So, as many of you know already, it took quite a while to get home from the time we started preparing. Around 15 hours to be exact. Ari did not go to the bathroom until 4:30 am at which point they actually started going through the motions of getting her discharge paperwork started. Once the doctors came over and made a few phone calls to Dr Ain, they finally let us go home. That was around 6:30 or 7am. I can't quite remember.
We got Ari home without any problems and we both took some time to go in to work that day, as we are both trying to conserve our time off. I'm in the negative region for hours left myself. Amanda's mom was there to spend the day with Ari. After working a short day I came home and Amanda's mom left right before it started snowing. It wasn't much snow in the end but you never know with these storms.
Ari recovered quickly and she was back to school on Wednesday, exactly a week after surgery. The incision (8 inches this round. Much larger than we were hoping for) is healing up nicely and in around two weeks she will be cleared for playing again. Until then her teachers have to keep her from jumping, running, climbing, etc. God help them in trying to keep a 4 year old down. It's hard enough for us to keep her from playing too hard when its just the two kids at home. So, here's hoping that there won't be another surgery for 9 months.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Homeward Prep
The doctors have given the order for Ari to start getting ready to go home. They've put her on oral meds and took out her catheter. She eating fine. Next steps are to take her off fluids and see if she'll sit up in her chair. If that goes well, she'll just need to go pee on her own and then we can start taking off the IVs and start getting her dressed for home. Then its just a matter of paperwork.
Thursday morning
Ari had a good night. She went between sleeping and watching Tangled. They did some blood work around 3 am which she was really good about. The resident just came by and we told him we want to go home today, which Dr Ain said we should be able to do. We got our usual list of milestones and we'll be working on those today.
The only problem we had at all yesterday was that Ari got sick twice after getting her antibiotic. They gave her something to settle her stomach and she's been fine since then.
Next step from here is to get her off of the IV pain killers and get her on to oral meds. Then we can try moving her and see how she does. So we'll hopefully be home so time tonight.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Moved
We're been moved to a regular room now. Ari's resting comfortably ans watching TV. She's starting to eat some apple sauce and she's off the oxygen at this point (her oxygen levels were a little low). Overall its looking good for going home tomorrow.
Surgery is done.
We just saw Dr Ain. He took a little extre time to look at the bumps on her back. He said they look fine. They just stick out so much because she's so skinny. She's getting sent to a room once one opens up. For now we're waiting with her in recovery.
Surgery has started.
We got here at 5:15 this morning and checked in not too long after. By 6 the nurse was getting us ready. Ari went back in to the OR at 7:30 and we just got a call around 8:30 saying they were underway. As usual, I got to go back and stay with her until they put her under. Afterwards we grabbed some breakfast as neither of us had eaten. Now we wait.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Hospital Prep
It's been a day of extreme highs and lows. As I type the Ravens just won the Superbowl and Joe Flacco (a South Jersey native who played high school football for my schools rival) was MVP. We've been preparing for this day all week. Of course, this is also the day our neighbor forced us to give up our dog Westley. He's currently staying with my sister and we will hopefully find a permanent place for him soon, but he can't stay here anymore. This event is lighting a fire under us to get out of this house. Hopefully it happens soon.
Moving on from that, we're getting ready for Ari's surgery. It's days away. We've been talking to Ari about what is coming up and we've already been to see her surgeon and gone trough all of the pre-op work. As long as she stays healthy for the next few days we'll be checking in at 5:30 am for a 7:30 surgery.
Mom Wood will be watching Lily and hopefully we will be home by no later Thursday as long as everything goes as planned. They will be double checking all the hooks and screws to make sure they are still in place. If everything is good, it's just a quick procedure with a small recovery time. So, two days of work to get through and then surgery number 4.
Moving on from that, we're getting ready for Ari's surgery. It's days away. We've been talking to Ari about what is coming up and we've already been to see her surgeon and gone trough all of the pre-op work. As long as she stays healthy for the next few days we'll be checking in at 5:30 am for a 7:30 surgery.
Mom Wood will be watching Lily and hopefully we will be home by no later Thursday as long as everything goes as planned. They will be double checking all the hooks and screws to make sure they are still in place. If everything is good, it's just a quick procedure with a small recovery time. So, two days of work to get through and then surgery number 4.
Day 7: Epcot
Epcot Pictures
This was to be our second day in Epcot and our last day of the trip. Mom and Dad decided to take the day off and rest. Dad wasn't feeling well and we had done quite a bit over the past six days, so I can't say I blame them. We finally dressed the girls up in their outfits (Ari wanted Rapunzel and Lily was Minnie Mouse) and headed to the park.
Our focus for this day was World Showcase, so we didn't get there really early. I did want to hit the new Test Track though since this was the first full day of operation. Since my parents weren't there, we decided that I would go in the single rider line and Amanda would watch the kids. I was never really a fan of the original Test Track and usually skipped it unless there wasn't a line and there usually was one. I love this version. They tweaked it enough (they took out the Belgian block and most of the other features that I disliked) that I liked it muck better from a pure ride perspective and I love the updates that they made visually. I spent years working on vehicle simulators so I can see what they were going for. I realize that's not what a simulator has to look like, but I like the choice they went with. So basically, Test Track has now been put on my must do list, which brings the total for that side of World Showcase up to one ride. Ellen's Energy Adventure is a "might do" if we have the time, which we really didn't. And really, I only like it once we get into the dinosaur section. I've seen the Jeopardy portion more than enough times. Just get me to the animatronics.
We headed back to World Showcase after Test Track and started with Mexico which is our usual way of doing things. We had already stopped in this pavilion earlier in the week, but the Grand Fiesta Tour boat ride is relaxing and fun. Plus the girls loved it the first time and we took them on again today. Norway was next and both the girls were big enough to ride the Maelstrom. Again they both loved it. Boat rides were an overall hit throughout the week. Most of Ari's favorite rides were boat rides, other than Under the Sea with the Little Mermaid, which is still water themed. This would be our last boat ride of the week and after watching the ending of the Norway movie, we headed out and over towards China.
We wandered around China but chose to skip the movie. We didn't have a lot of time before lunch and we wanted to get Ari's face painted as we had been promising her that she could get it dome all week. We did get a little time to relax in the gardens before moving on.
We headed over to the African Outpost and Ari wanted to play with the drums for a little while. We let her do that while we took a look at the face painting. They didn't have any pirate princess options but we saw a few we thought she would like. When we brought her over she chose a fairy makeover and she loved every minute.
Afterwards we headed over to Germany where we met up with Snow White. Ari loved all her meetings with the princesses. She was definitely looking forward to Snow White. Not as much as Ariel, but still quite a lot.
Lunch was in the Beirgarten. Great as usual. The kids lived the show, which had quite a bit of Christmas music added. They had all my favorites and I left there thankful that there were no more rides to hit. I wouldn't have been up for one for a while.
After taking a few shots of the model railroad setup, we made our way to the American pavilion. We stopped by and saw Santa, which we ended up using for our Christmas cards. Mrs. Claus was there too. We got in to see the American Adventure as well. I love this show but usually only get to see it once every few trips.
Next up was France. We were killing time at this point. We had reserved seats at the Candlelight Processional and wanted to get in a few things in before it started. We met up with Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) in France and headed over to see the show.
The show was wonderful but the kids got bored part way through. They tell the Christmas story with songs being sung between verses. They get celebrity narrators to read from the Bible and a huge choir and orchestra. Beautiful and it really puts you in the Christmas mood.
The rest of the day was spent killing time before Illuminations. We wandered around looking for meet and greets and stopping by the remaining countries (Morroco, UK) that we had yet to hit. The kids were tired and if I remember at least one was asleep. We had a reserved viewing area for Illuminations (part of the Candlelight Processional package) and I hadn't seen the Christmas version in years. Amanda (and of course the kids) had never seen it, so we made it to showtime. It was definitely worth the wait and was a good way to end the trip. Afterwards, we headed to the gate and back to the van. We made our way back to the hotel for the last time.
The next day consisted of a confusing, crowded trip through the Orlando airport. I'll have to think about traveling to a different airport next time. It was the worst experience I've ever had at an airport and I've been to more than my share. I've been through LAX more times that I care to remember and as bad as that airport is, it was never this bad. After getting on the plane, we had a good trip back and made it home without any more issues. Mom and Dad went home and we got all of our stuff in the house and started taking it all in.
This was to be our second day in Epcot and our last day of the trip. Mom and Dad decided to take the day off and rest. Dad wasn't feeling well and we had done quite a bit over the past six days, so I can't say I blame them. We finally dressed the girls up in their outfits (Ari wanted Rapunzel and Lily was Minnie Mouse) and headed to the park.
Our focus for this day was World Showcase, so we didn't get there really early. I did want to hit the new Test Track though since this was the first full day of operation. Since my parents weren't there, we decided that I would go in the single rider line and Amanda would watch the kids. I was never really a fan of the original Test Track and usually skipped it unless there wasn't a line and there usually was one. I love this version. They tweaked it enough (they took out the Belgian block and most of the other features that I disliked) that I liked it muck better from a pure ride perspective and I love the updates that they made visually. I spent years working on vehicle simulators so I can see what they were going for. I realize that's not what a simulator has to look like, but I like the choice they went with. So basically, Test Track has now been put on my must do list, which brings the total for that side of World Showcase up to one ride. Ellen's Energy Adventure is a "might do" if we have the time, which we really didn't. And really, I only like it once we get into the dinosaur section. I've seen the Jeopardy portion more than enough times. Just get me to the animatronics.
We headed back to World Showcase after Test Track and started with Mexico which is our usual way of doing things. We had already stopped in this pavilion earlier in the week, but the Grand Fiesta Tour boat ride is relaxing and fun. Plus the girls loved it the first time and we took them on again today. Norway was next and both the girls were big enough to ride the Maelstrom. Again they both loved it. Boat rides were an overall hit throughout the week. Most of Ari's favorite rides were boat rides, other than Under the Sea with the Little Mermaid, which is still water themed. This would be our last boat ride of the week and after watching the ending of the Norway movie, we headed out and over towards China.
We wandered around China but chose to skip the movie. We didn't have a lot of time before lunch and we wanted to get Ari's face painted as we had been promising her that she could get it dome all week. We did get a little time to relax in the gardens before moving on.
We headed over to the African Outpost and Ari wanted to play with the drums for a little while. We let her do that while we took a look at the face painting. They didn't have any pirate princess options but we saw a few we thought she would like. When we brought her over she chose a fairy makeover and she loved every minute.
Afterwards we headed over to Germany where we met up with Snow White. Ari loved all her meetings with the princesses. She was definitely looking forward to Snow White. Not as much as Ariel, but still quite a lot.
Lunch was in the Beirgarten. Great as usual. The kids lived the show, which had quite a bit of Christmas music added. They had all my favorites and I left there thankful that there were no more rides to hit. I wouldn't have been up for one for a while.
After taking a few shots of the model railroad setup, we made our way to the American pavilion. We stopped by and saw Santa, which we ended up using for our Christmas cards. Mrs. Claus was there too. We got in to see the American Adventure as well. I love this show but usually only get to see it once every few trips.
Next up was France. We were killing time at this point. We had reserved seats at the Candlelight Processional and wanted to get in a few things in before it started. We met up with Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) in France and headed over to see the show.
The show was wonderful but the kids got bored part way through. They tell the Christmas story with songs being sung between verses. They get celebrity narrators to read from the Bible and a huge choir and orchestra. Beautiful and it really puts you in the Christmas mood.
The rest of the day was spent killing time before Illuminations. We wandered around looking for meet and greets and stopping by the remaining countries (Morroco, UK) that we had yet to hit. The kids were tired and if I remember at least one was asleep. We had a reserved viewing area for Illuminations (part of the Candlelight Processional package) and I hadn't seen the Christmas version in years. Amanda (and of course the kids) had never seen it, so we made it to showtime. It was definitely worth the wait and was a good way to end the trip. Afterwards, we headed to the gate and back to the van. We made our way back to the hotel for the last time.
The next day consisted of a confusing, crowded trip through the Orlando airport. I'll have to think about traveling to a different airport next time. It was the worst experience I've ever had at an airport and I've been to more than my share. I've been through LAX more times that I care to remember and as bad as that airport is, it was never this bad. After getting on the plane, we had a good trip back and made it home without any more issues. Mom and Dad went home and we got all of our stuff in the house and started taking it all in.