Nerve-wracking day

Well, after 2.5 hours at the dentist with Kerry May, we still have not been able to repair her decayed teeth. She is one amazing little girl -- her stamina is shocking. Both the dentist and the hygienist were very surprised at her sheer strength and will power. She was given a sedative at home an hour before, more sedative when we arrived at the office, and then gas to inhale to relax her. All of these things combined to merely make her silly, "drunk," and just as feisty as ever. She has a temporary repair on her teeth, and our next stop will probably be the operating room. (How we are going to afford that, I have no idea). I am going to talk to the pediatrician about her strange eating behavior -- food holding -- and have her ability to swallow evaluated. She may have enlarged tonsils or who knows what.

At this very moment, "Super Kerry" is as crabby as ever, driving her sister insane, and refusing to take a nap, even though I know she must feel awful and be exhausted -- I know do and am.

Meanwhile, they called from Children's and wanted to schedule Jenica's surgery on May 8th -- her birthday. Needless to say, I said "no." So, it has been scheduled for JUNE 19th. Oh boy. Need to start prepping myself for that now.

After today, I am really glad that there are only two of them.

I need to just go and lie down.

:)

Surgery it is!

Well, it's official -- Jenica will need a balloon procedure to open up that vein. Her 24 hour heart monitoring test came back normal (whew!) but her lung profusion scan showed that her heart is only able to pump 21% to her left lung and 79% on the right. Thus, the reason for the balloon. We will not know if she needs stents until they actually get in there and look around.

This will be a procedure that will require us to stay overnight and, with no complications, go home the next day! Now, we just have to get it scheduled. We are going to finish school, at least.

Thanks everyone for all you good thoughts and wishes. I should know more soon and I'll keep you all posted.

Sisters are for lovin' on

Another gorgeous day... We know they won't last (and ofen don't re-appear until July 5th), so we've been outside as much as possible in the last few days. The girls and I decided that dandelions make the lawn pretty! And they've been rolling in them and acting goofy in general. Spring is certainly in the air!! And we'll take all we can get. :)

New Playset!

We have been wanting to buy one of these for such a long time, but wanted to wait until Kerry May was big enough to handle it. Boy oh boy -- just in the last two days, it's paid for itself! Summer -- here we come!

Children's Visits

We never like actually going to Children's Hospital, but we are very glad they are there. Jenica's health has changed recently and we've had to make a few trips for tests. One good thing about all of this is how pertinent it's been to the unit she has been studying in school on "The Body." She has been so interested in how her heart works, what veins do, how digestion works, etc. The hosptial was a great "hands on" learning adventure and turned it into something fun instead of something scary.

Easter Train

Two Saturdays before Easter we rode the Lake Whatcom Railway. Beautiful day complete with Easter Bunny, banjo music, and an egg hunt. Jenica even made "train friends."

Using the hand cart was another big highlight.

Silliness

But here we are! :)