One Super Busy Day

The day started early for me today!  I was standing in line at the polls this morning at 6:30 am.  Yes, I was actually in the line at 6:30 am.  There were about 15 people in front of me and it was dark and cold outside.  But, I knew if I was going to get to vote today it would have to be early, real early.  So, as you know the polls opened at 7:00 and I was back in my car at 7:18.  Not too bad of a wait time!

From there I headed home to get the kids dressed and fed before Miss. Lauren arrived at 8:30.  As soon as she arrived I headed to the hair dresser to take care of some grey roots.  Since I figure my hair will be pulled back into a pony tail for the next 4 weeks or so I thought it would be a good idea to take care of that so people don't mistake me for Anna Grace's grandma :)

The next stop on my busy day was to the Toyota dealership to have my van serviced for the big car trip.  I don't need to be breaking down with two kiddos in the car with me.  It took longer there than I anticipated, but the car has had an oil change, tires checked and been throughly looked over and deemed road worthy :)

Next stop, the car wash.  I use one of those places you wash it yourself.  It's just cheaper and I'm slightly embarassed by the sheer number of goldfish laying on the floorboard - so it's really better for me to take care of that on my own :)  The car has been washed and vacumed and is now ready to be packed to the top with suitcases!

Next stop - Sam's Club.  I just needed to stock up on some basics before we head out of town - you know toilet paper, paper towels, diapers, wipes, etc.  Forgetting that kids were out of school today - Sam's was packed, but at least I didn't have my kids with me thanks to our sweet Miss. Lauren!  We now have 5,000 rolls of toilet paper and 2,000 rolls of paper towels.

Once I got home I needed to sit down at the computer and pay some last minute bills.  The next thing I knew, it was 5:00 and time for Miss Luaren to go home.  We said good-bye to her and then the kids and I picked up dinner and brought it home.  Then bath and bedtime and I just now finished the packing of the suitcases!  I have to say, packing Anna Grace's bag was very emotional for me, more so than I thought it would be.  Packing all of the pajamas and slippers in anticpation of her heart surgery was just plain hard.  In the midst of the craziness of running around today the truth is, I have a very sick little girl and all of those little pajamas reminded me of what all the running around is really for.  Stop.  Deep breath.  Pray.  Yes, the Fontan is here and the Lord will be with us.  OK, I can go on.

What a super busy crazy day (and a tad bit emotional too)!  Brian is trying to get things wrapped up with his work.  The kids and Miss. Lauren and I are heading out Wednesday morning.  Brian is going to follow later in the day once he gets things in order with his work.

Tomorrow is going to be another big busy day for us and we head to Charleston and get settled.

I do have to say that throughout the day today so many friends and family have called me or sent me notes or dropped goody bags by our house today - just to tell us that they love us and are praying for us.  It has meant so much to all of us to know that we are surround by people who love and support us and are so faithfully praying for Anna Grace.  We are so grateful to each of you!  I am not an eloquent enough writer to express how much these things mean to us.  To each of you I just want you to know that we sincerely thank you and we appreciate you thinking of us and loving on our family.

Since we will be on the road a good bit tomorrow I might not update tomorrow night, but I plan to on Thursday for sure.  Thank you friends for continuing to follow our story!

A Day At The Lake & Surgery

It was a beautiful day here Saturday and our family went down to visit Mee-Mee and Grand-pop down at the lake for the day.

We took a really long boat ride, over an hour at least.  The water was smooth, the temperature was warm and there was a slight breeze.  It was such a lovely day to be on the water and we all had a great time. 

That evening we had a fire in the fire pit down by the water complete with smores - although my kids just wanted the marshmellows and they didn't really want them toasted, they just wanted to eat marshmellows :)

After the fire pit it was time to hit the hot tub.  The kids love sitting in the hot tub after dark.  They had a blast!  It will be the last time in the next 2 months we will get to play in the hot tub so it was especially fun!

We drove home that night and the kids were fast asleep in the car.  We were all tired from all of the fun and memories we made at the lake that day.  What a great day we had!

Sunday night we had our babysitter Miss. Lauren come over to watch the kids and Brain and I went out of a date.  We know that this will be the last date we will be able to have for a while and the evening went by too fast!  Surgery seemed to be the main topic of conversation on our date.  Truthfully, we haven't really talked too much about surgery other than the logistics of it so it was time for us (and good for us) to share how we were feeling about it, what we were going to say to the kids, when we were going to say it.  All things that really needed to be talked about.  At times the conversation was very emotional so I wouldn't say it was a "romantic" date, but it was good for us - if that makes any sense.

Today will be my day to finish doing the laundry.  Tomorrow Miss. Lauren is coming over again to help watch the kids while I do last minute running around to prepare for our trip and do the packing.  I would also really love to clean my house at some point, but I'm not sure if that is going to happen.  I could/should do it today, but why would I want to waste the day cleaning when I could be playing with my kids?!?!?  We have a big week coming up and those memories will be more important than I clean house I think.  I think I may have talked myself out of cleaning today :)

Oh sometime tomorrow I'd like to try to vote in the midst of everthing.  It is the hot topic of conversation in the nation, but it really has been an afterthought for me lately.

Our plan right now is to still to leave on Wednesday morning which will give us the afternoon to buy some grocies and things.  Thursday is a planned 6 hour pre-op appointment.  The paperwork said that there is apossibility that AG will need to be sedated for her pre-op appointment which means fasting the night before.  Ummmmm.... AG has a lot of doctor anxiety so I figure sedation is pretty much guaranteed for her!

Things to pray for:
(1)  Safe travel to Chalreston on Wednesday.
(2)  Pray for Miss. Lauren as she will be keeping Zachary for us during all of the hospital stuff.
(3)  Pray for Dr. Bradley the surgeon.
(4)  Pray for Anna Grace to not be scared and to be cooperative.
(5)  Pray for no complications during surgery.
(6)  Pray for no infection.
(7)  Pray for no chylothorax.
(8)  Pray that we might be an encouragement to others even in the midst of this.

Thank you friends for faithfully following our story and for praying for our family.  The Lord truly has walked and is walking with us through this.  We trust the Lord and His soverign plan for Anna Grace and for our family.  The Lord is changing my heart to focus on each day and to enjoy each precious moment in the day - this has helped me to not focus on or worry about the future so much which might otherwise have consumed me.  I am thankful for this.  I covered it in about 2 sentences here on this blog, but for my life it has been a huge, huge blessing!

Surgery November 9

Quick post to let you know we heard back from Dr R today.  He said that Dr B said we are still fine for the November 9 surgery.  So, looks like we're still planing for surgery next week.  Thank you all for continuing to pray for Anna Grace!

No News.... But Enjoy the Pics

Dr R's office called me today to let me know that they have not yet heard back from Dr B at MUSC regarding keeping Nov 9 or postponing the surgery.  Dr R said he would call Dr B again tomorrow if he hadn't heard anything.  So, the plan for now is still to proceed with the November 9 surgery which is currently scheduled.

As for Anna Grace, she seems to be tolerating her antibiotic OK.  It is hard to say if it has started making a dent in the sinus infection or not, but for the most part she seems like herself to me - so that is good.

I have oficially declared us "on holiday" from school.  So, we played all day today.  We played and played and played.  I played a lot of Transformers and a lot of tea party.  We also built a fire in the fireplace and raked leaves in the backyard.  Zachary has also taught himself how to do a front flip on the trampoline.... I'm not crazy about this new trick because I envision an ER trip but I'm really not sure how to stop him so I suppose I am going to just have to let him be a boy :)

We went to Mee-Maw and Pops house this evening for dinner and to just visit and get out of the house a little.  Also, with all the little kids trick-or-treating in our neighborhood I thought it was best to just get out of Dodge!  On our way home tonight Zachary did say, "Mom, I wish I could go trick-or-treating, but I know we can't".  Oh.... he is such a sweet and understanding little boy, but I know this has been hard on him too. 

So, we didn't go trick-or-treating, but we do have plenty of candy - chocolate and lifesaver gummies thanks to Mee-Maw and Pops :) 

We don't have much on the agenda tomorrow other than playing.  Our babysitter, Miss. Lauren is coming tomorrow afternoon to watch the kids for me so that I can take care of paying bills and getting all of that in order before we head to Charleston for surgery.  Yes, the bills still have to be paid so I am devoting tomorrow afternoon to fun financials :)

So, we are just home trying to make memories and enjoy every moment we can together. With that, I will leave you with these pictures from our house and backyard :)

Sinus Infection

So, the kids and I were at the pediatrician's office this morning at 8:30 am.  The conclusion.... Zachary is fine and Anna Grace has a sinus infection.  Yep, I was really surpised to hear him say that - but he felt certain its a sinus infection.  So, he started Anna Grace on 10 days of Augmentin (sp?).  When we got home I called Dr R to let him know what happened.  Dr R feels like since she will be finishing up day 10 of her antiobiotic on pre-op day that she should be fine for surgery, but he called the surgeon Dr B today to let him know what was going on with AG.  Dr B will make the ultimate decision and Dr R said he would call me tomorrow (or whenever he hears back from Dr B) and let us know what the plan is.  In the meantime, we are to plan to still have the Nov 9 surgery.  So.... as of right now we are still planning on heading to Charleston next week (probably Tuesday) with pre-op on Thursday and surgery on Friday.

Whew... what a whirlwind of a day!

Because of all the excitement of the day I got no homeschooling done today.  Zachary was pretty happy about that I have to say!  After we got home from the doctor and pharmacy the kids and I decided to build a fire in our fireplace.  We've lived here for almost 2 years and have never built a fire.  In light of the fact that we still have no heat, a fire seemed like a great idea.  It turned out to be a fantastic idea.  The kids and I really enjoyed building the fire and it really heated up the living room a lot more than I expected it would.  It was fun sitting in front of the fire playing and telling stories and was just a lovely way to end the day today!  Even when we do get our heat fixed we will defintley continue using our wood buring fire place this winter.

As for the heat being broken... we hopefully will have it fixed before we head to Charleston, but the rest of the week is supposed to warm up pretty nicely during the day so I think we're going to be just fine!

Just a few prayer requests for today....

(1)  That Dr B would have the wisdom to make the right decision regarding Anna Grace's surgery and the timing of it.

(2)  That AG will respond to the antibiotics and that it will clear her sinus infection up completley.

(3)  That Brian will be able to get his work wrapped up without any issue or incident.

(4)  That we would remain healthy.

(5)  That the Lord will give AG great courage and peace leading up to and during our time at MUSC.

Morning Doctor Appointment

It has been a week since I posted and I apologize for that!  Last week was a bit crazy.  After hearning back from Dr R about how to handle AG's cold, I came down with the stomach virus!!!!!  How does someone who is in quarantine catch the stomach virus??? I'm not sure, but I had it and then AG had it.  Brian and Zachary seem to have been spared the misery of the stomach virus thankfully.  As far as stomach viruses go, it wasn't as terrible as the infamous "Stomach Virus of Spring 2011" and I am SOOOOO thankful for that!  AG and I seem to have weathered the stomach virus just fine.

Saturday morning the family woke up and NO ONE was sick with the stomach virus so we loaded up and headed down to the lake for some fun in the sun :)  It was so great to be outside, visting with grandparents and tooling around in the boat on the lake.  The weather was pretty warm... 75 so it was cool but not cold.  Just perfect.  And we all needed the time out of the house and outside.  It was great for family morale :)

Sunday we stayed inside most of the day with the exception of Brain and Zachary going mountain bike riding for an hour or so.

Zachary woke up this morning saying that his ear was "stopped up" and then AG started saying that her ear was hurting.  They both still have the tail end of their colds and since I am supposed to be calling Dr R tomorrow to discuss keeping the Nov 9 surgery date or postponing it I figured that a visit to our beloved pediatrician Dr Y was in order.  So, Tuesday morning we have 8:30 am doctor appointments with Dr Y for ear checks.  Honestly, I think everyones ears are fine, but with such a big surgery coming up there is no since in playing the guessing game, so I will have Dr Y give AG a full exam and then help guide us in making this big decision.

Please be praying for us to stay well after our visit to the doctor office (it is the germiest place on Earth) and for clear direction with a decision to keep or postpone surgery.  We of course want what is best for AG so whatever timing the Lord has for this we are truly, truly fine with.

Oh... one more prayer request.... we woke up today to find our heat out.  We called the heat repair people who told us we need a new outside unit and that the fan on our air handler is out.  They're supposed to be calling us with a price quote to get these two things replaced.  Please pray with us that these items can be replaced soon and at a fair price.  In the mean time, I am thankful for a well insulated home and fuzzy blankets :)

Praying friends.... we sincerely appreciate and covet your prayers!

Heard From Dr. R

Dr. R called me today and he said that based on the symptoms I described to him that we should just watch Anna Grace and see how she does.  He wants me to call him on Tuesday and tell him how she is and then we would make s decision about what's best to do.

He said not to call MUSC yet, lets just wait until Tuesday.

So, we are praying and asking our friends to pray that she recovers from this cold quickly and without the development of any ear or sinus infection and that it won't be an issue at all.  He has not put her on any antibiotic so she's just having Tylenol before bed.

Just to be honest here.... the kids are faring A LOT better with this cold than I am.  All I want to do is lay on the couch and all they want to do is play, play, play.  I was invited to two tea parties today which I happily attended AND I was also invited to be some sort of a super hero in the back yard and my job was to catch dinosaurs.  Oh.... my super power was that I could turn myself into an arrow.   I was really a sorry excuse for a super-hero, I'll admit it :)

Needless to say I am beat so I am heading off to snuggle in my bed now that my kiddos are finally tucked fast asleep in their beds.

I will keep you posted on how our little one is doing and I thank you all for continuing to pray for Anna Grace :)

I am not fretting about this at all surprisingly, the Lord has really given me a peace about it and I trust His timing with it.  What a blessing that is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!