Shamrock Shakes.

I don’t know. It was the only thing that came to mind when I was trying to thing of a good blog title. If you haven’t ever tried one – you must. (they’re at McDonalds. you’re welcome.) Obviously I just had one earlier today. Because its still at the forefront of my mind. I think I have developed a twisted relationship with food over the past few weeks of living in the hospital. But that’s probably its own whole other blog…

Anyways. On to the stuff you really came here for!

Kendall is continuing to make very good improvements since receiving her transfusion on Saturday night. I should have clarified somewhere in there that those pictures were from last week on the day we got discharged from the sepsis. So while she still looked “sick” in them, she wasn’t the floppy hot mess she was by the time we started transfusing blood! I have a few “before” and “afters”, but i have to download them off my phone and that is just too monumental of a task at the moment. Hopefully tomorrow. Here is a shot of her the morning after transfusion getting a “bath”. We normally just sponge her off. She decided to go swimming. (In the little puke basin we use for bed baths). Such a little nut!

My wonderful mom has been staying with the older girls at our house, and my brother and his wife came up from St. Louis for some family time before a conference they were attending. All of them worked very hard to rearrange and redecorate Kendall’s room into more of a “little girls” room than the medical supply closet it was starting to become. It looks absolutely adorable in there – thank you all so much for the work you did on it! The girls were so excited to show it to me when I got to go home yesterday evening – and they will be even more excited to show it to Kendall when she gets home hopefully tomorrow afternoon!

Right now we have begun “bowel prep” a.k.a. – a “cleanout”. Which is as fun as either of those sound. The worlds hugest jug of stool softener/laxative with added electrolytes is sitting on the sink, and we are pumping it into kendall’s intestines hoping to start literally cleaning all the “stuff” out of the way so they can actually see her intestines with the cameras tomorrow during her scopes. It’s a necessary, but super sucky, evil. I wish I could take the pain away from her. But all I can do is try to keep her distracted and comforted as best as i know how in the confines of the four walls around us, and a few quick elevator rides down to see the fishies.

And in the three hours since I started writing this update – it really has been extremely tough to deal with the screaming/screeching in pain. I’ll spare you the other details. Still no poop. They have even done an x-ray to see if there IS poop in there to be cleaned out. (there is, trust me. She has been pronounced “totally empty and clean” before via x-ray only for me to be dealing with a virtual poop-a-palooza within an hour of getting home multiple times before.) I am beyond grateful for her awesome nurse tonite, who we unfortunately only get until 11:30, but who is working VERY diligently to stay right on top of the anti-nausea meds for kendall, and to help me come up with new fun ways to distract kendall from the pain/cramping/whatever she is dealing with every few minutes. She knows Kendall’s little quirks (like the fact that before you can do anything to kendall, you have to do it to her baby first – temps, BP’s, listening to lungs/tummy), brings her extra alcohol wipes every time she does something bedside (we have a slight obsession with alcohol wipes going on here), and in general is willing to be as goofy as it takes to keep the screaming to a minimum.

So even though it is a rough nite, it is one that will be bearable. I know Jesus is with Kendall in her pain, and I know He will be with her tomorrow during her surgery/procedures. He is providing for our family through so many of you – I am so touched beyond words for what our neighbors (and other random friends of neighbors, and some not so random friends of neighbors) have done for us with their thoughtful gifts. I seriously need to just do a separate post on ALL the amazing ways we have been loved and held through this crazy time. Some of you would probably not believe it even if I told you. And that’s ok. Because its all true. And someday when I am not about to pass out from exhaustion I will tell you all. But those of you who know what you did – whether that was the neighborhood gift card tree or the benefit, or dinner for our family, or schlepping my children to heck and gone or ANYTHING ANYTHING ANYTHING for us – thank you so much. I feel so ever indebted to so many of you. And I know I can never say thank you enough. So I hope that somehow, someway, you all feel our thanks, and are repaid in an amazing way for your generous love showered on our family.

Please pray for poop tonite. I know there are seriously so many other important things to pray for, and so many other children suffering with bigger issues tonite. If you have any extra time before you fall asleep, please just say a little one for some poop for this kiddo. She’s tough as nails, but what we are asking of her poor sore little tummy tonite is quickly becoming too much for her. If we could just get SOME poop out already, they might let us back down, and get her some relief.

Anyways – i’m not even making sense in my own head anymore. (cause sometimes I actually do.) But i’ll try to recline on the hospital bench, and close my eyes, and this might turn into real sleep, which will help me make a little more sense tomorrow.

Thank you so much for being a part of Kendall’s story~

 

terra