Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Today I Smiled Big

 Today I smiled big! Alan's doctor called last night and there was no cancer found in the margin that they removed last Friday. Today Gabby is being released from the hospital after 19 days in the hospital. They just took her picc out and we are waiting on the paper work to take her home. I did skip my second class by the way so I could be here for this happy occasion. Today I smiled because I was so stressed about our final for Functional Assessment. Before our test I was going over things with the classmates and just lost it and started crying. Took the final and past with an A. So today I am smiling that my baby will be back home. We will all be under one roof and be together. Today I smiled big and I am a very happy person. Hugs, Bobbi Jo

Friday, September 24, 2010

UpDate

We hit our 2 week mark for Gabby being in the hospital. She has been such a good patient. The doctors still don't know when she will be able to come home so we are continuing to pray and do all we can to get her better and keep her upbeat & and positive.
 Today I took Alan to have the marginal surgery done on his liposarcoma. The 2 doctors that operated on him are brothers and boy are they are fast. This is a picture of where the skin was going to be cut off, cleaned out to the fascia, cleaned and placed back on. It looks like a little football. The scar is from the surgery last month that was done for the same thing. We are hoping there is no cancer this time. If there is there will be another surgery or radiation or both.
We hit our 2 week mark for Gabby being in the hospital. She has been such a good patient. The doctors still don't know when she will be able to come home so we are continuing to pray and do all we can to get her better and keep her upbeat & and positive.
 Today I took Alan to have the marginal surgery done on his liposarcoma. The 2 doctors that operated on him are brothers and boy are they are fast. This is a picture of where the skin was going to be cut off, cleaned out to the fascia, cleaned and placed back on. It looks like a little football. The scar is from the surgery last month that was done for the same thing. We are hoping there is no cancer this time. If there is there will be another surgery or radiation or both.
 So I will be home for a little while longer then head back to the Childrens hospital to be with Gabby.
 My house is so super duper scary since I am not home to keep up on the house work. This is another thing I am looking forward to.
Hugs, Bobbi Jo

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Almost 2 Week Here

 We will be hitting the 2 week mark of Gabby being in the hospital tomorrow. She has been such a good patient putting up with being poked, woken up every 2 hours durring the night and IV changed a pick put in and me being her roommate a majority of the time. She gets a dose of TPN daily that is about 12 hours of nutrition going into her. She is now allowed to eat a VERY low fat diet. A new medication was started 2 days ago that we are hoping will get the Ulcerative Colitis under control.
 We celebrated her 10th Birthday on Sunday. I think she had a good day. The Child Life Sevices had a Build A Bear, Hannah Montana Mall Madness game, the High School Musica Dance pad game, Yatzee, Uno, Bop It and a picture frame book. They made it extra special for her. She was alowed to have a little bite of cheese cake that she requested.
 Gabby has been busy doing a lot of crafts of all kinds to fill her time. Along with the teacher that comes in to work with her here. She goes to the activity room when she has the chance to learn a new craft and visit with other childre.
 This week while I was in school there were wonderful ladies from my ward that came down to sit and entertain Gabby. I appreciate the wonderful ladies for taking there time to be with her. And the families that have also brought over dinner to my family while I am here with Gabby. It has been a major relief to have someone be with Gabby while I am gone.
 So I am off to be with Gabby & and probably do some crafts. Hugs, Bobbi Jo

Friday, September 17, 2010

Week 1 In The Hospital

 Disclaimer: I don't want people to think I am complaining I truly appreciate that we have the medical knowledge and assistance that is needed in this day and age. I also want to acknowledge that my Father in Heaven loves me and know what he is doing in all cases. It may not be what I want but I know he has a reason for all things that happen in our lives.
 So we are now a week into the hopsital stay for Gabby. She has had 3 different IV placements, No solid food in over 10 days, she is on a clear liquid diet and now has a pick in her body.
As Gabby and I were waiting for her to go in for her scope I saw some missionaries that were across the way. One was in the bed the other sitting  in a chair. I asked the nurse if he was alright? She said yes and that their doctor was a Mormon too. So as they were leaving I went out trying to talk to them, the nurse was acting like she didn't want me talking to them and trying to get me to leave then alone. I asked if the one that was not being treated and their doctor would be willing to give Gabby a blessing. The Elder in the wheelchair, who had just had a colonoscopy said we can give her a blessing. He was a little groggy but they proceeded and gave her a blessing. Something that struck me in the blessing was that Gabby would be able to learn from this and help others. That is so awesome that our Heavenly Father gives us these challenges then let's us help others. This is true compassion and love.
 The doctor did a lower scope probe on Gabby yesterday and took a sample to do a CMV test. Seeing  how inflamed her poor little colon is they decided to put the pick in and let her GUT have a rest. She was very upset when the pick wasn't in the right place. The guy that put it in came up to the room, of course after Gabby had woken up from the anestisia to reposition it. They run this thing in the tender part of the upper part of the arm then in next to the clavicle and down to the main artery. Her pick was going in sideways so it took 5 times to get it in the right place. With some pushing on her little chest with Gabby crying due to her poor little arm being so tender. He finally got it into place and they had to take an x-ray to make sure it was placed correctly. After the x-ray was taken all was well. Until the nurse came in and said Gabby could not have any liquids or food. She is allowed to chew gum. She was crying and it broke my heart. She cried off and on for a while then got a little better.
 She slept well and seems to be in better spirits this morning.
  We did sand art together and now she is doing a piant by number that her Dad bought her while we watch Max & Ruby.
 Now waiting for the Dr. to come in and tell us the results of the CMV test that was done.Enjoying time with Gabby just wish it was at home and she was totally healthy. Hugs, Bobbi Jo

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Can I Go Back

Just asking if I can go back to the same old same old everyday life? This past Friday Gabby's GI doctor called and it was confirmed that Gabby has a mild case of pancreatitis. WHAT? This sweet little happy go lucky girl in the past 6 months has dealt with Chron's & Ulcerative Colitis and now this. She is a really trooper with all the poking and prodding that has been done to her.
 We came to the hospital on Friday about 1 pm. The hospital is Cardon's Childrens Hospital and it is so awesome! If you had to spend time away from home and be sick I can't think of a better place. The hospital staff is so sweet and caring. So now Gabby is on a clear liquid diet. She is having some pain but the medication they have her on helps. She is in good spirits thanks to the wonderful people coming to visit, sending messages and calling. Today we went into the play room and she made some frogs & a Christmas decoration with the beads that you melt together.
 We met a beautiful 14 yr. old girl, Sienna here in the hospital.She is one of those girls who's smile just lights up the room. It is so sad to see so many young children in pain and dealing with so much. Praying for each of them to get well and be strong.
 So I am trying to be strong and not stress out. Yea right I am stressing but dealing with it all. I break down, cry a little, pray and then pull up my boot straps and move on again. I wish I could take all of this on myself and keep Gabby from hurting.
 Last month Alan had a lump removed from his chest wall. It had been growing bigger since Feb. of this year and final got it checked out. The Dr. said it was probably just fat. So after almost 2 weeks the Dr. calls and said that it has some cancerous cells mixed in. So then Alan had to go to 2 different oncologists. They came to the conclusion that he has lymph node mastitis of soft tissue sarcoma. They will be scheduling another surgery in the same area to cut out a larger portion of tissue surrounding the area they already removed and biopsy it then if it is cancerous they will have him doing radiation therapy. So a little more stress added to this past week.
 I will be going into school to see if I can take a day or two off without causing me too many problems. I am hoping it will all work out so I can be with Gabby as much as possible. I will be staying over night with her either way.
 I did finally receive my license in the mail so now I can start work but first I need to get Gabby taken care of and back to good health. First things first right? Sometimes I have a hard time putting things in correct perspective but I think I have this one right.
 So that is my last few days in a nut shell. Asking you all for extra prayers for Gabby & Alan. Thank you in advance.
Hugs, Bobbi Jo

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Once Again A Blog Slacker

 There have been 2 major reasons that I have once again became a blog slacker. 1.) Time- heck I haven't had much time for too much other than school, study, sleep & eat. 2.) I felt like I was just going to be saying the same thing over and over. But when you practically live at your school what more can you say. But alas I was told encouraged  by my oldest that I should try updating my blog. So here I am thanks to Coco.
 Backing up to over a month ago I finally finished the Professional Program for the Massage Therapist. I graduated on August 13th. YEA!

  This is my class D-04-4

Sunday off from school and I started the Masters Program at the same school to become a Master Body Worker. This is only a 10 week program but very intense and may I say so AWESOME!! We only have 5 classes throughout this program of 217.5 hours of schooling.The classes are Hydrostone Therapy, Advanced Cranial Sacral Therapy, Advanced Eastern Paradigm, Functional Assessment, Kinesiology, and Myokinetic Techniques. The classes are so cool! I have always loved learning and this is a bonus it will make me a better therapist. Knowledge ROCKS!!
 Last week we had our first written final. It was for Hydrostone, I feel good about it and will find out soon how I did. Today we have our hands on final for the same class.
 I have to admit I tend to struggle with the memory of every word or term. This I am working on daily. Sometimes I feel like my brain is going to burst.
 One of my favorite classes so far is Advanced Cranial Sacral Therapy. We have been learning about unwinding. If anyone has questions about what it is I will explain about it in a future post, just let me know.
 We are in our 5th week of the 10 week program after today I am half way through. SWEET!
 There are only 2 campuses of ASMT that offer the Master Program so people come from all over to take the program. In my class we have 2 gals from Colorado and 2 from my home state Pennsylvania. To make a long story short the 2 girls from PA are living with our family. They were short on money, no car and I was worried about these sweet girls. So Alan and I talked about it that first week of the program and offered them to come live with us. We don't have a lot of money or space but we have fun and I think a good place to live. The girls names are Valerie (20) and Ashley (18). The kiddos all seem to get along and I have company to and from school.
 I am trying to get started on a exercise regimen that can fit in my schedule. Being that Alan started a new job he isn't up as early as I would like to exercise to have the time to get ready. I have a hard time hitting the treadmill in the morning before school plus with the house work, getting dinner prepared and trying to squeeze in some more study time I don't have much time in the am. By the time I get home at night I am about wiped out getting dinner on the table,clean up time, family time, study time and bath I run out of time if I want to sleep. he he So this is a slow work in progress.
 So this is my life in a blog shell. I will try to do better on keeping you up to date. If you have any questions leave me a comment I will be glad to answer. Take care! Hugs, Bobbi Jo