Well…. just by looking at the page you can see there have been some changes. It’s been a while since we’ve done anything with the site, and it’s because it was a bit cumbersome to do everything. So we changed things to make it easier to update. The site is not done so the pictures, videos, links and so forth are not there but the updates are so I figured I’d update everyone.
So a lot has happened since the last post on June 6th!!! Sheesh.
We went on vacation in July. It was a split trip with lots of things to do- Lancaster… Hershey… Philidelphia. All in PA. Lots of things to do from horse & buggy rides, amusement parks and children museums… plus lots of yummy food and such.
At the end of August we were preparing for school… Drew got potty-trained at the last minute thank God!!! And we made arrangements for Mary Elizabeth’s nurses at her new school etc. Of course, to add to the hecticness- on August 25th Mommy started getting some pains in her stomach (while in the city with ME for a dental appointment)- ended up in the ER up by us later that day… with what they thought was appendicitis. And it kinda was that but what happened was I had Meckel’s diverticulum…this only happens in 2% of the population and I had no symptoms or issues up to this point. It was a bulge in the small intestine that was created by a malformation of left over tissue left over from birth. That became infected thus giving me the symptoms of appendicitis. The appendix however also became inflamed because of the infection. They removed both this diverticulum and the appendix. Thankfully they did this as a laproscopic procedure which gave me an easier and shorter recooperation. I had lots of friends and family who helped me out as well 🙂
September came and both kids started school. Mary Elizabeth was a little bummed because the district messed up and hadn’t gotten a nurse for the bus yet (and still hasn’t to this day) so she wasn’t and hasn’t been able to ride the bus yet. There isn’t a day that goes by where she doesn’t ask me about that…. but she will ride that bus soon!!! ME loves her new school and is doing fabulous. Made lots of new friends and is just enjoying every minute. We like her school as well and are blessed that she is able to go there. (Leptondale Christian Academy). Drew started preschool where ME used to go (Trinity Preschool) and is doing well. He already knew some kids in his class when he started so that was good. He is also familiar with the people there because it is at our church. 
On September 20th she had a chin surgery to help debulk the chin (remove the puffyness of it – not the length because that is due to her jaw being dislocated and she’ll have jaw surgery in the future when it is the appropriate time in her growth). This surgery, though successful has been complicated. The drain came out that she had in the side of her chin… a bit prematurely, she swelled up, antibitoics and steroids helped to remove the swelling but it came back, they drained it and did a steroid injection. She bumped her chin several times making it bleed/pour out (which sometimes helped with the swelling) etc. It has been a couple months of stuff like this… but I’ll get back to that in a minute. Oh and before I forgot… somewhere during the whole recuperation period and before the next event I speak of… ME decided to chop her own bangs which threw mommy for a loop. It was really short and choppy so we tried to cover it up by cutting more and giving her a “side bang” look. You’ll notice that in pictures! I think she won’t be doing that again though as even she didn’t like how it came out!
On October 16th, Uncle David (Jessica’s brother) got married to his girlfriend Kelly! It was a quick engagement/wedding so everything was really hectic but it turned out beautifully. They will probably do a family party after the holidays as there are many family members they would have had there if they had time. So more partying to come! ME was the flower girl of course and was a beautiful – great one at that.
We enjoyed the rest of the Harvest season with apple picking, pumpkin picking, hay rides, pumpkin carving and dressing up in costume! Mary Elizabeth was Little Red Riding Hood and Drew was Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story! They looked adorable of course! 
On November 1st was when she got her steroid injection for her chin in the OR as mentioned above. She also had some lasering done and a scope of her airway where we were told her airway is great and she could come in about 2 weeks to the office to discuss getting capped!!! This would mean a cap would be placed over her trach to not allow air in or out and prepare her for decannulation (removal of the tracheostomy). This was exciting news!!!
Then on November 16th we headed down to Waner’s office and after a long wait and a hefty parking ticket plus hecticness surrounding all of it- we got out of there finding out that they would take ME in the hospital and cap her for one day, and remove her trach the next day. We were so excited……..
We celebrated Drew’s 3rd birthday… yep he turned 3 on November 22nd, and yes, ok mommy turned 33 on the 21st too and we celebrated that. Drew had a couple family parties and had his kiddy party at Jumpin Jakes. We had a great Thanksgiving with family and friends and we also went to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular in NYC. Lots of fun!!!
On November 29th, we came back to NYC to start the decannulation process. She was capped and while they did that we asked about her chin which was swelling up again. They went to drain it with a needle (which yes ME tolerated just fine) and found that it was all filled with puss. They said it was probably infected and decided to bring her into the OR to clean it all out. So we waited in the room and we couldnt feed her, so she played a lot and stuff. Finally at 3pm she went in and was under for a total of 20 minutes- it was a huge abscess they said and they were surprised it didn’t cause any pain. Figured it didn’t cause a fever just yet cuz she was on antibiotics (with steroids for swelling). So they were really glad they got in there and took care of it. But they had to pack her chin with gauze and would remove some after a day or two and do that again in a day or two so that it would heal and close from the inside out. That night was a little rough having her sleep capped, lots of snoring- she wasnt used to sleeping that way plus the body still wants the air to go out that hole that is in her neck. The next day they said her oxygen levels were good so they removed the trach. YAY!!!!!!!!!!! 5 1/2 years and the day finally came. She has gauze on her neck to protect the hole. She is doing great and did much better that night. Which brings us to today… Wednesday December 1st… and we found out that though she should’ve gone home- the infection was one that she needs IV antibiotics for in order to get it tackled. So the idea is to have her here one more night to get the meds she needs and then she can switch to a different oral antibiotic at home. Yes it’s hectic but at the same time- everything is getting taken care of so we are blessed for that reason.
She continues to do fabulous without the trach and we are excited for a trachless future!
I’ll be sure to update this more so I don’t end up having to write a novel next time… the site is a work in progress so bear with us 🙂
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