NO MORE MONKEYS...

You know the song No more monkeys jumping on the bed? Well, the moral we know to be true. Except there weren't any monkeys on the bed or jumping. We had an Arlee climbing on her daddy's back. I guess this is close enough and it will have to do.
Friday last week was pretty crazy around 4PM. Hans and I were trying to clean up the house and get some other things done. Hans was holding a fussy Lydia and Arlee was trying to get him to play. She was climbing on his back and lost her footing and down she went like Humpty Dumpty. who had a great fall.
She was crying and I went and picked her up off the floor. When she falls like any parent, I checked for any blood, bumps or anything out of place. Well... something was out of place. I looked at her face, mouth and head, but I didn't see anything wrong. It wasn't until I touched her forearm that I noticed something nasty, gross and rather out of the ordinary. I quickly moved my hand back and said, "Hans I think Arlee broke her arm." I was holding back tears- Hans says. Hans said, "She does!" frantically as he popped off the bed with Lydia still in his arms.
He put Lydia down and ran and got his shoes and said, "We need to go to the hospital." Hans was ready so fast, but I wanted to take her too. So we got Lydia ready and grabbed Arlee's blue blanket and off we went. Arlee only cried for about 10 minutes and then fell asleep in the car. Hans and I were shocked. This is amazing. She is such a champ. We got to the ER and waited for about 30 minutes.
Then got some X-rays and sure enough our little monkey/ Humpty Dumpty needed to be put back together again. She broke both the bones in her forearm. They put a splint on her and told us to call the doctor on Monday and see when we could come in. After about a week they would put a cast on her.

Getting wrapped up

 After we got home she watched a movie and took it easy. It was hard for her not to get up and dance to the music, but for the most part she did really well. She was icing her arm at this point.

 After doing this we had to go out and get her new shirts. The ones that we had for her we couldn't get her arm in.

 On Monday I got her arm "waterproofed" with 2 grocery sacks and tape. Turns out it wasn't so waterproof. The grocery sacks leak. So I called the doctor and asked what they wanted me to do. They were going to call us anyway to come in, but I guess I beat them too it. The doctor wanted to look at her arm himself and take more x-rays. After seeing the x-rays it was obvious what needed to be done. We had to take her in the next day (today) and put her out to realign the bones. Her radius was 35 degrees off where it should be. There was no way that a cast was going to correct it. We needed to do it quickly too since little kids bones heal or harden so quickly after something like this. Adults- not so much! This through us for a loop since this is not what we were told in the ER a few days earlier. Honestly, it really frustrated me. I kept thinking, 'how is this little messed up arm going to heal the right way when it looks like the pictures below?' I guess I was right in thinking that. There was no way.
Of course, this is going to make me nervous, but it is what needed to be done. Our poor little Arlee. After we left the doctors I was started thinking. "What am I going to do? I am nursing and I need to be with Arlee. Hans is working- is he going to be able to get off. Hopefully I can figure something out." I called Hans and told him the news. He was pretty surprised and then told me that he would call the other pharmacist and see what they could work out. After I got home and got the girls unloaded and happy. I called my friend, Sara Coyle and told her what was going on. She asked me if I was a little stressed out? After that question I really started to think about it and sure enough I started crying. To tell you the truth I don't do very well with the anesthesia and I knew Arlee probably wouldn't  like it either. Sara and I talked for a little bit and I calmed down. I was okay and everything that I was worried about was getting better. Sara said that she would watch Lydia for us so I could at least be there.
Hans called me a little later and told me that he would be able to make it. This was a huge relief.

This was taken at the doctors on Monday after the bath.

 As you can tell it is not normal at all

 Arlee smiling away. She is such a tough little girl.

The next day (today) was surgery day. We were to there at 6:30 AM. I dropped off Lydia at Sara's and nursed her and met up with Hans and Arlee. The only thing that I missed was getting her dressed .

 You have to admit. She looks pretty cute. In the picture above she was telling us to take off the bracelet.

 The nurses were great with her. This nurse got a mask on and had Arlee color her a face on it. We also drew spiders and ducks on it too. Arlee loves drawing ducks-started with her potty training charts. We made sure to tell Arlee this isn't okay to draw on our own faces and she agreed. Smart girl.

 They showed Arlee the gas mask and had her play with it. They even put stickers on it for her. They showed her how she could smell it and blow into it. This is to help her when putting her to sleep.

 Hans and Arlee colored together too.

 They also gave her this toy to play with after they gave her some drugs to relax. She got pretty funny after that. Her speech got to be a little lazy and she started laughing about things. That was a good time.

Once she was relaxed then it was time to take her back to the operating room. Hans and I went out to the waiting room. After about a half hour a nurse came out and you could hear someone screaming. Then she said, "Can you hear her?" Then I said that is Arlee? I couldn't wait to go back and comfort her.  Five minutes later they came and got us. We walked back to a room full of nurses and Arlee screaming. She was not a happy camper. The poor thing was so upset. I took her and tried to comfort her while Hans talked with the anesthesiologist. She kept saying it hurts and we kept trying to figure out what she was talking about. Then she got even more mad. She would calm down and start right back up again. This went on for what seemed like forever. She kept trying to rip out the IV, which was put into her elbow pit as I call it. She had to keep her arm straight or it would hurt more. She didn't keep it straight. She wanted it out.
Anytime that a nurse would come in and touch her Arlee would start screaming and bending her arm again. They wanted her to drink juice before she could go home, but I didn't bring her sippy cup and I guess she had to have it. After trying to convince her to drink it we decided to just put it in a syringe and force her to swallow it. Once she got some of it down we could give medicine and take the IV out. Once that was done and over with she was better and did not scream anymore. Nice now we can go home...

Now that we are home. She is sleeping so perfectly. They said that she would be pretty groggy and she is just that. I hope she sleeps tonight. After waking up that early we all need some good sleep.  Here's to hoping.

YEA!!!!!

I have been so lucky these last six weeks. Lets just say that I am very excited that it finally worked. My ear surgery went great as some of you may have read. Not only did it go really well in the operating room, but during recovery too. I went to my doctor appointment a couple of days ago and he said that my packing (stuff that holds the ear drum in place so it can take to the graft) is gone. YEA!!! What does this mean?! I can start blowing my nose, air plane rides, etc. The only thing that I should refrain from is getting water in it until he clears me; hopefully in April.  Blood vessles look great so that means that they have taken to the graft, which is a really good sign I shouldn't have another surgery. 
Just a side note: I had a hearing test and voices I can hear better, but pitches are still about the same with little or no improvement.  I am glad that I am hearing voices better. since that seems to be the thing that I struggle with on a daily basis when people are talking to me. If any of you would like me to hear you really well either talk right in front or on the left of me. If you are on the right and I am not looking at you and you are trying to be quite, I cannot promise any reaction. Just saying.

Thank you for the prayers and support on my behalf it means a lot.

Love you all,

Chels

P.S.
Not sure if this is a good thing all the time, but I can actually hear Arlee when she wakes up and I am sleeping on my good ear. WOOOOooooo WHOoooo!

2nd Ear Surgery: Jan. 14, 2010

Well as you can tell I had my ear surgery. This time around wasn't nearly as bad. The day started off with us dropping Arlee off at my parents’ house. We got to the surgical center on time and checked in (10:30 AM). They said that my doctor was ahead of schedule; which is always great.  They had me do a pregnancy test like they do for all women and it was negative. I was able to have surgery now.  My doctor came in and talked to me and marked me up so they didn't operate on the wrong ear. Then the anesthesiologist came in and talked with me about the procedure and everything that was going to happen on her part.  She was a pretty funny lady and a joy to talk to. She even asked Hans if I was always this funny and he told her yes. *People have asked Hans this before, but other than today I don't really remember him laughing at me. After we were done talking she put in the IV and took me away. We walked into a room (about 11:45AM) that had two other people in it.  They had me lie on the bed and put some oxygen on me and the next thing I remember is waking up. 
I woke up in pain, cold, itchy, splotchy and feeling like I was going to throw up. I dry heaved Hans told me a couple of times, but never threw up. They gave me some nausea medication anyway. They put a wet wash cloth on my chest where I was splotchy and an ice pack on my neck to cool me off and to help with my nausea.   I got better really quick it seemed like. I kept on falling back asleep so Hans told me that if I keep doing this they were going to keep me here. I don't really remember keeping myself awake, but I guess I woke up enough to go. Hans and the nurse got me dressed (wished it was just Hans, but oh well). Then the next thing I knew I was in the car. Three days after the surgery and I still can't remember getting into the wheelchair and going out to the car. Hans assures me that I didn't walk out, but I am a little skeptical; just joking.
We went and picked up my prescriptions and I pretended that I was sleeping so they wouldn't try and talk to me (too emotional and loopy).  We got home and walking up the stairs was a little tricky... Hans really had to hold on to me.  After we got home (around 6PM) Hans called my mom and told her that she could bring Arlee home.   
My mom came with Arlee and Kasiah. Hans went down to get my throw up bag (I started feeling nauseous again) and to help get all of Arlee's stuff up. By the time Hans came back up with everyone else and gave me the bag I lost it again. I move too fast because something spilled and I think that was all I needed... just a little thrust and it came up. Luckily, I didn't really have anything but sprite, but still nasty. Kasiah and Arlee played for a little while. My mom was waiting for Brady to come and get Kasiah (she cut her hair by herself and they were going to try and get it fixed by Dane's fiancé, Lindsay). For some reason, they weren't going anymore and Brady and Sarah (Brady's girlfriend) came up and visited for a little bit. My mom then took Brady and Kasiah home with her and Sarah went home.
I was feeling well enough to help put Arlee to bed. Hans and I got her in bed and then relaxed as much as we could.  I couldn't sleep at all that night. I woke up about every 10 minutes wondering if it was time to get up yet. I then woke Hans up at 1AM and asked him to bring me some pain meds. He got up and took care of me. I thought it was so great to have him there and so willing to help too. It really put me at ease too.  After taking the medicine I still wasn't able to sleep, but at least I wasn't in a lot of pain anymore.
Day 2: Hans had to work 9-7PM so my mom came over from 8-1PM and Hans' mom from 1-8PM until we took her home.  My mom made Arlee and I lunch and helped me clean up a little bit around the house. She tried taking Arlee to the bathroom, but she wanted me so I had to get up and help her with that also putting her down for a nap. Other than that my mom did most everything. Hans' mom came took over while Arlee was still sleeping so we watched The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas.  She hadn't seen it before and I had it recorded. After watching that and talking for a while, Arlee woke up. We played with her and watched a movie with her. Ulla ordered pizza so we ate that for dinner. After dinner Arlee played for a little while.
Hans got home so he ate dinner (pizza) and then we got Arlee in her pjs. I wanted to get out of the house so Arlee and I went with Hans to take Ulla home. Hans' brother and sister had dates over so we went inside to see what they looked like. We talked with them for a little bit and then they wanted us to play Catch Phrase (a game) with them. Hans and I played once and then decided we should go.
We got home and put Arlee right to bed and I watched a movie. After the movie we went to bed. Let me just say that I felt like I was in heaven compared to the night before... I slept like a baby.
Day 3: Sunday... We went to church at Kali and Shawn's ward. They were speaking so we thought that we would go and see them. They did great. While we were there Arlee hit me in the ear 3 times and my mom hit me once. I only cried the time that my mom hit me. I guess I was more prepared for Arlee to hit me as she hugged me than my mom hitting me while she was talking (with her hands) while I was bending down to grab something of Arlee's. My mom and Arlee hitting me were accidents, but they still hurt the same.
After church we went home and put Arlee down for a nap before heading over to my parents for Abbie's birthday dinner.  We had tacos for dinner and scones for her dessert. I know that scones aren't really a birthday dessert, but she didn't really even want to have dessert. (I don't have cake either) A little bit after dessert we went home... I was pretty tired and wanted to relax.
Day 4: Today I was home all by myself. Hans didn't go to work until 1, but for the most part it was just me and Arlee. It went okay today. Arlee seemed to rebel more today than other days, but it was okay. Now it is just time to get all better and no more surgeries!  I hope anyway.
For some reason Blogger is not letting me post a picture so I will post it another time.

Another one for me!

So it looks like it is another bad news post.... I need to have ear surgery again. With the surgeries they take a graft and place it on my ear drum to seal up the hole. Since the hole is on the very outside of my drum they can't just patch it up with a paper patch, they have to put me out.  With being put out I cannot be pregnant when I have the surgery. : ( I also have to wait until nine months after I had my last surgery for a reason that I cannot remember right now.  This would make the nine months around December 30th.  Yeah a few more months away! So right now I am not sure if I am going to wait to get pregnant until after then or get pregnant and have the surgery a few months after having a baby. I am not sure which is worse. My doctor said that it is not a surgery that is time sensitive, but I am prone to more ear infections and I cannot get any water in my ear until it is sealed to prevent the infections.
Can you believe all of this?  It is just crazy... not really sure what I am going to do, but I am hoping whatever I decide it is the right thing.

Chels

Ear Surgery 4/07/2010 and Update

I went in for ear surgery on April 7, 2010.  My mom  took me to the hospital and watched over Arlee.  Hans was at school and worked a 3-10 PM shift after school.  My mom was about ready to pull her hair out.  Arlee had been sick for about a week at this point.  She wasn't able to be over at my parent's house since there are people who are healthy over there.  So my poor mom had to watch Arlee over at my house.  Let me tell you that this is not an easy task when Arlee is healthy.  She is usually fussy with anyone that isn't me or Hans.  So to make it worse my mom had to watch her when she was sick too. 

So my mom dropped me off and left with Arlee.  I had to check in and get ready for the surgery.  Usually when I have surgery I am pretty emotional before and after the surgery.  Well, this time no one was with me before so I didn't have anyone to cry to.  I had to be strong and wait there by myself.  When I woke up from the surgery I couldn't do anything but cry.  The poor nurse didn't know what to do with me.  She asked me if I was hurting.  I told her that I was at a two.  She gave me some medicine and it doesn't kick in right away.  Before it kicked in I was at a four and soon after it got even worse.  I was at a six.  She then started giving me a drug that starts with a "D" (Hans could tell you, but I forget what it is called). Anyway, it wasn't working so she gave me about three more shots and said on the fourth one that this should do the trick and the other medicine should be kicking in too.  Well I started throwing up! I couldn't keep my sprite or my water down, but my crackers stayed down.  I threw up about three times and then I was on cloud nine.  The drugs kicked in and now I couldn't stay awake.  They were ready to get rid of me though. 

My mom came in with Arlee about an hour before that, but then the pain got worse so they kept me.  The hospitals haven't been letting anyone under 14 come into the hospital, but my mom needed to come in and get me.  The problem was is that she also had Arlee. So since I wasn't ready when my mom got there she had to wait in a waiting room and take Arlee too.  Hospitals and babies don't mix.  Arlee had it, she wanted me and also wanted to go home.

With me being as sleepy as I was after all the drugs my mom had to come in and help me get dressed!  This was a little weird, but was much appreciated since I couldn't have done it by myself.  My mom told the nurse that she wouldn't be able to help me and take Arlee in there too, since she would want me.  The nurse took her and my mom came in and helped me get dressed.  I still had the bottom half of me mostly dressed, but the top half I wasn't.  I had a gown on that I kept on until I could be dressed a little.  Then my mom had to carefully put my shirt on.  (Still the whole time I was going to fall asleep)  I am sure that it was a lot more difficult then it needed to be.  FINALLY, we were done getting me dressed.  The nurse brought in a wheel chair so I could get in it.  Walking, while sleepy and drugged is not a good thing, but I made it in alive.  The other nurse brought Arlee to me and I held her and wiped off her tears.  Poor little girl!  They wheeled us out and I climbed into the car.  I was so dizzy and sleepy that I just closed my eyes the whole way home.  

When we got home I went to bed and Arlee sat with me for a little bit while my mom went to the restroom.  Then she came and got her and I slept for about an hour and then went down stairs for something to eat.  My mom made me some Ramen Noodles and Arlee had some too.  After we ate dinner we went down stairs and we tried watching a movie. Arlee was really fussy and wanted me and I was falling in and out of sleep.  We decided that it was time for Arlee to go to bed. She went down really easily and my mom and I just talked until Hans got home.  I was so glad to see him when he got home.  My mom was too as anyone could imagine.  My mom took off after letting Hans know what the nurse said about my care.
I told Hans that I really needed him with me today instead of working and going to school.  I couldn't do anything but cry to him after he got home.  I am not saying that my mom did a bad job, but I needed him that day.
Thank you mom for taking care of me and Arlee when it wasn't in the slightess easy for you.  Thanks to Hans for caring for Arlee at night and bringing me home some much needed Sprite.  Arlee thanks for not pulling on my ear when I know that it looked so tempting.  I love you three. 

This is the back of my ear where they took the graft to put over my ear drum.  This is also where they cut so they could operate. 

This is a picture of the front of my ear that has a nasty bloody cotton ball in it (sorry about the grossness), but you get the point... very messy surgery : )

Here is the newest update:

I went in for my post op check up on April 29th.  My doctor said that everything looks good so far.  He took the tape off where my stitches have been so now as you can see in the picture below it is still healing, but shouldn't look much different. Hopefully, a little less red, but I am happy with it.  And the best part I don't have to keep changing out the cotton ball everyday and night.  I hated that part.  Still cannot submerge my head in water, but showering has been made a lot easier.

I am supposed to go and see how the graft help/didn't help my ear drum heal in another month (May 27th). 

Chels