So .... I was in bed for all of Thanksgiving (pretty much) .... AGAIN! Last year I was sick for Thanksgiving too and miss Thanksgiving at my mom's. This year though, my Mom & Step-Dad went to see his family for Thanksgiving so we were by ourselves .... well, I was going to ask Cousin Ashley if she wanted to come over but with us sick, I didn't want to share the love and she got invited to her friend's place. So I was happy about that..... Dennis pushed himself. He sat in a rolling chair in the kitchen, and enlisted Calahan's help ... and together - them managed a pretty good feast :)
The Turkey ...
The Potatoes....
The Bread (ALWAYS a hit!)
The Stuffing
The Gravy .........
And the Green Beans....
We didn't get a nice family picture.... infact, I think we all hung out in our PJ's all day .... but I got pictures of everyone - separately ...
Mr. Nathan
Fever-ish Me....
Dennis carving the turkey ...
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Turkey!!
Noah playing on the computer ....
Kaedyn totally taking over my laptop.....
Marnie Sleeping .....
I tried to get a picture of Mia, but couldn't find her.... so here is a recent one, we'll just pretend it was Thanksgiving...
Calahan playing .... AND SMILING!!
So what am I thankful this year? I am thankful to have the roof over our head and the simple pleasures we have. I'm so thankful for my WONDERFUL friends and family who continuesly support us and who are always there with kind words when we're going through crap like we are... I'm thankful for each of my kids, like I am every year .... I had to fight to get each of them, and I wouldn't trade any of them for the world. I am thankful for my husband, things may not be perfect for us ... but we love each other so much and we lift each other up and take on burdens when we need to - to support the other. We have an amazing relationship. I am thankful for my parents .... all four of them.... love you all! I am thankful that even though we've been on a roller coaster ride this year, that it hasn't been to bad. I am thankful to have my family (Dennis & the kids) together for Thanksgiving, because ....... that almost didn't happen. Even though this Christmas is going to be a small one ... I'm thankful to just be able to be together as a family.
Life has been .......... interesting lately. Now that I have a little break, I hope to update in here a little more regular.
Let me back up a little and say that Dennis isn't in good shape at all. I'm terribly worried, and sad, not to mention scared. On November 14th, Dennis think he had a seizure. He had a lot of trouble waking up that morning. I went in to wake him up after awhile (he had a migraine and took some of his migraine meds, usually he sleeps for awhile after taking them.) ... and he woke up. However, he must have fallen back to sleep. I yelled to wake him up again, and I got a response. About fifteen minutes later he comes stumbling out of the room with this odd look. He sits down at his laptop and is looking something up. Then he says "I have to call the DR because I think I just has a seizure." He says he remembers being alert enough to feel his body shaking uncontrollably his body was up off the bed, and then he woke up feeling really stiff, and sore, and the rest of the day he was very confused. He was still confused into the next day. He went into the clinic the same day (not into the ER, we realize now we should have gone straight into the ER) ... and the DR he saw said he agreed that it sounded like he had a seizure. The following day, Tuesday - he was still some what confused, still had some slurred speech... and his vision got really bad. I ended up leaving class early because he asked me to. Wednesday his legs started to feel a little numb like they did in 2007/2008/2009. We thought it was odd. By Thursday night, he was so bad he asked me to come home early again. I don't remember if we went in Thursday night too, but I know he managed to get an appointment with our reg. doctor (Friday, the 18th). I had to put him in a wheelchair because his legs were that bad. He was falling and losing balance because he couldn't feel them well.
Our DR took one look at him and knew something serious was going on. She sent us into the ER. He had a battery of tests done. CT scan on Tuesday during the first trip to the ER. On Friday he had MRI done on his spine and head w/ contrast ... and had a spinal tap done. Once they got the results back for the spinal tap the DR came in saying he thought that Dennis may have Guillain-Barre Syndrome. This is scary because it causes you to be paralysed - slowly - from the feet spreading up. This fit ... so off to the hospital he went in Seattle where they had a plasma machine that could help him.... Before leaving the hospital at home, they gave him this....
We read it takes over 1,000 donors for that one little bag!!
We spent a total of 12 hours in the ER that night.
After Dennis left for Seattle, and I went home.... had a good cry, crawled into my PJs and bed and got all comfy .... Kaedyn woke up sounding like this ....
and Nathan had a temp .... so I ended up getting dressed and taking BOTH of them into the ER.
after sitting in the waiting room for 2 hours, and deciding I didn't really want to be there until 5am, I took them home - treated them for the night .... and took them back into the ER the following morning.
We colored a lot - while waiting for DR...
Kaedyn of course had the Croup and Nathan an upper resp. infection.... Poor Kaedyn was so sick :(
Sunday we went to my Mom's to celebrate Thanksgiving before they left for a visit to my step-dad's family. It was sad though, going without Dennis. Note: I couldn't warm up at all Sunday, I was cold all day and this is just a sign to me that I'm getting sick. Figured, I'm catching the cold virus the babies started out their crud with.
Monday - Dennis was told he could come home. The hospital wasn't doing anything for him, he wasn't getting worse or better. So they basically just sent him home with a walker. There was some talk of him possibly going to a nursing home/rehabilitation center.... but they just decided to send him home. So Monday night, my mom took us over to Seattle to get him! YAY!
(above) the ferry pulled in for all of us to get one. Nathan had been so excited to go on the "Big Boat" ... and we were going on a way we never went on before, on the car. (below) ... after Nathan woke up sitting below in the van after the ferry started to move, we went up top to sit.
Nathan not wanting his picture taken.
Kaedyn found something to do!
Seattle from the car area - pulling up - on the ferry.
Monday & Tuesday I was coughing some, Tuesday I was just worried about making sure Dennis was supported with getting around the apartment. By the time we got home Tuesday night ... I was so sick. I started running a temp, I was so cold I was shivering and shaking... sick I was.
Wednesday morning, I couldn't function. My temp was 102, I couldn't warm up. Dennis had an appointment with PT that morning, and Cal had an appt with our Dr. I called and cancelled both... but Dennis called the nurses, to ask them what I could take for the fever since I'm not allowed to take over the counter pain meds thanks to my liver. They wanted me in right away though, between my cough and my fever, they thought I needed to get seen ASAP. So I drove myself (because no one else could) ... into the Dr.
So I went in. After some time with the DR... her jokes about seeing one of us every day that week, and a chest x-ray - she sent me home with antibiotics, steroid inhaler, and nebulizer albuteral because I had full-blown pneumonia!! I had gone from a random cough Monday & Tuesday to full blown pneumonia Tuesday night!
I'm so sick right now I just want to cry! However, Dennis is doing better... he's been pushing himself A LOT has been able to get up and walk around the apartment on his own.
Cal is coughing a ton and Noah (surprise surprise) seems to have escaped this non-sense...
As many of you know, who read my blog regularly, I have had two premature babies.
Noah Alexander - born weighting 1lb 12.2 oz ...... 13 3/4 inches long.......... born at 33 weeks, the size of a 24 weeker ...
Noah was on a vent for the first 40 hours of his life, then proving all the doctors who said he wouldn't live wrong...... he was off of it!!
With Beanie Baby HOPE ... Noah at his lowest weight - 1lb 11oz at 3 days old...
His itty bitty foot in my hand ....
Nathan Patrick - born weighting 3lbs 4oz .... 15 3/4 inches long ........ born at 36 weeks, the size of a 31 weeker ...
Nathan was constantly under the bili lights ....... I called him my sunbather ... and he was tube fed because he couldn't get nippling a bottle ... thanks to his sub-mucus cleft palate ...
The picture below is of Calahan and Noah looking in on Nathan through his bed... the NICU actually loved this picture - stole it from me (ha ha ha) and asked if they could use it in future publications to talk about how siblings are integrated in the NICU ... of course I said yes!!
I am the Mommy to TWO Preemies! Two babies with medical issues. Two babies who came too early and too small. I've been in the NICU twice, and I've brought home two babies who were under five pounds.
Before having a preemie - you are so naive ... you know there is a world out there of babies who are too small, you know some of them don't make it ... you know it exists but it's the whole IT WON'T HAPPEN TO ME mentality....
It does happen ...
Then you become way to familiar with all the things that can go wrong ... brain bleeds, feeding issues, A's & B's... temperature holding issues, sensory issues, tube feeding, PIC lines, leads and daily weigh ins... not to mention the world of breathing tubes, oxygen... and RSV ...
It's not an easy world to enter into once.... let alone twice.
Educate yourself.... you never know if it could happen to you, or someone you love.......
