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Sorry everyone. Been a while since the surgery (10 days to be exact) and I meant to post an update sooner but life happened. To our surprise she did extremely well with recovery so we haven’t really been house-ridden or have had any downtime!

Soooo…. Surgery went well. They did a lot of injections to the right side of her face (cheek area etc) and to her chin. With the MRI they see a remarkable difference and wanted to try to get the right side to be more symmetrical (the right was always worse and where the malformation started). They injected the areas that they could. This time avoided the floor of her mouth – which I think helped in recooperation since eating and speech weren’t AS affected. (In the past her tongue would swell and she couldn’t eat or speak which made her miserable- this was not the case this time).

From the DAY OF SURGERY (Monday Feb 9th) she was in good spirits. First of all she was a very good girl about going in. Did whine a little and tell us she didn’t want to do it, but asked a lot of questions and we explained and she did not have any tantrums about  it. She was very brave. Then as she came out of surgery (4 hrs later)- she was very sleepy and slept most of the day. In the evening she was her witty little charming self- talking to us a bit and laughing. It was so good to see her smile THAT SOON after surgery.
She did have a bit of discomfort because this was the first time they used a foley catheter to collect her urine. And when it came out she was very upset. Also had a bit of discomfort the next time she went to the bathroom. After that though she was doing pretty good.

The worst of her swelling was on Tuesday and it was pretty swollen the first few days after that. Her right side was pretty far out and her bottom lip looked as if someone punched her pretty bad. That gave her some difficulty with liquids but not enough to bring her down of course. She was running about the house and making lots of messes just as she normally does. But the swelling started to come down quickly. As I speak, she is still swollen but it’s definitely not the worst we’ve seen and she seems very comfortable so I’m glad for that.

We are very thankful that she has been in good spirits and that the swelling hasn’t been too uncomfortable for her. We are praying and hoping for good results from this and are being patient as we know it takes time.

As always keep her in your prayers and we will be sure to keep you informed 😉

Her Surgery date has changed!!!!

Tuesday, February 10th was the original date for the sclerotherapy/injection surgery. It is now changed to Monday, February 9th.

The reason why they changed it is because they want an updated MRI and the only time they could get her in for the MRI in the hospital was on Monday. Instead of making us go to the city twice and put her under anesthesia 2 days in a row… they reorganized things to make it happen all in one day. Sooooo….. change your calendars and say your prayers.

In addition, pray that God will put a little bubble right around Mary Elizabeth. Mommy is sick with a head cold (and daddy a little too now). So far she seems fine. They said surgery will be good to go as long as she doesn’t get a fever or an abundance of green mucous/secretions. So we hope she can stay healthy until then… and of course we pray for a successful surgery with no complications and perhaps an easier time with recooperation than she’s had in the past.

We will of course, post an update as soon as we have more information.

Mary Elizabeth– After her strep and infection in her cysts/chin area… she was itching from the swelling in her chin. She gave herself some scratches, which she picked at. Then she was scabbing up. So her chin was a mess for a bit. It is better, but still has a big scab underneath in one area. And she of course is better and well.
She loves school and so do we- especially in the winter. It’s hard… she misses her swingset and going to the park! Ever since she was a baby and had Physical Therapy for that short while, they said she was advanced in her fine motor skills. Well her current teachers and speech therapists of today tend to agree that she still is. She is cutting and pasting like a 5-6 year old. She’s very crafty and creative. Lately her favorite thing to do is paint mommy’s nails (both fingers and toes). I feared my 3 1/2 yr old doing this- but she actually did a decent job!!
We’re trying to visit, have play dates and do as much as we can as we have her next surgery coming up on February 10th. A reminder that this is the sclerotherapy/injections again. So we know that means swelling and discomfort for her. Please keep her in your prayers as always.

 Drew- Gosh he’s 14 months already. He’s getting big, fast and learning lots of tricks from his big sister. He’s climbing on everything and being totally boyish! He is of course a big mush and a sweetheart though. He keeps chattering away and though a lot of it is still babble – we hear him saying lots of words. Such as: Hi, Bye, Mama, Dada, Teeth, Row Row (as in row row your boat), Trees, Shoes etc. He even said Shiva the other day (Uncle David’s doggie’s name). He tries to say "grandma" and I realize he is trying to say Mary Elizabeth which is REALLY HARD, and comes out like "ShaSha" – as if he’s trying to say the Elizabeth part the most. Hard to explain of course.
He did ok after the strep, and all is well expect for some teething here and there. He’s only got 2 teeth right now, I think we’re looking at a 3rd soon though.
He goes for his 15 month check up next month. I know he’s doing rather well though. And in March he goes for his follow up eye exam for the lazy eye (which as mentioned we only see after he wakes up from naps). Well, I have to say that I am seeing it a whole lot less- if at all. So I dunno if there was improvement or what. I guess we shall see.

Both kids are doing good with eating. They will eat a variety of things, but if you really want them to eat a lot- feed them one of the following: pasta/meatballs/chicken nuggets/macaroni & cheese/hot dogs/peas. Well at least we have the peas in there. Yea they’ll actually eat their peas. Especially when I put it in the macaroni & cheese which is my trick for getting them to eat more greens!

All in all they are great, they love eachother so much and have a lot of fun- they also drive us crazy but that’s toddler-hood for ya 😉

Both kids are sick!!! 🙁 What a way to start 2009 huh….

OK let’s rewind…
A few days ago (say Friday) ME was complaining
"my tooth hurts". Well she just had dental surgery just a few weeks ago
so I couldn’t imagine anything being wrong quite yet. She persisted so
I told her to show me where. And she’d point lower down like on her
gums/jaw line. So I thought perhaps she had an infection. Fri
night/Saturday morning slight temps of 100. Max temp on Saturday was
101.5. But went back down quickly with motrin. Our thought was to call
her dentist on Monday and ask him.
Well Sunday she seemed fine, nothing over 100.5. Motrin helped the pain in her gums.

Sunday
night around 10:30 her fever was around 103. We gave her Motrin again
and got the ball rolling with an email to the dentist (he would prob
check that early). Then, she woke up a 1:30am with a 104.7 fever – YIKES… (and stayed up from 1:30am til 5:30am- keeping Andy and myself up while she was at it)… We called the pediatrician, she
said after she woke up tomorrow – bring her in. We then noticed in the
middle of the night that her chin/jaw line was red and warm to the
touch – so this indicated her malformation (cysts) was infected.

Morning
came she slept in a bit and her temp was a bit lower but she was still
on motrin/tylenol. The chin area was very red, we sent pics (and a
detailed description) to her dentist and her main Dr that treats her
condition. They agreed she has this "LM Flare up"- (aka cellulitis: an
infection). And we knew this too because we’ve seen her get this
swollen/red/warm blotches on her face (where the cysts are). Since her
gums are affected by the malformation it seems they were affected in
this particular flare up.

So I took her to the pediatrician anyway- even
though the Drs in the city already sent in her prescriptions. Come to
find out- she now has STREP THROAT too.

Now Drew felt fine…
until we were on the way to the Dr. He felt warm. When the Dr found out
ME had strep, she checked Drew while he was there. Low and behold-
103.7 fever, and yep tested positive for Strep.

So I have 2 sick
kiddos here at home. And I’m playing nurse here making sure they still eat/drink well and get their rest and all their meds!

Drew is only on an antibiotic and then takes his tylenol or motrin.
ME
on the other hand, has those 2 as well as being on a steroid (for the
swelling) and then zantac (to ease her stomach from the steroids).

They
really haven’t been sick in a long time other than a minor cold. So I
am fortunate for that. And honestly they are handling it pretty well. Once the motrin kicks in- they are up and playing (and you can certainly tell by the whining when the motrin is wearing off!!!) I am glad this will be taken care of once
the antibiotic kicks in.
… Now that I think about it … Drew has
never been on antibiotics. So I guess this is his first real sickness.
That’s not something worth celebrating though!