Oh. Dear. Lord.

I can't. Even. I've missed months on this blog and only 2.3 million things have happened. I've thought of different ways to handle this. And I'm overwhelmed. Possibly some blog posts that are just pictures and you have to guess what is happening :)

I think I have to just start fresh. Pretend the last few months were boring and nothing happened (yeah right!!) I think I will also have to make these shorter (I know, dry your eyes....:) I am working hard at my new business....Erin Lenninger Fitness and being a Team Beachbody Coach. I love it. It is rewarding, fun, giving me so much and I am dreaming big with it. And so I am devoting my free time to it!

Anyway...here are a few pics of my monkeys from the past few days. We are getting ready for the big wedding! Andrew and Kylie get married on Saturday and we will head to Decorah on Wednesday. Dave is actually working locums in Clinton, IA this week and is camping there! So he will join us in Decorah on Thursday evening. It's complicated, it's busy and it's fun. So, everything is pretty much normal :)


At a new park!

 Kate attended a very fun and hot! birthday for a friend!

 At the library...

 Homemade pudding pops:)

He loves this thing right now:)

He also loves sleeping NOT in his crib....

 and being a firefighter...

 and laughing and being a goon...

 and more sleeping on Mommy....

Someone is excited to stay up and watch some Olympics!

We regularly have superheros in the house...

 This guys is still obsessed with farming and cars... The other night while on the boat and waiting for fireworks, he saw a star and wished to ride a green John Deere tractor with Andy :)

 Kate practicing gymnastics at a local restaurant

 It was a beautiful night, we ate, played on the beach, watched a lighted boat parade and then fireworks, all from the boat:) 

 Super goon:)

I'll try to post more! I promise!

Home!!

We are home! It was pretty touch and go there for awhile today, we didn't think we were on the path to discharge yesterday morning, certainly. But here we are, home!

Friday was good, with a few rough spots. But I'll take that over Thursay- which was a mostly rough with a few good spots! :)

Friday
She had a problem with her IV when trying to get her 4 a.m. IV torodal dose....she was screaming that it hurt and we couldn't give it to her :( We were able to give the oral Oxycodone and she went back to sleep. But we didn't get one of her doses of another med in the morning and so we didn't quite keep up on the pain control, which meant....plenty of tears and not much movement. She also would only take a few bites of any food.

I COULD NOT sleep in the chair that I thought I could last night, mom was on the oh-so-comfy couch (yeah, right) so I ended up on climbing into bed with Kate. That was perfect. We were woken by Surgical Rounds at 7 a.m. I had a goal of showering :) Mom and I ordered a late breakfast and Dr. Le also came by. I was fresh out of the shower with my hair up in a towel:) but he said we could take the drain out after lunch and it might still be possible to get home.

She was in quite a bit of pain, so we ended up giving a dose of morphine through the IV - painful and she was screaming but we powered through. Dave made it to the hospital at 10 a.m. and we had some visitors stop by as well! Miss Chris, Rylee and Lexee stopped by and Kate was up and in the chair by then, on top of pain control and talking more - perfect! We made her walk a bit and she started to get a little worn out. So, we put her back in bed, I finished getting ready. Mom stayed with Kate while Dave and I went out to find a good cup of coffee and we were back at noon - the Badgers were going to stop by!

We gave her the iPad and tried to comb through that hair!
It will do until we can get home and really clean her up

We had a nice young woman and young man with the Badger Swimming & Diving Team stop by to see Kate and give her a shirt:) Kate really lit up and was super happy to get her picture taken with them. We got her up again soon after and she sat on the couch and watched some Big Ten swimming and diving videos on You Tube:)

This not a great picture, but she really lit up for them, very cool moment

Watching Big Ten diving

We kept up with meds and tried to let her rest too. About 1:30 p.m. one of the surgical residents (I don't know who he was but he had a GREAT bedside manner) came by to pull out her drain. She was very nervous about it and started screaming when he just did the tape. They did it super slowly and it took forever. They had one stitch keeping it in place and he cut that and then pulled the drain out. Not pleasant for her. But yay for having the drain out!!

Sitting on the couch!
These milestones meant so much to me -
she screamed, screamed, screamed when we tried to move her on Thursday

After that, we went for a wagon ride to the playroom. She was excited and we wheeled her in and she went right to the table and wanted to play play-dough. I got teary watching her act so normal for a bit. She was talkative and moving (slowly) and smiling and happy. She colored, played in the kitchen and then she seemed a little worn out. So, we got back in the wagon and headed back.

Another moment that brought happy tears

She couldn't pass up a cool kitchen/grocery store!

She rested and then we met with an NP who talked about discharge. We had the nurse come in and take out the IVs. Hmm...umm...not the best time. She had some huge ones in and that was hard. And a bit bloody. But yeah!! getting things disconnected!

We packed up the massive amount of stuff we had accumulated, got some meds, said goodbye to the awesome staff and headed out!

When we got back from our journey to the playroom, she had another delivery!

The 5th floor Pediatric Surgical Unit was "Woods" themed
I loved all the artwork!

Packing up and leaving....Daddy walking Kate's cow down to the truck!

Ready to leave that room!

The car ride was not awesome. Rainy and too bumpy. We put Kate in Collin's car seat and propped her the best we could. She did have meds on board, and she dozed some. We arrived home to a table full of more gifts (we are so overwhelmed!) and Ron, Bobbi and the boys! They had made chili and Kate cuddled up on the couch with Dave. The boys did really well with not jumping on her:) We put the boys to bed and let Kate sit up for a little while. Got her set up in her OWN ROOM and kissed her goodnight. She is still wincing a lot and having some pain. Her drain was kind of leaking and we had to put a bigger bandage on that while she was going to the bathroom. She is complaining of pain on that side. We put a towel under her for bed tonight.

She was in good spirits right when we left, but soon we didn't like the bumpy road

I meant to post this yesterday, but I'm rather exhausted and feel like I can't remember my own name right now:)

We are home. We are happy. I have a little fear that she might have too much pain or need something we can give/do for her, but I'm praying that everything will just keep getting better each day and she'll bounce back soon. Seeing her painless and smiling, talking right now....it feels really special and amazing and I get teary and can't wait for the days when that is our normal again! The doctors have said she should try and eat as normal as she can and resume activity but take it easy and slightly restricted for about a week. We are going to play school by ear, maybe return for a little bit at the end of the week.

We are also completely humbled and emotional about the love and support she/we have received. Truly, it takes our breath away. I have a lot of happy, grateful tears and imagine I will be that way for a few more days:)

I probably will not post as often now, but hope to just keep posting about what our family is up to, whenever I can find a moment to sit down - hmmmm.....we'll see!

Recovering - Thursday Night

It is getting better! 
I am so happy to report that our tough day got better into the evening. She was pretty agitated and I think was just against anything nurse Annie wanted to do :) She started getting more hungry, which was good, and Dave arrived around 4 p.m. ? I hadn't been able to eat lunch yet, so I was diving into some cold quesadillas and she was finally sleeping for a bit. 

Dave was ready to play the tough nurse with her and I was still not wanting to get her anymore upset! But we came up with a pain plan to get her up and moving. Nurse Annie was determined to get her up, at least into a chair, by the end of her shift. 

So, we gave her some medication (the new combo of Torodal and Oxy is working magic now) and we got her ready to move. She was crying and screaming but Dave told her we had to do it and picked her up and took her to the bathroom. She was VERY mad. She went potty and then he set her down and made/helped her walk to the chair. She sat down and after being a little uncomfortable, started calming down. VICTORY!! 

We put on a movie and gave her some more food/liquid. And then Child Life stopped in to see if we wanted to go to the magic show. She did! So we asked for a wagon and she brought it. We lifted her into it, but she was pretty happy to be in there! We headed down to the awesome playroom and there was magician Ray and one other patient and a mom.  I thought Kate would be apprehensive and shy, maybe even want to leave with so much attention, but no! This girl, just loves to surprise me. She was LOVING IT. Another boy, Levi, showed up. He clearly had a lot more going and he was seven years old. Well, the magic show was awesome, we totally were into it and watching Kate's face was the highlight of my day. She was in complete wonder and would audibly say, "Wow!" and say all the magic words with him. She even helped him do a magic trick and is pretty impressed with herself! 

After the 30 minute show, we went for a little wagon ride around and looked at the cool art on the wall. Then realized she was starting to look a little worn from the activity and headed back to our room for some more meds. She wanted to go back in her chair from the wagon (woo hoo!) and so we did that with less pain and anxiety that time. She ate some more (need to eat with the Oxy) and then started getting sleepy. We are more easily moving her back and forth and she is doing a lot of it on her own - yay! She finished watching a movie, Face Timed with grandparents (Mom arrived a little before 8 p.m. too! Girls slumber party tonight:) and then we received a bedside commode :) brought in for the night, to make it easier, though tomorrow we need to go all the way to the bathroom.

She has already gone twice on it and it went well. She has some belly pain after getting back into bed, but that is better! She is also not loving the Colace pill (first pill she has ever taken) but she is doing that twice a day. She has now been asleep for almost an hour and is sleeping well. I think tonight will be so, so much better. We have made a plan with Nurse Katie to stay on top of those meds and hopefully that can happen.

We are still hoping for a discharge tomorrow. I was nervous about that this afternoon, but with these late strides tonight...I'm hoping we can do it! Her drain is still in, and it is normal, so hopefully we can pull that in the morning. Surgery Rounds will come around tomorrow, along with her Dr. Le and we will see!

I wanted to push out that positive news, I'm so proud of her. I feel a little bad that maybe I wasn't pushing her enough over the last 24 hours, but I think it was a pain thing. She was just in too much and now it is better controlled. Having Daddy here didn't hurt either:)

Here's to a good night for everyone!

Recovering - Thursday

Hello everyone! 
Well, again - Dave and I are just so thrilled that the surgery went as well as it did. But we now set out on the road to recovery.

Pre/Post Op Room
Not super comfy but oh well

The surgery
It was long. They went slow and steady, took their time and were able to stay laparoscopic! She has four teeny, tiny holes covered by steri-strips/drain and then one larger incision near her belly button - that is where they took the liver wedge/lesion out...whole. They waited for pathology while in the OR to make sure they didn't leave anything behind and got it all. So, there was some time. And they made sure that they watched that liver and "cleaned" up in there:) She had very minimal blood loss which is amazing. She was very stable throughout the case and was a "rockstar." And her surgeron, Dr. Le, cut her bandage into the shape of a heart. We've been told that they never see that - Katie was well cared for by her surgical team. 

Her poor belly - though still "lap" so it could be so much worse!
The heart helps:)

Dr. Le came back to talk to us and gave us some pictures of this dang mass. It is kind of gross. And wow - looks like it shouldn't be there. He said those preliminary pathology reports were looking benign and that recurrence should be unlikely. 

Sorry. Just in case you wanted to see
Glad they got that thing out

Just a little bit later, we were able to go back to PACU to see her. It is rough seeing them like that, but I was so glad to lay eyes on her:) Her nurse, Charlene, was great and made room so I could climb into bed with her:) She was groggy of course, had two IVs (they had already pulled the art line) and her drain. She was very warm. It was warm back there for sure. But she was just so flush and red and felt like she was burning up. She was up to 101 degrees and but we think it was all the blankets, her hat, etc. They do a good job of making sure the little ones don't get too cold!

Both our anesthetist and anesthesiologist stopped by to see her (hmm....seems a little redundant?!?! :) but they were both wonderful). So, after giving her some Tylenol for the fever and watching that awhile, we were transferred upstairs to her room. We are on 5th floor here at AFCH. 

We got up to the room between 5:40-6 p.m., I think? She was cooling down and still kind of groggy. When she was waking up, she was asking about school, afraid she had missed some thing:) Then she started telling us about bison. :) Maybe my favorite moment after seeing her...she is doing an animal project and picked bison and so we got a bunch of bison facts!

Finally sleeping!!

In PACU and up in the room, she was very thirsty and she was tolerating water well, so that was awesome. She wanted some jello, so we ordered her some of that. She also wanted to sit up pretty badly, but that doesn't feel very good. :(  

It is all getting to be a blur, we were having her deep breath (which is actually hard for her and hurts too) through some of the acute pain. Getting situated and comfortable is hard. When she does sleep and then wakes up, she is annoyed with the IVs in each hand but is fine after that.

It is pretty uncomfortable for her to move much, so we have been using a fracture pan (bed pan) for her. She started going potty in the night and lots of it! That was difficult, as she cried out that she needed to go in the middle of the night and I wasn't sure what to do. I pushed the call button and a guy came in who I couldn't hear/understand very well. He was somewhat helpful, but one of the times, she needed to go and wanted to go into the bathroom and he started taking vitals. I was super frustrated. I got a pan under her in time. 

She had a couple instances of sleeping well for about 1.5/2 hours at a time. This morning, we were both woken by Surgery Rounds, between 6:30-7 a.m. They were all very nice. Don't have any concerns, but she needs to try and move more and eat more. 

She is currently getting morphine as needed every 2 hours, though she has gone a little longer. But it is better if we stay on top of it. They are totally full on this floor right now, so the nurses are busy and working hard. She also gets Tylenol every 6 hours and they are about to start Torodal (?) as well. I'm hoping that gives her a lot more comfort and we can try for those goals of movement and food. 

Her drain is fine. Nothing draining yet (not much going in either) and they will have to leave that until she is eating more to watch it. Might be in until tomorrow now. The place in her belly that it comes out...it is kind of leaky, they are not concerned but that is making her a little wet too. I'm anxious for some fresh linens for her and maybe some new pajamas. A bed bath is coming up next. Along with hopefully getting up and standing near the bed. 

Thursday morning. Not too many smiles right now.
But she is a trooper

UPDATE: I was going to post this hours ago, but we got busy. She did have a little sponge bath. She is still marked up but the iodine stuff is mostly wiped off. New jammies. Then she rested for about 15 minutes and then the nurse manager met with us - so nice. Then Jesse Simpson stopped by to visit. Kate watched Frozen (and still is). I think I should turn it off so she can rest though. No recent complaints of pain!! Not for awhile. 

I'm so happy when she really falls asleep - but it is never for very long

But her pad under her is soaking wet. Some of it might be from going potty in the fracture pan, but I'm a little worried it is still her drain. She also now has fluid in her drain bulb. So, we will be checking on all that now. They unhooked her from some of the monitors  - not continuously monitoring heart rate, breathing and O2 sat anymore, she was keeping all those number just fine. 

Dave is done with work and on his way to us! I think that will perk Kate up. She tried to sit on the side of the bed, and did it. But ended up in tears and we had to put her back :( We are not going to have the boys come down and visit today. I think it might be too much for her today. 

I'm going to post this before we have a bunch of things interrupting us:) More later hopefully. Please pray that she continues to eat more and can withstand the pain and yuckiness that comes from moving around. Thank you! 

Almost Done

It is good to know people :) 
We have had many visits from CRNAs while waiting. It turns out a CRNA that was in D.C. with Dave, was the one to relieve Luke, Kate's CRNA, this morning! So, she popped in to say hello and tell us a bit. She said the gallbladder was still in and though it was making things a little difficult, they were trucking along. She thought it would be another couple hours (she was in here around 2 p.m.)

Just a bit ago, Luke popped in to say they should be closing within the hour! He said they were still laparoscopic and she was very stable and had very little blood loss. They cancelled her PICU admission for tonight! I am so happy! 

And just now, we got buzzed with the restaurant buzzer that the liver wedge has been removed and is being sent to pathology. Yay!

Hopefully, she wakes up okay (I've heard can be really, really terrible) and we get to go back to PACU soon. After that, we will be admitted to her room somewhere else.

Waiting

Okay. 
Dave and I are in the Pre/Post Op room. Waiting. We just finished getting something to eat (we were STARVING!) Here's how the morning has gone so far. 

Last night was fun, Ron and Bobbi arrived, Dave was on call but got home right as we started to eat supper. The kids played and were loud:) We got the boys to bed and Kate stayed up a little later. She took a shower and picked her special activities to come along and had a Pedialyte popsicle and went to bed! 

I woke her this morning (she was super tired) and we let her just wear her pajamas all the way here. She did great. Collin said he didn't want Katie to go :( Ayden was a hoot. 

We drove and she read books, looked at her Leappad...as we got close to Madison, she started fussing a bit and said her tummy hurt. I started to worry that she wasn't going to handle this well. As we pulled up to the hospital, I started to feel sick myself.

Happy when we started!

Diving in to her activities

The check-in went smooth, 3rd floor, we went right into Pre/Post Op. She climbed on the bed and was perking up. She talked to the nurses and staff, I was so proud!! She decided to bring Leppy (the leopard:) and the new blanket that the nurses from Mile Bluff gave her. There is of course a TV so we put that on for a bit. Many people come in to talk to you, a nurse, child life specialist, nurse anesthetist, anesthesiologist, surgeon, resident, etc. 

Smiling!

Leppy got a tag too:)

Child Life Specialist showing her pictures of the rooms and things she'll see

Not scared!

We put her in pajamas from the hospital, we put on her scrub cap from our nurses back home. they put the cream on her hands for the IVs (to be done once asleep). She picked out this coloring thing that totally kept her occupied. We turned off the TV and she just colored and we talked to people. She was able to pick out her own pillowcase!! So cool. And they had a pink ballerina one - perfect!! 

They decided to give her some Versed and so that was given at about 9:45 a.m. She was still just coloring but actually got pretty quiet. She was starting to get sleepy. I crawled into the bed with her and just laid there. She was coloring and was hiding the picture from me. Then she looked at me and said, "Are you ready to see your fixer upper?"  I almost fell off the bed. SO funny. 

My peeps. Ready to go.

There was a bit of a delay then, she didn't go back until about 10:50 a.m. (not bad! She was the second case in that room) I gave her a big hug and she was totally fine to have them wheel her down to the OR. Dave in his awesome get-up walked down with her. Once in the OR, Dave said she happily jumped over to the table, did as they said and was a dream induction:) We are so proud of her. 

In the OR, Dr. Le did ask to consent her for removal of her gallbladder. It could pose some difficulty for them to avoid it and move around it due to the location of the lesion. So, they are going to just remove it and not mess around. It is possible she will have one night in NICU, just depends on how it goes. 

After Dave came back to the Pre/Post Op room, we hugged :) We grabbed our pager and went out in search of food! The cafeteria is across the street at the "adult" hospital :) but it is an easy walk (enclosed). We ate an insane amount of food and then headed straight back to her room. 

Healthy. But that was all for me.
And then we had dessert.

It's a lot like going to a Texas Roadhouse...

Waiting. He's listening to anesthesia lectures

We just got another text that said the surgery is progressing and she is doing well. I'll try to keep you updated but when we get her back, I'm sure it will be harder to post. I'm sure everything will be fine.

Surgery Tomorrow

Hello, everyone. Here's a quick update with what we know and expect (which is not much, but I'll share what we do..)

First of all, Kate had a great recital on Saturday! We had a nice weekend of playing and getting some things done:) She played hard outside and was definitely tired by the afternoons, but she danced great in all THREE of her dances - complete with wardrobe changes:) 

Super thrilled about taking pictures 

Loved her costume this year!

Tried to do something a little special (oh my gosh, I'm terrible at hair)
By the end, it was all down:)

I didn't send a device with Kate. No need, there were enough!
They just sit in a music room the whole time they are not on stage.

Out to eat after the recital!

We had a lovely Mothers Day, nice weather, special touches and awesome homemade gifts:) Truly wonderful. I was also able to spend it with my mom since she was visiting! BONUS!!  And my gift from the kiddos and Dave is a new bike.  A nice one. One like Mom and Dads....I just have to have one - love it! So, we'll shop that out soon.

Breakfast in bed!

Amazing

Doing what we do.... :) 

It was lovely out on the deck. Taste testing some mimosas for Kylie's shower:)

Evening kayak ride

 Kate went to school Monday and today. She is feeling fine, loves school and I want to keep it as normal as we can! I didn't know what they were planning, but they, of course, spoiled her today and she came home with lots of gifts. She has received a lot of packages in the mail lately and the nurses at the hospital in Mauston even put a bag together for her! She is one loved girl. And Dave and I are mess. We are both crying with all the love and support being shown to our girl....just know that. We are so appreciative. And I need to get more waterproof mascara. 

From the nurses at Dave's work!

What she brought home from school!
It came in this awesome pink bag and they all signed their names on the back :)
And their were cookies!

I got the call today from AFCH that her surgery is schedule for 10:30 a.m. and we are to arrive at 9 a.m. and will meet with Dr. Le and the anesthetist. She should not have to get an IV right away, they will wait until she is asleep. They can give a little something to mellow her out if she is super anxious, depends on the anesthetist we get (said the nurse I talked to).

Her procedure is scheduled for 10:30 am-2:10 pm. :(  That seems really long to me. She said that we have to stay in the hospital but can go to the caf, etc. They give us a pager and we will get updates. She is not to have solids after midnight tonight, only clear liquids until 6:30 a.m. and nothing after 6:30 a.m.

She is home from school and playing with the boys. She doesn't seem nervous at all yet. She is excited because she had some cookies that her friends sent home and she gets to have some jelly beans that the Petersons sent :) We will have to leave the house before or around 7 a.m. tomorrow, so I hope she can get to bed at a good time and fall asleep.

Ron and Bobbi should arrive anytime now. Dave is on call today but hopefully he can come home soon. We are not totally sure how the logistics of the next few days will go. I will be down with Kate in the hospital until she is released. Others may come and go, Dave is supposed to work Thursday and Friday still.

I hope I can give updates easily in the next few days. If nothing else, I will be texting immediate family members and they can push the updates out. But I'm sure I can hope online and post on how it is going.

Thank you for the thoughts and prayers, we feel it, we trust it and are so grateful to you all!