Maya at Mary Bridge

 
 

PICTURES OF MAYA SUCTIONING HERSELF AT MARY BRIDGE HOSPITAL

At Children's Hospital, Maya was diagnosed with a terrible case of pnuemonia...her left lung was all cloudy a "white out"...no clear air in it. She seemed to get more comfortable over a few days and spent from Sunday-Thursday at the hospital and was then discharged. Thursday and Friday morning she seemed happy to be home and chilled out much of the time on her bed in her room, while her sisters played nearby. Friday at 5 PM she started having a cough attack that lasted non stop until 9:45, when the nurse on call made me promise her I would call 911...I did. Maya was admitted to Mary Bridge hospital in Tacoma where her x-ray showed no improvement from her initial X-ray at Childrens...her pnuemonia was still just as bad. Another X-ray and CT scan later showed that her left lung had collapsed as a result of mucus plugging up her bronchi and not allowing air into her lung. A procedure on Sunday scoped her airway (she was intubated) and sucked up an exuberant amount of mucus from her bronchi. 4 IVs, many episodes of suctioning, 4-5 differnt types of antibiotics, routine nebulizer treatments, and routine CPT and 1/2 hours time periods wearing a vibrating vest, Maya continues to be at Mary Bridge where her status has gone unchanged, not worse, but not better either. In the past 24 hours Maya has begun to cough up large amounts of goobers (a good sign actually) and we all hope and pray that the X-ray tomorrow morning will show improvement...Drs. today noted air was heard moving in and out of her left lung...a good sign of improvement.

Vacation with neighborhood friends

 
 
 
 

Shortly after recovery, or perhaps during the tail end of my recovery we went to Leavenworth for our annual vacation with our neighborhood friends. Dean was able to golf with the other dads, I hiked with the other moms,the adults played games late into the night after the kidd were in bed, and the kids played endlessly with their friends. However, many challenges effected our trip. One family decided it was best to stay home and get healthy for a wedding they needed to attend in Boston, as their son was ill. Addy got sick on the trip and had a fever for the first few days, and then Maya, Teya and another friend's daughter all caught a bug. Unfortunately, Maya was VERY sick, needed oxygen (we had to travel to Wenatchee to get more), and then ended up admitting her into Children's hospital in Seattle on our way home. While it was great to be with friends, it was a bummer that we all could not participate in this year's vacation like we did last year.

Visit with Giampa, Babu and cousins

 
 
 

The swingset Dad and Giampa built

 
 
 
 

Merry go Round with my in-laws

 
 
 

Brain Surgery

BRAIN SURGERY:
In July I had a terrible, and I mean terrible headache that lasted 14 days, and which caused me to even throw up several times. After visiting the Doc. who ordered an MRI, I was diagnosised with a Meningioma (a benign braing tumor attached to the outside of the frontal right lobe of my brain.) I was quickly scheduled for surgery, had a horrible ICU stay (where there was no central air during a very hot week.) My mother spent one evening draping wet wash clothes on me and then graciously bought be a portable fan for my ICU room. After my 5 day stay in the hospital with grandparents and Matt and Holly caringfor my girls, I returned home. I spent a week sleeping and recovering in my parent's RV and in my bedroom. Much of that week is a fog now. I had a terrible reaction to my anti-seizure medication, which when discontinued, my recovery was quickened dramatically. After two weeks I was about myself, and my in-laws visited for 3 weeks, and helped me entertain my girls while Dean headed back to work.

Brain surgery and recovery

 
 
 

Well friends,
here are some pics I took of myself, certainly not too flattering, but at least gives you a good "picture" of what I look like today and tomorrow...I take off my crown/ turban tomorrow...my neighbor thought it would be fun to have the neighbor kids come over and do a gentle signing of my head dressing, like a cast. Since the kids are so curious about it, that might make me a little less scary to them. But, really little kiddos are doing great, and Addy was especially relieved to give me a Hello Kitty band-aid for my wrist, that is pretty bruised up from 2 different art lines (you can see my battle wound that I am so proud of) I had in it...it looks way worse than where my IVs were, and since it was not covered up, she was glad to have a job to care for Mommy...and all the kids are doing great with me...very curious about my head, but sweet and gentle too. They are having so much fun with the cousins and playing out on our patio...our new grass was just put in, so that is off limits for a few weeks, but our neighbors are so generous with their backyards.

I am so happy to be home, with carperted floors, access to my bathroom at all hours, dvds to watch and books to read, cookies to eat, and actually feeling good enough to read (and I really am not much of a reader, so I did not think that would be a great recovery activity, walk around the house some, hug my kids, sit on the couch for short periods of time and visit my brother and wife... they are TRUE therapy for my soul. We continue to be brought food in abundance, play dates, friends to walk Maya and play with her. Maya's summer school teacher is even spending some afternoons this week with her, what a blessing! Holly has now "mastered" Maya duty and gave Dean a whole night's rest...I am certain he is so grateful!

I slept well last night and am so happy to not have 2 hour periods of time staring at the ICU walls thinking about everything you never get to think about when you are busy with 3 kids all day and super exhausted.

Tomorrow, I get to see what my head "really" looks like and wash my hair, which seems a bit painful to think about...but then I can move on and figure out how to accesorize my new hair do...hat, bandanas, scarves...any suggestions, I am game...not sure I want to shave my head, but you never know!If I do, I will send out a picture of my new look!