Pictures from last surgery

Elizabeth driving to Cincinnati

Elizabeth with DeeDee the registration clerk at Childrens Hospital. DeeDee has been checking us in at surgery registration since Elizabeth was 18 months old!

Kay, another longtime friend. She has taken care of Elizabeth in the recovery room at Children's since 1994.

talking on the phone while waiting and waiting for surgery.



Going into the O.R.

After surgery...in recovery room with Grandma Mary and not happy about Dad snapping pictures

Good News

Elizabeth had her bronchoscopy/laryngoscopy yesterday. She was scheduled for 1:00pm but things got backed up in the O.R., so she wasn't taken back for her procedure until 3:15PM. She really didn't mind. She said that she heard that Dr. Cotton's first patient that morning developed complications and surgery took longer than expected. She said "I don't mind because remember when I was 10 and my big surgery took 2 hours longer than expected? I probably caused other people to wait and wait on that day"
Anyway, she did have some granulation tissue in her airway that Dr. Cotton removed. He said her airway is measuring a 6.5 which is a normal adult female airway size. Woohoo! He wants her to try to do anything she wants and get back to playing basketball. She needs to go back to Cincinnati in early December for another Bronchoscopy/laryngoscopy just to make sure the granulation tissue is not growing, etc.

We are still working with her pediatrician and pulmonologist for her terrible migraines and the right side chest pain. Hopefully we will get good results soon.

I will add photos later.

SWEET 16! X 3

My babies are 16 today! Where did the time go? They had about 8 friends over last night to celebrate. We had planned on a bonfire in the backyard, but got rained out. They rented a movie, played a game and ate cake. Lot of laughter, so I'm sure they had a good time.




16 candles each!

Jack, Jessica, Elizabeth

Tom and my mother, "Grandma Mary", will be taking Elizabeth to Cincinnati today. She is having a bronchoscopy/laryngoscopy tomorrow at 1:00PM. Please pray for good news. If all looks good, then she won't need to go back to Cincinnati for 3 months. That is what we are hoping for. Pray for no scar tissue in her airway. I can't go with them this time because I can't miss anymore time from work. I work for the Michigan Marching Band and it is our BUSY season right now.

I'll update tomorrow after Tom calls me with the news.

First day of Eleventh grade!

Jessica, Jack, Elizabeth
Jack

Jessica

Elizabeth

Going into WLHS to begin the Junior year!!!!

How did my babies get so old? I can't believe they only have 2 years of school left before they go into the real world of college and work. Wow. They were excited about their new status as 'juniors' and looking forward to seeing friends they haven't been in touch with all summer.

Elizabeth was excited to talk with her teachers and to visit with Ms. Easlick, the teacher that made the long drive to Cincinnati to visit with us. She wanted to thank her for the visit and let her see how well she is doing now.

On the medical news; Elizabeth will go back to Cincinnati on September 15 (the day after her 16th birthday) for her next bronchoscopy/laryngoscopy. Dr. Cotton will decide if anything needs to be done with the scar tissue in her trachea and just make sure the rib graft is still holding strong. Elizabeth is still having chest pains when she exercises. The pain is on her upper right side of the chest. She is now seeing a pulminologist for that. She also has migraines. She had her first migraine at 7 years old. She got them about 2 times a month back then, but in the last 2 years she gets them more and more frequently....about 3 times a week. Her pediatrician has started her on ibuprofen 400mg 3 times a day to prevent the migraines and says to do that for 2 weeks to see if her brain can be re-trained. He also prescribed Maxalt in case she does get a migraine.

Back to school haircuts and more

okay, the computer is not cooperating. I can't get the pictures up.
I'll try again later.

Anyway, things are going good. Elizabeth started exercising. The airway seems to be working well, but she is still
getting sharp pains in her upper right chest. We need to find out what is causing this to happen. Might be nerve damage from a surgery in the past. She has had the same pain for over a year now.

We're home!

She is doing better and was released from hospital after surgery yesterday. The pink membrane has grown over the rib. The only problem the docs see is some granulation tissue that formed. For now they don't think it will interfere with her breathing, but if it should grow more, she will notice some trouble breathing and we will make the trip back down to Cincinnati to have it removed. Dr. Cotton wants her to try jogging next week to see how the airway holds up with exertion. That makes me a little nervous, but that is why she had the surgery. She couldn't run or get winded before the surgery because the one wall of the trachea would collapse, so now it is supposed to stay strong and not collapse. We shall see.

Prayers for Wednesday

Bright and early tomorrow morning my mother Mary, Elizabeth and I will drive down to Cincinnati. Her surgery is scheduled for 3:00PM. We are praying for good news; that the pink membrane has grown over the rib graft and that the granulation and scar tissue is at a bare minimum. I'm a little worried because this morning she told me her throat feels a little swollen inside. Could be scar tissue building up. If that is the case, the surgeon will probably us laser surgery to remove some of the scar tissue and she will most likely have to spend the night (or 2 nights or 3).

Elizabeth has to be in Pre-op by 1:30pm, so we hope to arrive by 12:30 so we have time to visit her friend Anwar. Anwar is the girl from Kuwait that was having airway reconstruction surgery too. She will still be in I.C.U and we hope to be able to stop in to see how she is progressing.

I might not get a chance to post tomorrow, but I will be sure to post and update on Thursday.

Oh and prayers needed for Jack....he has poison ivy all over his arms, legs and face! He stayed the night at a friends house Sunday night and came home with poison ivy. He is miserable and will be going to the doctor this afternoon. The girls want him to stay away from them. I told him that his face better be cleared up in time for school pictures in September.