Post Surgery - day 6

It has been 6 days since Mia's surgery and she seems to be doing very well. She has been playing with her christmas gifts, coloring & watching movies with her brother and sister. Mia did have alittle fall on Christmas, she was running around the basement at her aunt & uncles place when she slipped and as luck would have it, landed on her head. Mia was in quite a shock as was I. I quickly picked her up and got her upstairs. We put some ice on it but that didn't work out as well as we hoped so a 15 minute drive later and Mia was taking some of her pain medicine. It really takes alot for Mia to ask for pain medicine so we knew that it was hurting pretty good. The next morning Mia told us that she "didn't sleep so good, my head hurt all nite". She didn't wake us up at all even thou she was in so much pain. We told her that if was ever in any pain, wake us up so that we can help her feel better. We took the pain medicine with us for our trip to my dad's, thankfully, she started feeling better and hasn't needed it since.

Mia also received a beautiful bouquet of flowers from her teacher yesterday. That was so sweet, thank you very much. Mia loves to look at them and smell them, she even has a favorite flower because "its so big and sparkly!". Mia carried them from room to room to find the best place to set them, which ended up being the dinning room table.

She's Home

Mia is finally home from the hospital. It was such a relief and now I finally get to hold her. She seems to be doing great. Mia collected quite the number of gifts and items from her stay. She also had a few gifts to open from some loving people, thank you very much. It is so nice to have so a wonderful family and friends whom all care so much for our princess Mia. We are all truly blessed!

Coming Home

Mia is finally coming home, well actually almost home. She had a rough nite at the hospital not being able to keep anything down. That all changed this morning when she ate2 pancakes and jello around 2am, then around 8:30 she decided she needed some more pancakes with hash browns, bacon & chocolate milk. Talk about a hungry hungry Mia, she hasn't ate anything for about 30 hours. I heard that for the ride home, a strawberry shake with whip cream & a cherry is the drink of choice. I can't wait to hold her in my arms when they get home.

Recovering

Its been a long day for my little princess. Mia is out of surgery and in her room now. The doctors said they were able to get the areas they wanted to. Her forehead was the main concern with the injections. The doctor had to get to the outer layer of her skull to help minimize any swelling or pressure the malformation would cause.Thankfully all of this was done with tinny needles, no scalpel. I was able to talk to her again, it was sooo good to hear her voice.

Mia is doing her best to get some rest. Unfortunately every time she eats or drinks, she starts throwing up. Hopefully that will not last to long. I remember her last surgery and it took a long time for Mia to be able to keep anything down. I'm still not sure if they will be coming home tonite or not. I'm hoping they do because I miss them very much.

1st part done

The fist doctor is all done, he lasered the roof of her mouth. He said that he didn't over do it, as there were some areas that he didn't feel were ready. Maybe in a few months Mia might need to have this done. But for now, the second doctor is doing his part with the injections.

In surgery...

Mia called me a little bit ago to tell me she was going into surgery. She started to cry a little because she is scared. I told her how proud I was of her being such a strong girl and how much I love her. She said "Love you daddy" in her little cry voice. Poor little princess. Now we just have to sit and wait, only 3~4 hours!!

Testing completed

It has been a trying morning. The testing has been completed but not with a little rough spot. First things first, hospital gown. Mia's x-ray test went fine however when it came time for the pulmonary testing, she had to breathe into a tube. Well, she has a sore on the side of her mouth then when she has to open her mouth up big, it split open and hurts. That wasn't the easiest test for her today. Right now they are waiting for the doctors to come get her for surgery. Mia is passing the time by coloring in her Hello Kitty coloring book and riding the giraffe. She packed up somethings this morning to help her. Such a little trooper. I'll post next once they have taken her for surgery.

The start to a long day...

Mia, Brandy & Karen are on their were to the hospital. It is going to be a long day for them.

Mia will be having a laser treatment done to the roof of her mouth and some injections into her forehead. Because of the fluid the doctors will be injecting into her forehead (Bleomycin), Mia needs to have several tests prior to surgery. Here is a schedule of there activities today;

10:00 am - Chest X-ray
10:30 am - Pulmonary Function testing
11:00 am - Blood work
1:00 pm - Surgery

We have been told that it should last between 3-4 hours and the hospital will most likely keep her overnight. I will update this blog as soon as I get work of either results or how she is doing. Unfortunately I am home sick with a high fever, aches and chills. I feel so helpless that I cannot be there for my Mia when she needs me the most. Love you princess!!

Surgery

It is that time again, Mia will be having her 4th surgery.

Her surgery is scheduled for Thursday 12/23 @ 1pm. It will be at Childrens Hospital in Milwaukee.

More details to follow....

Catch-up

As I'm sure you can tell from the time between posts, its been to long. So many things have been things have been filling the time, where to begin...

Summertime flew by so fast. We did find a nice way to spend some quality family time together, going to Lake Geneva. Mia definitely enjoyed her time at the beach, from swimming and jumping off the pier to building sand castles. We are looking forward to going back next year. Mia also learned to swim this year at her Aunt Tammy's pool. Whenever we would go there, she would turn into a fish!! We cannot believe how long she can hold her breath. Mia would jump off the diving board and either swim to the ladder or to the shallow end, which is about 15' away.

Mia is still taking dance lessons at Steps To Grace Dance Academy. She is learning tap & ballet this semester and will be moving up to the next level this spring. I can't get over watching her do the different moves or even just making up some little routine around the house. Dance has become such a wonderful experience for Mia as well as for Brandy & I to watch her become this amazing ballerina.

Probably the biggest thing for Mia this year was starting kindergarten. She love's it! Every week Mia is so excited to tell us about her new job that she gets to do for her class like handing out snack milk or her favorite, feeding Pumpkin, the class guinea pig. She has been doing very well in school and loves her teacher. She just finished up learning how to roller skate. Mia is off now for Christmas break which brings us up to speed....

Happy 5th Birthday!!

I can't believe that Mia has turned 5 today, she is getting so big. I told her this weekend that she was not having another birthday and that she would stay 4 forever. Mia said "No way Daddy, I'm turning 5!" A busy day for her today is in motion... a little party at Nola's, costume pickup at dance class then off to dinner at Beef-A-Roo. We thought that Mia would have wanted to go to Red Robin since it is her absolute favorite, but after dance practice she gets a shake from Beef-A-Roo and asks Brandy "Mommy can't we eat inside?" so tonite we dine inside. Mia has been soooo excited about her birthday this year, it's hard to put into words the level of excitement. This weekend she kept telling us "not tomorrow but the next tomorrow will be my 5 birthday." Then yesterday morning she had to wake everyone up to tell us that tomorrow morning is her birthday. Unfortunately I wasn't home this morning when she woke up but I could tell my the sound in her voice when she called me, she's excited!

Mia has been doing very well over the past couple of months. Now that her tonsils have been removed, she is no longer sawing logs when she sleeps and definitely seems to be sleeping much better. The scar revision on her top gum is no longer bothering her eating or brushing her teeth. So at this point there are no surgeries in the near future and Mia is enjoying life... at 5.

Love you princess!!

Road to recovery

Mia did pretty good last nite. She was getting cold from all the Popsicle's and ice cream so I put a few blankets to keep her warm. Mia fell asleep around 9 last nite and only got up this morning to take her medicine around 5, which didn't go to well. Apparently it doesn't taste the best, but if you mix a little strawberry quik, that helps out alot. After that she sleep till 8 this morning when her little sister woke her up. Mia did have a tough morning with her stomach not feeling well to eat anything so she wasn't able to take more medicine. Alittle cheesy mash potatoes and mac-n-cheese later, Mia's stomach was in much better shape for her much needed medicine.

We're home

After a long nite we are home. Mia took alittle nap on the way home followed by a nice warm bath. Which requires Popsicles and cottage cheese once she got all settled. So far Mia is feeling ok and keeping everything down. Hopefully nonite will be much better than last nite.


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Good morning Sunshine

Well it's morning... and there was not much sleep for us throughout the nite. Oh well sleep is overrated anyway! Well Mia had 2 bladder scans last night and finally went pee at about 2:30 thank goodness it had been almost 12 hours and they were talking catheter ouch. We did have a long night with trying to get her to go and her not being able to keep anything down. She threw up everything she drank poor little baby. So far this morning is going better she was able to keep down some grape juice and a few bites of orange jello. We even went for a walk in the hall and you know Mia, she had to push her own IV pole. She just had some pain medication, got her IV out, put on her own PJ's and is sitting in the recliner watching cartoons. Daddy is in the pharmacy down stairs getting Mia's medications and just brought me a yummy iced coffee thank goodness for coffee and Daddy. Daddy also went to the playroom where Mia was before surgery yesterday because we forgot bunny (the bunny from Dan, Jodi and Taylor before Mia's last surgery. It is the toy Mia choose to bring along), there in the baby bed thank goodness bunny was still there and had a good nights sleep in the baby bed .We should be heading home shortly hopefully our princess does well in the car. We will post again later. Thanks again for all of the love and support you all give to us !!!!

Sleeping beauty

Mia has been sleeping very well for the past few hours. The nurse just came for a check up & gave her some pain meds. The only things she needs to do is keep somthing down after she eats and then go potty. Sleep tight princess.


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In Mias Hospital room

Well it's been a long day but we finally made it to the room . What a room it is very nice they have added a new wing here at Children's hospital and this room is like a hotel room compared to the PICU rooms we are used to . It has its own bathroom BONUS for all, very open spacious and room for guests it even has a very nice window view. The room has 2 flat screen TV's, rocking chair and a couch that turns into a bed . I would have to say the best amenity is the PS3!!! I knew I should have brought Rock Band with us.

Mia has been doing very well. Before we took her down pre-opt, they give Mia some Versaid (to relax and be calm before surgery) but she only ended up taking about 1/3 of the dose because it tastes bitter. Which actually turned out to be good because she wasn't the monster that she is when she has come out of surgery as she has been before. She was in a little pain right after she got into recovery so they gave her a little bit of morphine. After we got into the room, Mia wanted to try to go potty but she ended up throwing up. I'm surprised she was able to keep it down that long, since she hasn't ate anything after 8:30 last nite. Right now she is resting comfortably. We will try to update this again later, until then here is a photo of Mia getting some much needed rest.

All is well

We just talked to the dr and he said everything went fine. Mia will be going into recovery soon so I will be able to see her.


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Sugery. Finally

Mia was just taken back for surgery. Goodbye to her tonsils, adnoids and no more gums over her teeth. We should see her in about 1 /2 hours.



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We are in surgical waiting....

Finally talking to the dr so they can take Mia into surgery. Hopefully a few more minutes.



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Waiting.... Already

We are at the hospital waiting for the doctor to take her back. Poor little Mia hasn't eat'n anything since 8:30 last nite. Hopefully soon they will be ready for her. Stay tuned!


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Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Mia is doing very well and has been quite busy the past few months. Between making cookies with Noah & Addison and sleding with Addison, she is a pretty active little girl. Mia has also been enjoying her dance lessons at Steps to Grace Dance Academy. She took ballet, tap and tumbling last session and will be starting her next session soon.

We were hoping to get her 3rd surgery done before 2009 ended but that didn't work out. She is scheduled to have her next surgery Monday, January 11th. The dr will be removing her tonsils & adnoids as well as repairing gums from the first surgery. When they cut between her teeth and lip, the dr was hoping that the flap would absorb into the Mia's gums. Since then it has been bothering Mia and she would have to hold it up sometimes when she brushes her teeth. Mia is pretty excited about this surgery so far, she will get to be on the ice cream, popsicle & jello diet. We will be heading up the night before to be at the hospital early.