 PM

It's mom:
Izzie and I have had sort of a rough night. They have been giving some sort of pain med every hour. Eleven forty five and she FINALLY fell asleep. The night nurse who is so sweet pulled in this crazy chair for me to get a few short hours of sleep in. We were laughing so hard trying to make it work but we had to laugh almost silently. Our plan is for Izzie and I to sleep for two hours and then re-evaluate and see what's up. As I type Izzie is whimpering. I sure hope this plan works. It has been quite the long day and we ALL hope that she can sleep for more than twenty minutes. It's sad that I can see so much of my own stubbornness in Izzie. She takes the pain meds and still screams after they have completely drugged her. Well I hope she can rest some.
Mom over and out for the night.
We'll update tomorrow.

My Big Day tomorrow

Today I turned six months old. Mom says it's hard to believe that I am already six months old. I can do lots of fun things.

Mom made me mashed up bananas for my last solid food meal before they had to stop the solids for surgery. Fresh bananas are my new favorite food. I don't know for a fact but I did hear Dr. F. tell my mom and dad that I won't be able to eat solid foods again for about six weeks. Back to formula only and I will have to eat out of a special bottle with a tube. Mom is really nervous for my surgery. I know she is but she's trying not to show it. Last night my pink blankie and my fuzzy bunny got washed. I knew something was different this morning when I got in my car seat and they smelled different. Mom slept with them last night so I could take them into surgery with me.

I haven't quite figured out where I'm going or what's going on tomorrow. I do know that my parents talk about it a lot and my dad keeps telling me and mom that I am going to be just fine. I keep trying to let them know that my ears hurt really bad. Dr. D. told mom last Friday that I have a pretty bad infection in my ears but she wanted to hold off on the antibiotics because of my surgery. I have tried to be as good as I can but my ears hurt really bad. I have been really cranky and mom and dad can't wait until the tubes are in my ears. They really hope it helps me.

Speaking of the doctor's office last week I did not weigh 17 lbs. like mom thought but weighed 15 lbs 15 oz. I am so close to 16 lbs I can almost touch it. Mom did not tell me that they were going to have to get gallons of blood from me and that I was going to get four shots. I was happy when I went to the doctors office but haven't felt well since.

I promise to be a big girl tomorrow and do everything that the doctors tell me. Mom hopes they give me LOTS of sleepy medicine so I don't feel anything. I know my parents will be waiting for me when I wake up and I am thankful that lots of people are thinking of me. Dad said he promises to update while I am asleep. They will give you all as much information as they have. I wish you all could come visit me but some of you live too far away. If you live close to me and you are not sick I can have visitors. I will be in the Pediatric Intensive Care unit at Mercy hospital. Come visit me if you can!

I'll be back posting as soon as I can dictate a new post!!!

My social secretary is a slacker

It's been forever since I have updated all of you, my fans!

It was a hard month without Bubbe in the office. When the work horse is out of the office everyone else gets over whelmed. We are glad to have Bubbe back to work. Bubbe's surgery went really well and she is healing nicely. It must be all those vitamins she takes.

I am doing really well and getting ready for my surgery. I will have surgery next Thursday the 13th of December 2007. Mom and Dad have promised to take the laptop to the hospital and update every so often while I am in surgery to let all of you all know how I am doing. Mom and Dad are going to try to keep phone calls to a minimum for a little while at least through the first day or so but will be updating my blog to let you know how I am doing. It will be exciting, I will have my first guest bloggers on my site. In addition to having the cleft repair surgery I will also be getting ear tubes because I have had a few more ear infections since my trip to the ER. I am trying to stay healthy for my surgery and mom and dad hope that I don't have any more ear infections before my big day.

I am getting big and strong. Mom's guess is about 17 lbs but we will find out for sure on Friday at my doctors appointment. It must have been all that turkey and gravy over Thanksgiving that helped me gain all my weight. Mom and Dad think I am filling out nicely. Speaking of Thanksgiving, I had the chance to spend time with family. I played with cousins on both sides and got to play with all my aunts and uncles. Unfortunately I did not get to spend time with any great aunts or uncles or my grandpa in Tucson but hopefully I will get to see some of them soon. I know all of them are thinking about me. I did get to meet my GREAT uncle Roger for the first time on Thanksgiving. I got a little scared when he tried to pick me up but that was short lived and soon it was fun to play with him too. I got to play with my Nana Judy and my Grandpa Al too.

I have learned to eat all kinds of different veggies. I still hate peas but sometimes I think mom tries to sneak them in. Sweet potatoes and carrots slide down nice and easy and I enjoy spreading them all over my face. I have included a beautiful picture of myself with carrots. I will be back to formula only once I have surgery. Dr. F. says I will be without solids for about 4 to 6 weeks probably. I'll probably get my girlish figure back during that time.

Last night I celebrated my first night of Hanukkah. We had a great time lighting candles and opening presents. I got all kinds of cool things. Diana in our office made me a beautiful Hanukkah dress. I wore it yesterday and I got lots of good comments about it. Mom also had a Hanukkah "bling" shirt made for me at the hair bow store. I really like to stare at the sparkly on it. This weekend cousin Carter and I are going to have our pictures taken for Bubbe. We were supposed to go last weekend but we had a lot of ice and it wasn't safe to drive. Mom said she wants me to wear my bling shirt for a few pictures and we will see how they turn out. She also has a few really silly hats for me to wear during pictures with little dingle - berries on them.

I am still waiting for my first tooth to come in. I keep thinking anytime it will pop through but it still hasn't come through. My cousin Carter has two big teeth that mom thinks are so cute. She is always begging Carter to show his "cute toofies"!!

I am trying to stay healthy and mom and dad are just sure I have no idea that I am having surgery next week but I know that I am. They have taken me to all kinds of doctors appointments in preparation and I definitely know what those are for. I bet they are even going to spring shots on my at my appointment on Friday. I will be six months old next Wednesday!!!

Until my social secretary updates again, enjoy the pictures! Check out the picture of Bubbe and I in our bling!