Christmas in the PICU

I wanted to post an update to all my readers whom don't follow us on facebook. Gabby just got out of the hospital, from a picu stay. We had her teeth cleaned about 2 1/2 weeks ago and Gabby aspirated while having them cleaned. A week after her cleaning we took her to Dr. Wiley and he confirmed she had aspiration phenomena, we got her on medication and hoped for the best. We ended up spending Christmas Eve in the hospital (gave her fluids and sent her home) She only continued to get worse as the days past. We ended up taking her back to our doctor's office and they admitted her into our local hospital. (Great Hospital but not a children's hospital) they could not place an iv line, and had wanted to place a pic line (We refused) and were transferred to Children's hospital in Toldeo. Gabby spent 3 day's in the PICU. This was the sickest we have seen her to date. She gave us all a large scare. She was in an unresponsive state for the first 20 hours. Her right lung was full of phenomena, and was starting in her left lung. Her o2 stats were in the lower 80's(off oxygen) and high 80's with oxygen. Her respiration's were around 55-60 and her heart rate had shot up to around 170+. She was placed on some new antibiotics (strong ones) and lots of new breathing medication. We also are getting a vest that will 'shake all the fluid around" She is home now. We are taking the week off from everything to continue to allow her to heal. Please, Please everyone get the flu shot. There fear is she also caught something else and that was why her body was unable to fight it off. It was a scary couple days for us. The doctor's and nurses were great! While there we also filled out new paper work to get Gabby on a wavier. This will get Gabby a permanent nurse, and will allow me to be able to attend things with the other children, more time for school (so i can be full time student) and it will help us be able to keep her out of the public. There is just to much going around, and having her limited to the public will help reduce her being exposed to any other virus.

I also found out 85% of my schooling will be payed for with grants! That is only about 15% we will have to pay out of pocket. I don't expect to go for free but its nice to have the extra grants to help out. I hope to be able to get some scholarships to help pay for the following 8 classes I will need to obtain my RN after I finish with my LPN. :) I never thought I would be one to head back to school at the age of 30, but I am happy some classes transferred from my first time around. I know this will help my family in the future, and give me more knowledge with Gabby so we can give her a better quality of life. They are older getting older and someday we will have college and cars to pay for! :D I hope every one had a Merry Christmas! I will post picture hopefully this week from Christmas!

Thanks again for all the prayers, We see the power of prayers daily!
Maria

Rock Your Look Photography

Rock Your Look Photography- Kim a family friend took our Christmas pictures again this year! I am in love with them! This is a sample of what she has for this year! I love them! If you message me I can provide you with the information to get in contact with her! Thank you Kim!

Happy 11th Birthday Kiera

Happy 11th Birthday Princess!

Santa's In Town

As you can see Santa stopped past the Payne Fire Department today! The girls had fun, and again I cant say enough to the Payne Fire Department! It was perfect this year! I hope to see it for years to come!

Update's

Just a short update: Gabby is doing great! We have had several appointments in the past couple weeks. Her eye pressures are the lowest they have been! (Happy dance) We have found another location to restart the process of getting her contacts. This will be located down in Columbus Ohio! I will post more information as we know. We also had a great Neuro Apt! With her seizures under control, we are pleased with how she is reacting to her Keppra now. She will be receiving botox in her calf muscles to help relax them. She has been able to turn her foot in her AFO's and learned to wiggle her foot out of them sometimes. After two week of the botox treatment being done, she will be casted off once a week for 4-6 weeks. Around week 3-5 she will be fitted for a new pair of AFO's and we hope this will help relax her muscles and allow her to wear the AFO's all the time again. While she is having her botox done her new dentist will also be stopping in to give her a good teeth cleaning. :D

I hope everyone had a safe Thanksgiving! We went to visit family and friends in PA. It was a great trip! And plan to return over Christmas. I hope for lots, LOTS of snow when I am there! I sure miss large amounts of snow. There has been no snow so far (other than a couple flakes here). I will post another update of Gabby around Christmas. We plan on going to see Santa on Saturday! Our local Fire department is having Santa stop to see the children! My kids are beyond excited! (other than Kiera, you know she is now to cool to sit on Santa's lap)

Hope everyone is having fun decoration their tree's and preparing for Christmas, but in the hustle and bustle lets not forget what CHRISTmas is all about!

Much love,
Maria

Merry Christmas from my "boy's"

Merry Christmas from my "boy's" Meeko & Storm.

Kirstynn got Student of the Week

                                                      

Kirstynn received student of the week! She is working very hard in school this year, and is getting super smart! Her reading level is above average and I can tell everywhere we go she is reading signs, papers, and her books! Her teacher said the following about her:  

Mrs. LaBounty/Mrs. Ritchhart selected Kirstynn because she is a very pleasant second grader. She is always kind to everyone. She always has a smile on her face and is a fun person to be around. Great Job,  Kirstynn. We are excited to have this chance to recognize achievements in and out of the classroom.

Great Job Princess! As always, You make me proud to be your mother. I am glad to hear you inner kindness is shinning through in school! Love you so much!