SURGERY....

Hello everyone,
I'm glad to say that surgery went WELL. We went in to Kootenai Outpatient Surgery at 6:30 this morning and they pre-op'd Kiersten. They took her out of her PJ's and put her into a little disposable shirt and pants. After asking many questions, and us seeing the doctor, and anesthesia, They invited one parent to carry Kiersten back into the operating room. We had discussed this prior to surgery and it was whatever parent she really wanted today. However... she really didn't care who's arms she was in this morning... and George decided he didn't want to go back there. So I gowned up and carried her back into the OR. After getting back there I set her down on the operating table and she really didn't want to be sat down. She starting crying and reaching for me...and anesthesia put the mask over her face... YES. She put up a good fight. She didn't' want the tight mask on her face. However, after crying and taking deep breaths of the anesthesia she became very tired....and that is when we laid her down completely on the table. By the time we got her head down to the table...she was fast asleep.
The anesthetist was great and said he had three kids, and would treat her like his own... although it isn't the same as your own...he stroked her hair as she fell asleep which made me realize that he probably did care!! Anyhow...fast asleep and then I had to confirm her to the doctor and what surgery he was doing on her and then they whisked me out of the room.
I went and de-gowned and then met George out in the waiting area! After about 5-10 min waiting, the nurse came back and got George and I. We went back into a consult room...we were suppose to talk to the doctor in there prior to going to Kiersten however their was some communication breakdown between the nurses and the doctor. They thought he had already came and talked to us, and he hadn't, so they took us back to Kiersten. While waiting in the conference room...we could here her crying in the post op area. When we got back there...she was screaming uncontrollably. She screamed and was throwing herself around for about 30 min at the hospital... and cried all the way home and then cried for a while at home. So it was probably 1.5 to 2 hours of crying. Then she started to get better. You could tell her ears hurt though. Every time she would cough, or burp...she would start crying a painful cry! After some Tylenol and ibuprofen...she was better. She finally started playing around the house. She ate lunch, and now is taking her first nap for the day. So much for her sleeping most of the day like the doctor said most kids do
The doctor did come in and talk to us after we were with Kiersten, however it was hard to hear him and concentrate on him since she was screaming and flailing all over the place. I do remember him saying... We will talk to you tomorrow, if you have any questions, don't be afraid to call, and that he wanted her on antibiotic ear drops for a while! He did say her ears had lots of fluid but he didn't think it was infected. Anyhow that's about all I remember from the conversation with the doctor. Well I better go.. I'm sure Kiersten will be awake soon.

~Jocelyn Drake~

Monday...

Monday is the big surgery day... i know not such a big surgery! But it is for parents when there child is getting anesthesia! I pray everything goes well and we are much better after wards.

Friday Night Kiersten started getting fevers again and has been very cranky. I called the surgeon's office yesterday and got ahold of the oncall doc. He prescribed antibiotics again for her! So we have been druging her up with tylenol every 4 hours and ibuprofen every 6. And aumentin twice a day! We didn't have any real high fevers through out the night (while sleeping). She was 103.6 at 8pm last night!
So she seems to be a little better today! I don't know we will see. Still pretty needy though. She doesn't like to sit on your lap until she is sick, then that is all she wants...poor baby!

Alright...well pray for us!! hope the surgery goes well. Will update everyone tomorrow afternoon!

Tubes...

So we went to the ear doctor today. The ultimate decision made by me was to get the tubes. The doctor informed me of the risks and benefits...and the decision was up to me. I opted to get them put in at this point. George is out of town...we have talked a little bit about it over the phone but will discuss it more for sure this weekend and an ultimate decision will be made. But as of now We are scheduled to have the surgery May 18th early in the morning!

Will let ya know more after george gets home and the final decision is discussed between us!

LONG WEEK!!

Its only wednesday, and it has already been a very long week. George is out of town for work all week. Kiersten and I took him to the Spokane airport at 4am on Monday, and then came home and her schedule has been off ever since. Although I don't really think it was the 4am wake up call. I think her ears are bothering her again. She was up 2 times the night before last and up 3 times last night. Last night one of the times that she woke up, I couldn't get her to stop crying. She would want down out of my arms, then she would want back up, then she didn't want in my arms and she would through herself down on the ground. I didn't know what to do for her. I felt terrible. I gave her tylenol and motrin, but it didn't seem to change the night... she was up 2 more times after the medication. Although without the medication, maybe she would have been up a million more times. Who knows!
Anyhow it was a very long night, and although I'm back on my diet....breakfast this morning is a triple shot latte!
I don't think i could get through the day without it!

In a few hours we go to the Ear doctor. I can't wait to hear what he has to say!
I can't wait to get tubes in and be done with the whole ear infections.
I'm hoping that he will give her antibiotics again to get us through the weekend... and then maybe next week do the tubes! I'm not sure what the plan will be but i don't want to do tubes this week while George is gone!!

Her Daddy needs to be hear for it!

Anyhow i better go for now! I'll update later this afternoon about the doctors appt!

~Jocelyn~

Follow up appt...

So we took Kiersten into her pediatrician again for a follow up to look at her ears!
Looks like we have a tough girl.
She has been sleeping normally and acting normal, so i figured her ears were better. THEY WEREN'T. The doctor said both ears are full of puss. So she prescribed the third antibiotic in the last few months. We have been on augmentin, omniceph, and now zithromax.
So she prescribed these antibiotics and then she referred us to a ear nose throat doctor, to have possably have tubes put in her ears.
We see that doctor in two weeks...and we will see what they have to say! Dr Prince, our pediatrician, said she has had 5 ear infections in a little over 6 months.

I'm hoping that once we get the tubes...that she will start talking better. Not that she isn't talking...she does talk some but mostly baby talk. But I have a feeling that what she is hearing when we talk to her is muffled due to the fluid that is in her ears most of the time. So hopefully her verbal communication will get better!

okay...i'll fill ya in, in a couple weeks when we see the EENT.

First Camping Trip…

So we went camping for the first time last weekend… Kiersten loved it.  She just loves being outside so much , and now that the weather is good we have the option of being outside!
so here are pics from camping trip.

 She loved her cheeseburgers!

 We also went to the play area… she loved it. She loved playing on the slide…but I couldn’t get any photos because I was busy catching her.

 

Once she walked…now she climbs!!

So… Since Kiersten has learned to walk, then she learned how to run around the house, and now she knows how to climb on everything.
Not that I let her do this… I don’t on a normal basis, but I had to get pictures   So here is our little climber.

Busy Girl…

So sorry I haven’t written lately.  Not even sure when my last post was.  A LONG TIME AGO.  Been busy now that Kiersten is mobile. She is walking all over the place and is loving her new found attitude.  She loves to throw her head into things, or throw herself backwards whenever she doesn’t get her way.   IF ANYONE HAS ANY INFO ON HOW TO STOP THEM FROM THROWING FITS…PLEASE INFORM ME!!
You can tell she is into her toddlers just by looking at her head these days.  At this time she has a black eye from falling at daycare, and she has a big goose egg on her head from throwing her head into our coffee table! (those lovely tantrums).
The terrible two’s are beginning early (especially the last two weeks).
Anyhow here are some photos of my mobile daughter!!

Her new chair that Grandma Kate and Grandpa Den got her.

 

She talks nonsense, into the phone.  

Our Sketch from Chuck E.

Meeting Mr. Cheese...

  I set her down by our table and as soon as she saw Mr. Cheese...she took off.  This photo is cropped so you can see her closer but it is a long ways away... and she walked the whole way.
The uncropped version:

 She decided to sit down near Chuck E. and just admire him haha.