RMH and Drain Trial....Take 2....

We arrived at the Ronald McDonald House Sunday to visit with some friends before our surgery on Monday. Our friends, the Smith Family, hopefully will not have to be back for another year. :) They are a very awesome family and should you have time to stop by her blog and read it, she has blogged her journey from a foster family through their journey to adopt their daughter. They are just an awesome family.

They have this awesome soda shop by their home. It is called the Soda Pop Ranch. They were telling me about all these awesome types of Soda they have there. One was called the Rat Bastard Root Beer. I almost died. As a term of endearment I would tease and call Darren a Rat Bastard. Then my step dad picked it up low and behold, Rat Bastard he is. Kristen's family gave Lindsay a goodie bag for the hospital and she told me that there were glass bottles in there. Sunday night/Early hours Monday morning I was unpacking and repacking at the RMH and I opened the tissue paper to find this bottle. I laughed hysterically. Thank You the Smith Family!!! You made my day!!!


Sunday Night also include the kids playing and hanging in the playroom. Baylie, Ashlyn S and Lindsay had a great time. They were so good together. Baylie had her 3rd decompression surgery Monday.
Of course, a necessary picture of Fayeth because you CANNOT have the camera out and not have a picture of her.

Monday morning Lindsay was not really thrilled with the fasting. She survived. They told us that Lindsay's surgery was at 1:10pm. We arrived at the hospital at 11am after riding the bus with another little girl who told us that she was homeschooled. Lindsay thought that was super cool.

Lindsay was super brave and even watched as our friend Amanda headed off to surgery just before us.


Lindsay with Cuddles. Her friend Bridgett and Jackson built it for her. Cuddles went with her to the OR.

Fayeth giving Lindsay a kiss before it was time to head off for surgery. Lindsay never cried. A bit apprehensive, but never cried or fought.
Lindsay in her room K-568 eating lunch. PACU was kind enough to give her a menu so she knew what she wanted when she got up to Comer 5. This child was a human garbage can. Anything that went near her mouth she ate.
Lindsay cuddling with Cuddles and Little Lindsay. Lexi the Child Life Specialist brought Lindsay Little Lindsay after surgery. Lindsay was so excited. Lexi also gave Lindsay play-doh for her back pain. She could squeeze the play-doh when her back was spasming.


Fayeth giving Lindsay water. Fayeth is the best Baby-Baby sister one could ask for according to Lindsay.
See Mommy, I really am a little angel!!!
Frim seemed quite surprised when he called us after her surgery to tell us the results. He had told the anesthiesiology resident that Lindsay had slightly elevated pressure. Yep, 21 is slightly elevated. * rolls eyes * So imagine our surprise when he said 30. OMG! I walked back to Darren and Tommi and said, her pressure was 30. Tommi's mom asked us if 30 was good and Tommi told her, "Oh heck no!"

Frim is very concerned about Lindsay's neurocognitive status. She had neuropsych testing done in May. Frim feels that he wants it done again Thursday/Friday to see where she is at now and to see what damage has been done. (Hopefully none) But we can tell the difference in her when she has an LP and when she does not. So we will see. We are standing in a very scarey place. However thus far God has answered our prayers. We asked for CLEAR and OBVIOUS answers. So please continue to pray that God provides us with the knowledge and clarity to do as he wishes for us to do.

Lindsay is doing well. She is still using morphine for her back pain and spasms. She was having some vomiting/nausea and they got Zofran ordered which has helped her tummy tremendously.

She started draining off fluid rather slowly. I was concerned that her tubing was kinked. The nurse checked it out and them paged Judy (Frim's NP) and she said that she was not surprised that Lindsay was draining so slowly. She had lost a ton of cerebral spinal fluid in the OR and she was needing time to build back up. Frim came in around 8:45 and fidgeted with her drain. He said she was draining a little slowly for his liking but we would keep an eye on her and her tubing overnight and see how she did. Now the child is draining like there is no tomorrow. She put out 35 cc in 90 minutes. She says her headpain went from a 5 to a 2 and this is "tolerable" and her back pain is still a 5. They just gave her some morphine and she has just drifted off to sleep. There will be little rest for me tonight. They will be in every 2 hours to check her drain and empty it.

I just checked the drain and we are at 21 cc out in 55 minutes. Hopefully she will continue to feel better. I will try to update tomorrow.