Reflections

Visitors

We've had quite the time this last week. Dad and Angie left early Thursday morning and friends from Utah came Saturday. Sean and Liz Williams(friends from Sacramento) brought their little girl, Kate, who just turned 2! What a cutie. We had a great time together but not nearly enough of it. We went out to the "Mini Gran Prix" and rode go carts, the BIG slide, and the dragon coaster. Livi even got to do little go carts all by herself. She was so nervous at first the worker rode around the track with her while standing on the side of the cart. Then she was so excited, when he got off she would wave enthusiastically to us and forget to watch where she was going...head first into the tire border. She loved it regardless. Aaron surprisingly had grown a good couple of inches since the last time we were there on Mother's Day weekend with Papa T and Grandma Susie, 'cause this time he was big enough to go on the dragon coaster...he is definitely a little thrill seeker. Livi did the coaster for the 2nd time this time...didn't like it so much. Little Kate LOVED the slide. She went down it 8 times! The first time she came down she had absolutely no expression on her face but she kept going back for more. Fun times. We had lunch at Jason's Deli and then after naps went to the infamous water park. Aaron was his usual self, Kate joined in the fun and eventually Livi played on the wild side. Just a little. It was great to spend the day with the Williams and to be reminded that distance only separates our physical bodies, not our friendship and love for one another.

As far as the picture goes...it actually says alot about the three different personalities of the kids. Livi loves love, Aaron is enthusiastic about everything, and Kate, well Kate is like marble cake with icing. Very calm on the outside, likes to know what's going on but very energetic underneath. In this picture, it's pretty clear she doesn't quite know what's going on. For more great pics, check out our friends' blog to the right!

Sunday was another day of visitors. Two girls, sisters, from my YW church group in Sacramento had flown into town for EFY at UNLV and were able to visit with us. Bri and Leena were brought over for a time by their mom's cousin Carol and played with the kids. The girls babysat for me quite a bit while Bill was in training. It was so great to see my kids having so much fun with friends from Sacramento.

Deja vu...almost

Sunday night, Monday morning, 1am Livi was having extreme abdominal pain. At 3:30am, after consulting with Dr. Bernstein, I took her in to Sunrise Hospital's emergency room. She was scheduled to have a follow up CT-scan Tuesday, so Dr. Bernstein wanted to go ahead and get it done along with blood tests and x-rays, all a very regular thing in our lives now. Anyways, they took x-rays right off and found that she was constipated. Some of you may be wondering why we didn't know that, well...when regular for your child is every other day, and that's been happening constipation is the last thing on your mind. They also wanted to do a CT-scan to see how her pancreas was doing, so, she had to drink contrast, AKA barium. She got half way through the 8 oz drink and puked it all up. Then they wanted her to take Malcitrate (a fast acting laxative) she got 1/2 was through that 2oz drink and puked it up along with the remaining contrast. A few hours later, one more try on the Malcitrate...that's gonna be a no go...more puke. A few more hours to let the tummy rest and one more shot of the contrast. She has to drink 8 oz of fluid in 45min max, sounds pretty easy huh? For a girl who maybe eats a total of 6oz/day that's a big fish to swallow. After 45 min she had successfully kept down 4 oz, the nurse secretly dumped the remaining 4! The scan showed a "change" from the last scan, and so while doctors played phone tag to figure out the "change" good or bad, we continued to wait in the ER. Livi had a bed, I had an upright chair. 15 hours from when we came in, we were released having learned that there was a slight improvement in the pancreas. WHEW, but UUUGGGHHHH! Bill had stayed home from work with Aaron and when we got home to them everything was back as it should be. Dr. Bernstein called to see how we were doing and Livi started crying and said she missed him.

We're good. Livi's doing great and most importantly we're still on track for our family camping trip this next week!!!

Livi's love for Aaron

As Livi and I were leaving for the hospital in the wee hours of Monday morning she started to cry. She was emotional and has been a bit more so since all the trauma in her life, but the things that she says stop me in my tracks and make me grateful for a child who is so in tune. She said, "I'm scared. Aaron's going to be so sad when he wakes up and doesn't know where I am. I won't be there for him." Upon getting released from the hospital she said, through tears, "I'm so excited to see Aaron. I've been away from him for too long." The love that Aaron and Olivia have for one another is such a blessing to witness.

Deep Thoughts
Olivia has this brain that is constantly working. The other day after her bandage had come off inadvertently, we had to change her dressing, which is quite the process. We have to use 6 betadine and 6 alcohol swabs to clean and then re-bandage. She hates it! Her prayer that night, "thank you that we could do the 6's good and that we won't have to do them again." Today she was able to go "needless" so we got to swim! After swimming with our friends, the McMillans, she yelled, "let's go home and have BBQ'd hot dogs with needless Livi!" Tonight I reaccessed her without any nurses around. She was great and even tried helping.


It down right stinks that she is having to go through this. Whenever she knows a needle is going in or out of her port, she gets so anxious and "just want(s) it done now! But she always says,"I'm really trying not to be scared. I'm trying to be brave." Lately I've really been taking the time to explain to her that if she wasn't scared she couldn't be brave. "Being brave is what you are if you do something that you're scared of." She's doing so great and we are so proud of our Livi!




This picture is from 2 weeks ago. I thought the sky was beautiful and fitting as a backdrop for Olivia. She is fighting so hard, being so brave...there are definite storms surrounding her, but she remains so strong.