24 posts tagged “surgery”
The Princess had her ultrasound yesterday and her ureter looks a lot less swollen than it did, her kidney looks fine, and everything is working. We're on the right "track" but we'll be continuing the meds for at least another 6 months. I'm disappointed about that but the last thing we need right now is another UTI. And potty training girls tend to get UTIs. While it's a nuisance for them, it's really bad for the Princess. Because she is potty training she was able to pee in the "hat" in the toilet and give them a sample. The doc was happy about that. Her urine is clear and that's great.
I know there's been a relative lack of updation here... I haven't really been in the mood. And I have to fight for the computer all the time. And I don't want to bore people with pregnant talk. Once again I wish vox had custom friends lists like LJ.
We went to a parent night for kindergarten students last week. I was happy to see more than just the one recognizable preschool parent face. There are a couple of kids from preschool going there, one of which is a very nice boy, in addition to our neighbor. SkyWalker is excited about seeing them. I really hope he gets a class with a friendly familiar face. There are 4 classes and only 19-20 kids in each which is exactly how many kids are in his preschool class. The school was just updated so there are smart boards in the classrooms. It all looked pretty cool. I think SkyWalker will be fine. It might take some time, but since it's all day, every day, he should hopefully get used to it quicker than everything else!
Speaking of which, a year ago I had just started my mom's group, and SkyWalker was as shy as could be. Hiding in the bathroom, not talking to ANYONE anywhere we went. He has come so far and it's just so remarkable. Today we had a playdate with one of his preschool friends--the first friend he made--and there was no hesitation, no shyness, no warming up. He immediately started playing like a goofball. It was so so nice to see. This was our first playdate too. It makes me feel so much better... and that I've been doing the right thing.
Next week I'm leaving both Jedi with a lifesaver so I can do the icky glucose test. I've told SkyWalker that he and his sister are going to have a playdate and that Mommy will have to go to the doctor. And while he wants to go to the doctor with me, he also wants to go to Cameron's house right now. The other day he told me that Cameron was his cousin.
The Princess is continuing to improve. It will be 4 weeks since her surgery this Monday. She was a crazy girl today running and jumping and I didn't have the heart to try to stop her. Her steri strips are off and it looks like there's a stitch coming through. I really REALLY hope it just dissolves on its own without us having to take her to get it yanked out. That will suck. It does not seem to bother her at all. Her incision is probably the same size as it was last time but it looks much smaller since her belly is much bigger. I've been putting vitamin E on it and hopefully it won't be noticeable the older she gets. Her last one was almost invisible.
I'm planning on starting her in gymnastics in the fall. Some of you might remember SkyWalker's brief (one time) dalliance with gymnastics, I think his sister will do better. For one thing, she is a climber and a jumper, and she's been going to meetups and indoor gyms for a while now. And I'm trying to get her best little buddies to join too. So I think we'll last more than one class this time. We'll definitely be needing the distraction... we're both quite attached to SkyWalker. She walks around the house calling his name and looking for him and saying "Doin?" when she wants to know what's he's doing at any given moment. It's pretty cute. She'll have the baby to keep her occuppied, but the baby can't jump. Or put her shoes on for her. Or give her a bowl of goldfish when Mommy's not looking.
Isaac's leg seems to be healing. I don't know what our game plan is. We've been confining him to the leash for months now. It's getting harder and harder. But Vader doesn't want to take him back to the vet and have them say he needs surgery so close to June. I don't know what we're going to do.
Unrelated to anything, we've been having water problems. I know we always have water problems, but this time it's the temperature. Our water has always been really hot. Since having babies we've turned the hot water heater down... and down... and down. It is now a notch about the off position. Guess what my water temp is at the tap? 160 degrees. I've been researching a lot online and whenever there's a problem it's always with water that's NOT hot, not too hot. We have an oil-fired hot water heater and a new one would be $2000-2600. I finally called my oil company to see if they could recommend someone who would service it or just tell us what we need to do and it turns out that they'll look at it. (The company it came from apparently doesn't service them anymore). AND when I explained the problem to the guy he said we would only need a new one if it was leaking and that it sounds like the "thermostat" (not the technical term) is just busted. It might cost us a few hundred to have someone come out and look at it and fix it but that's better than 2 grand. And I have a wicked huge credit from the budget plan payments I made when the price of oil was wicked high. I wonder how much oil we've wasted heating this damn water. It is now up to Vader to call and set up a time. I think I will have to remind him every day. As he said yesterday he is dillatory (?) and I am proactive. The word he used meant the opposite of pro-active, someone who just delays things, but he's trying to expand his vocabulary.
Speaking of which, when I was changing the Princess's poopy diaper today (aside--I have a friend who ALWAYS says "messy diaper". Each time she says it I think of what she must think of me and my poopy talk. I've been trying to clean it up and not let the poop fly so much, but it's hard.), SkyWalker was assisting and when he saw the diaper he said "What the hell?". It was not an unusual poop, so I really don't know what his problem was.Anyway, I'm pretty sure he did not get that expression from ME, because if he had he would have said "What the hell dude?". So I'll be blaming that one on his father.
The Princess is doing much much better. She's walking on her own, climbing up the stairs (argh!) and making silly faces. I think we've turned the corner and now begins the hard part of keeping her from doing too much for the next month. I am so annoyed we had to drop out of the family place workshop at the library but the thing she loved to do most there was climb on the climbing toys and fall down the slide. Sigh. It is going to be a long long month.
SkyWalker seems to be okay now that his sister is acting more normally. He was a bit worried. They are very VERY close. He's back to being a goofball and in the same breath told me that I was the cutest mommy in the world and that I had a big fat womb and smelled like throw-up.
Back to work I go gathering tissue paper and feathers and streamers and aluminum foil shapes for the workshop tomorrow that we can't go to. :-(
I don't know how much time I have before the Princess needs something... she is watching Curious George (after requesting Dora and then taking the remote and flipping around until she found the movies on demand station and a preview for Australian movies with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman and then saying George).
My husband is very smart. But sometimes he is very stupid.
I have tried to remain positive and optimistic. My baby is having surgery again but at least she has surgery available to her--she doesn't have a fatal disease. This will all be over and she will live a normal life. My husband's job is in jeopardy once again but I am trying to have faith that it will all work out as it has before.
When I was 20 weeks pregnant with the Princess I had a level 2 ultrasound to check my placenta because of the minor abruption I had with SkyWalker. The placenta was okay. The Princess's right kidney was not. That was in January 2007, nearly 2 years ago, and that is how long we have been dealing with this.
I am completely lacking in focus right now. I intended on making a bookmark on discipline books or doing some other work-related work but I just can't focus. I am tired beyond tired and the only thing I can attribute it to is spending all day at the hospital yesterday. And thinking about all the things I still have to do. Like clean and bake cupcakes and more cupcakes and more cupcakes.
The Princess was amazing yesterday. They delayed her surgery so she had to wait even longer with an empty tummy and she was SO GOOD it was just, well, amazing. I did let her have her pacifier towards the end because she was getting tired as well as hungry. They took her away and she didn't cry, just calmly let them hold her. The surgery itself was only half an hour. She came out of the anesthesia crying and screaming and really unhappy. She refused to drink any water. She finally just screamed herself to sleep in my arms and slept for at least half an hour and then when she woke up she was much calmer. She cried when they took out the IV and the blood pressure thing, but got over it quickly. When we got home she drank water and ate chinese food and jumped on Mama and went to sleep without any medication. Today she has been a complete goofball, jumping on the bed, sticking her hand in the toilet, and wrestling her brother whenever she got the chance.
We won't know if it was successful until November when she has her VCUG and Ultrasound. The surgeon sounded confident but couldn't commit to anything. So now we just wait and see.
SkyWalker seems to be doing just fine in preschool. He's talking about some of the kids and while I'm sure he's not playing with them yet, he's willingly going there and doesn't seem traumatized. He's having a hard time with his poop again but I think that's because of the Princess yesterday and not because of preschool. It's possible it's preschool, I'm pretty sure he's not going to poop there and once he holds it in it's never good, but I would bet that it has more to do with worrying over his sister. Hopefully he'll get it out tonight.
Today my son said: "You need to see my butt crack", bent over, dropped pants, and showed me his butt crack. Good times.
SkyWalker had his "first" day of preschool on Monday. The Princess and I were right down the hall, but I didn't tell him that. He was only there for an hour but he did pretty good. He talked to his teacher and did what he was supposed to do and told my mom that he made friends with a couple of kids. Vader just left to take him for his first official day.