Amie & Connie

Amie & Connie.

Amie has been attending speech therapy 3-4 days a week for a couple of months now with Connie. If you notice the electrodes to Amie's neck, that is the Vita-stim that I have talked about. They send electrical currents into Amie's muscles & nerves to help stimulate them to work more effectively. During the Vita-stim, Amie eats, talks & "gargles" (that's what they are both doing here).

The last two days, Connie has given Amie liquids in an open top cup!!!! This is HUGE!! Not only is it normal liquids (not thickened) -- but without the special straw or in a bottle!! Today she drank at least a total of 6 ounces this way! She did have a couple of coughing spells (which is why we are only doing it in therapy) -- but for the most part -- she has done PHENOMENAL!!

Amie's favorite time is after the Vita-stim -- Connie lets her blow bubbles (not only does she love it, but the blowing is actually part of her therapy!!)

Random thoughts

Just lots of random thoughts tonight.

I am thankful that Amie's health is doing so great! She's getting even closer to drinking normal liquids!! Maybe by Christmas, we will no longer need thickner, special straws & bottles!! Now I guess we need to get serious on the potty training (head strong little girl!!)

I worry about Tim ever growing up beyond where he is. For that fact, I worry that Chris will never learn to grow up!! Being a very driven person, I don't understand how it's ok to just get by! How it's ok to not have any real goals. How it's ok to have no life plans.

I wonder what my appointment next week is going to tell me. Do I have Lupus? What is that going to mean to my future? Is there anything I can do to help my hands? How uncomfortable am I going to be this winter? Can I ever walk on a beach again, or will I need to hide from the sun, the way my father had to?

I wonder what's going to happen with this crazy election? How is our economy going to survive the problems we have been facing? Is Hurricane Gustav going to cause more problems with our oil supply (or give our suppliers another reason to up the prices)?

I am physically ill about little Caylee Anthony. I've become almost addicted to this case & it saddens me. The mother of Caylee obviously has serious mental problems. And even sadder, I believe that the grandparents knew & worried about Caylee's safety -- but because of the way our system is set up -- couldn't do anything unless the child was injured or..... Now little Caylee is probably gone from this earth & in a better place -- but away from the family that loved her. I have a strong feeling that little Caylee will be found before the end of the weekend.

We've turned a corner!!

It feels like we've officially turned a corner!!! Amie nibbled on chicken & grapes for about two hours last night -- eating more in those two hours that she has in probably a week!

She also slept through the night last night!!

This morning she ate almost two eggs!!! And she's eaten several times through out the day today & took a great nap!

They prescribed her some anti-nausea medicine yesterday - but it might be the timing too.

The anti-nausea medicine is a suppository (makes me feel awful when she yells "my butt"!) She's only had it two times, once last night & once today when she has complained of "belly hurt".

She has been active, animated & playful today. She wanted to go "shop" too!

Thank you to everyone that has been praying for Amie's recovery!!! We were getting pretty scared that she was going to need some type of "assistance" with eating!

Now if I can just get rid of this sinus infection!!! (It's always something isn't it?!)

Not much better

Amie is still not doing real well. Baby steps with improvement (maybe). Still having bad nights & not eating/drinking much.

She's lost 3 pounds & if things aren't better by Monday, some serious discussions will have to be made about nutrition!!

Please keep Amie in your prayers!!

Just when ya thought.....

Just when we thought we had turned a corner with Amie.......

It was really quite odd. She was actually eating more than drinking right off the bat. She has barely touched any of the stuff she was supposed to be eating/drinking (jello, popsicles, pudding, ice cream...) Instead she was eating french fries, eggs, fruit chewies, grapes -- but as long as she wasn't bleeding & seemed to be doing ok, that was fine.

Then by Thursday she was not eating hardly anything & spent most of the day fussing. We thought that might be normal, because day 5 is supposed to be the worst (Thursday being day 4 - thought that might be what it was).

By Thursday night she was sounding pretty "rattly" in her chest, so I took her to the doctor on Friday. She wasn't doing too badly at the appointment & had only lost two pounds, told us they thought she was turning the corner & that her lungs sounded ok.

This weekend she barely ate or drank anything!! Got her to eat some M&M's on Sunday, so thought, maybe we were heading in the right direction.....

On Sunday night, I happened to see inside her mouth & she had white "stuff" on her tongue!! AH HA! Thrush!!

So, on Monday I called & said I thought she had thrush -- they made us take her in & guess what??!! She has thrush! So, we have a medicine that will relieve the discomfort & get rid of the thrush. Also, she is done with the antibiotics -- so she should start feeling better within 24 hours!! YEAH!!!

Road to Recovery!

The old saying that kids are resillient is very true!

Amie is doing really well. She has her moments -- but really is doing well! She has a new phrase -- that we're worried is going to become an issue when she gets better...... "I sick".

She's not really taking in much in the way of food or drinks right now. Little drink here and a bite here and there....but absolutely no bleeding!! She's quite swollen, she snores as bad as Buddy (our Beagle) & even has a little bruising on the one cheekbone.

The phrases we hear the most the past few days:

"I full" (if she doesn't want to take the medicine)
"I sick" (if doesn't want to drink something, or take a bath or go to bed, etc)
"A Ky" (asking for Kylee)
"A Donnie" (asking for Donovan)
And now she's taking her little chair up to some of the windows to watch for "Ky" or "Donnie". This picture was her looking out the front window for them.

We're told that day's 5 & 6 are the worst -- that's when the scabs start to fall off & for whatever reason, the pain goes up into the ears -- so we will probably have a miserable weekend -- but next week should just get better and better!!

Post Op -- Going Well

Well -- surgery is over & things went extremely well & so far she is doing incredible!

Here she is before surgery -- really tearing up the place! She loved the little car that she could walk around in & had to investigate every toy in the place. She did so well!! When it was time to go back, she gave us kisses & off she went!! (She did better than we did!)


After surgery, I got called up to be with her in the first recovery room -- when I got there, she had blood smeared all over her face & arms -- I thought she had coughed up blood, or had started bleeding from the surgery......no, it wasn't that at all. She had pulled her IV out already! And unfortunately, she had pulled it out before they could give her a dose of pain meds (other than what was used in the surgery room).

She really never calmed down much in the first recovery room. We finally got moved to the other one, where they could give her some oral pain meds & where Daddy could join us. About 20 minutes after taking the oral meds, she started to calm down. Here she even let us put the ice back on her neck.

Then she decided her head hurt worse than her neck!

With her history of the valve problem -- the doctor wanted her to drink 8 ounces before she could go home. It took a couple of hours, but she finally got a good 6 ounces down & we all called it good!

In the mean time, she had decided that she wanted to see Kylee!! She began talking about telling Kylee she had an ouch & that she was sick.

We had quite a few commical moments as we were trying to encourage her to drink her milk & she wanted us to know that she had an "ouw" & that she was sick.

The nap didn't last long -- she slept most of the way home, and then was ready to see Kylee!! She ate a little sherbert & stood by the door waiting for her girl to get here!!

Mike got married

My brother Mike got married last night. He and Hether have been together for almost 4 years -- but the wedding was pretty last minute! They decided to make it easy for Mike to not forget their anniversary (just kidding) -- it is: 8-8-08 @ 8pm -- but if he ever forgets that -- he's in serious trouble!




Alexandra & Donovan sitting so sweetly.....too bad it's just for the camera!
That's more like what we're used to seeing!!
Congratulations Hays Family!

Mom and Grandma go for a ballon ride.

Darwin's Slide Shows

Darwin made these two slide shows that are absolutely hysterical!!

Hope you enjoy!!

Amie's surgery & prayer request

As most of you know, Amie is scheduled for surgery next Monday. It's "just" tonsil and adenoids getting removed -- but surgery is never a "just" for anyone -- and especially anyone with heart issues......so we're a bit nervous -- but hoping it will help her in the long run!!

We found out that she needed her tonsils & adenoids removed back in April -- she had 3 ear infections in 4 months (I thought she needed tubes in her ears). Come to find out, her tonsils are touching each other in the back of her throat & are considered grade 4, and we had noticed, but not really noticed that she was snorting & had been refusing to blow her nose for about 6 months -- that was because of the big adenoids!

She was to be scheduled as soon as possible........I'm not sure what type of calendar shows 4 months is as soon as possible -- but that's the best they could do!

In May, we asked for a prayer request for either her to not need surgery or for her to at least stay healthy until surgery.

It appears that she will still need the surgery -- but so far so good on her health!! The last two nights have been iffy -- but it's pretty incredible that she has stayed so healthy since that last ear infection in April!

So -- for everyone that reads this, please say a little prayer tonight to keep Amie healthy enough to get this surgery over and done with & that she comes through wonderfully!!!

You asked for it.....but it's not my fault!

So most of you heard that my Dear Mother-in-Law (Betty) fell out of the basket, in to the basket & out of the basket when we did our hot air balloon ride & many in our loving family have asked to see the pictures of the fiasco.....so here you go!

First, please notice that the foot holes are quite high & apart from one another, it's alot like trying to get on a horse (that first step is high & then you've really got to push to get the next foot up and/or over).

These first three pictures are ones that I was taking as she was getting into the basket.
Here's attempt #1 to get in:
Attempt #2 with a little boost:

Here's the pictures that Darwin took with the other camera, first, I'm taking pictures:
Then when I notice that help is needed -- I stopped taking pictures to give a boost for attempt #3:

SUCCESS!! Third attempt she did make it in -- but not before bruising up her side falling out and then into the basket.
After the ride, I didn't get pictures of her falling out of the basket -- but she was caught by two young good lucking strong men!!! Can't be all bad, right!!

Up, Up & Away, Hot Air Balloon Part Two

Up, Up & Away -- Grandma & I got to fly high above it all in a Hot Air Balloon!!!

Taking off in the balloon was incredible! Darwin & Amie watched as Grandma & I sailed away! Where's Waldo -- I mean Darwin & Amie? Right there, the little dots to the left of the sidewalk!

They are getting littler, as we get higher!!

View of the mountains from above!

There were two balloons going up that morning -- here's our view of the other one getting ready to lift off.

This is a view with the regular lens of our condo. It's got a green roof & it's right by the lake -- can you spot it?

How bout now? I put the long lens on it & we can almost see in the front door! Wave High to Tim (who stayed at the condo that morning!)

The other balloon is coming up....

As we are coming down....

This was a cool shot that I caught where the other balloon covered the sun momentarily -- we called it a "balloon-eclipse"!!

I liked the shadow of the balloon on the ground.Guess what else we spotted?? See the white van in the drive-thru @ McDonald's?? That's Darwin & Amie -- wave high!!!

We're coming down -- are we going to land on the street??

We actually landed in the grass -- but very close to the street!

After we landed, they loaded the balloon back up & it took off -- here are both balloons from our vantage point!!

It was an awesome experience that we will remember forever!!