Fall Fun

Kayley is getting better each day.  She is certainly back to her sassy self and talking much more now...except with a much higher pitch in her voice!  Andy's worst nightmare come true!  :-)  She is much smarter than we give her credit for though.  She refused to eat pasta the other night because her throat hurt.  I gave her ice cream instead.  Later that night, I caught her eating pretzels.  Every time she doesn't want to eat something she says her throat hurts because she still isn't better.  Then she tries to eat some sort of snack food about 20 minutes later. 

Mom left Friday afternoon and when Kayley woke up from her nap and saw me instead of Grandma, she burst into tears.  Hmmm...made me feel good she loves her Grandma so much, but didn't make me feel that good as her mom! 

We had a very low-key weekend for the first time in a long time, which was very nice!  The kids played outside and enjoyed the fall weather.  I thought it was a little chilly, but the kids had a great time.  They helped Andy rake leaves and jumped into them over and over and over again! 

Tylenol with Codeine is Our Friend

Kayley's surgeon and the nurses warned us that days 5 and 6 following surgery are usually rough.  They sure know what they are talking about!  Kayley woke up pretty unhappy Saturday morning.  She was back to refusing all medicine so Andy forced some tylenol with codeine down her.  Within 30 minutes, we had a totally different child!  And then she happily took her amoxicillin.  It seems to be the roughest for her right when she gets up in the morning and right after her nap.  Once the tylenol with codeine kicks in, you wouldn't even know she had surgery.  Well, other than the fact that she doesn't eat.

She is down to 29.0 pounds.  I think she was a little over 31 when she went into the hospital.  The only thing she ate the last two days is ice cream with sprinkles.  She refuses jello, popsicles, pudding, mac & cheese, potatoes, rice, etc.  She did eat a little salad with ranch and goldfish tonight.  Hopefully we will see some more progress tomorrow. 

Kayley was VERY excited to go with Andy today to get her fish.  A beta she named Nemo.  Very original, I know!  She named her baby, Baby so at least she didn't name the fish, Fish.  :-)

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that her voice could change after her surgery.  Mom, Andy and I talked about it tonight and we all agree there is definitely a higher pitch in her voice now.  Not sure how we feel about that!

Taking a break while helping Dad in the yard

Picking up sticks

Drew helped too

Not happy after her nap.  Refusing her
tylenol with codeine.

One hour after Andy forced it down her...I'm telling
you, it is wonderful!  Eating ice cream with sprinkles!

Showing off her new fish

What a Difference a Day Makes

Who is this kid?!?!

Playing in the sand (in the outfit she put together!)

Enjoying the beautiful day

Look at me taking my medicine like a big girl!

Kayley had a great day!  We thought it would be another rough day when she woke up in pain at 5:30am and Andy had to pin her down to give her tylenol.  She fell right back to sleep and woke up in a great mood around 8:30am.  Andy poured her antibiotic into a medicine cup and walked over to her.  She started whining that she didn't want it.  He set it down in front of her and told her she had to take it and she could take it when she was ready.  She looked at the cup and then back at him and then picked up the cup and took it like a shot!  When we were really struggling with her a few days ago to take her medicine, Andy promised her a fish if she would take her medicine like a big girl.  Looks like Andy is buying her a fish!  They decided they will go pick out her fish tomorrow.

She drank relatively well throughout the day and even ate some food.  She drank gatorade, water, white milk and a lot of chocolate milk.  She also had a little bit of scrambled eggs, cottage cheese, black olives, peaches, cheese and a soft cookie (hey, whatever she wants right now).  She didn't have any interest in ice cream, pudding or popsicles.  On the other hand, Drew has been enjoying lots of ice cream and popsicles because every time we offered either to Kayley, he lets us know that he would like some. 

I don't want to give the impression that she is completely back to normal.  When her tylenol is wearing off or she is getting tired, she becomes very dramatic and whiny!  She is over the top at times, but you can't get mad at her and it is pretty funny.  Actually, as I think about it, she is pretty much back to normal!  :-)

UPDATE:  As I write this, Kayley is refusing to take her tylenol with codeine, which we give her at night to help her sleep better.  It does not taste as good as regular tylenol and she is having no part of it.  Guess we still have some work to do.

Kayley's Surgery

Kayley was scheduled to have her tonsils and adenoids taken out on Monday because she has obstructive sleep apnea.  She was in a great mood that morning and was almost excited for surgery (clearly we didn't do an adequate job explaining what was going to happen).

Kayley and Baby getting ready to leave
for the hospital to have their tonsils
and adenoids out

Like my cool hospital shirt, shorts and socks?

Right before she and Baby went back

The surgery went great.  Her surgeon said her tonsils were each the size of a ping pong ball and her adenoids were half that size.  Andy and I couldn't believe it.  We knew she had large tonsils, but how do two ping pong balls fit in the back of her tiny mouth?!  No wonder she had trouble breathing at night and no wonder she chewed her food forever!  The surgeon said we should notice a huge improvement in her breathing.

Recovery has not gone as smoothly.  The nurse in the recovery room gave her a lot of pain medication that knocked Kayley out for hours.  Kids who had surgery after her were going home before she was even awake!  We kept trying to wake her because she needed fluids in order to go home, but eventually a nurse checked her chart and explained that Kayley had a lot of pain medication and she would probably be out for another hour or two.  Great.  When she finally woke up, she refused to take even a sip of water.  We tried EVERYTHING.  Water, ice chips, juices, popsicles, ice cream, jello, milk, chocolate milk, pudding, etc.  Fail, fail, fail.  Eventually they had to move us from the pediatric recovery area to the adult recovery area because all of the other pediatric patients were home.  The nurse wanted to admit her and called the surgeon several times, but the surgeon kept telling the nurse to "keep working with her" rather than admit her because kids do better at home.  I totally understand his logic, but it is during times like this that you would like the surgeon to come into the recovery room and try to "work with her" himself!  It would be one thing if she had taken even 1 or 2 of the 4 ounces she needed to take, but she refused even a sip for hours.

Right after she came out of surgery

Sleeping off all of her pain medication in Daddy's arms

After sitting in a recliner holding her for over 7 hours after her surgery, we got word that they were going to admit her.  That was bittersweet.  It was a relief because we knew she would get enough fluids, but I can't tell you how disappointed Andy and I were at the same time that it came to this. 

Not happy to have to stay at the hospital

Tuesday was a day of working on getting Kayley to take her fluids (and her meds).  She refused anything we offered.  Then a hospital staff member who works with kids to take their meds and fluids asked if we would like her to try.  Yes, please!  She asked if Kayley liked stickers and tea parties.  I said yes.  She came back in with a purple cup, a small medicine cup and a ton of stickers.  She talked Kayley and Baby into having a tea party with her.  She had Kayley drink from a straw out of the small medicine cup and when she got to the bottom she got to make the noise you make when you are still sucking out of the straw but there is very little liquid left (you know, the super annoying noise you hear and you want to tell the person doing it that their drink is gone and to stop it!).  Anyway, Kayley loved it of course and loved her sticker rewards.  She got Kayley to drink a little over 6 ounces!  We asked her if she would be willing to move in with us for 2 weeks!  It was great that she got Kayley to drink, but the fact that we had to go to such great lengths wasn't good enough for the doctors.  She needed to be able to drink with minimal bribing!

In all, we got her to drink a little over 11 ounces on Tuesday. But, it was all through tea parties with her and Baby. I have to admit, after a 1.5 hour tea party with Kayley and Baby that resulted in Kayley drinking 3 ounces, I was having serious flashbacks to Kayley's feeding aversion days. I realize other kids refuse liquids too after this surgery, but this hits a little too close to home for me and I just wonder if part of her reaction is related to her prior bottle aversion.

Right after we told it was time for her medicine

craft time...with her water and milk of course!

Stop taking my picture!

So happy Drew came to visit!

Getting ready to watch Micky Mouse Clubhouse

She was even crabbier and less cooperative this morning than yesterday if that is possible, but they decided to discharge her anyway.  The hope is that she will do better at home.  She has had a little bit of ice cream with sprinkles and some water since we have been home.  She is not cooperative at all when it comes to her ear drops, antibiotics and tylenol.  We haven't had a problem with her taking medicine since she was a baby so this is a new fun twist for us.  She certainly keeps it interesting!

She found this toy today before she was
discharged.  That made leaving a little harder!

We Have Pictures!!

Drew's last professional picture was when he was 9 months old.  We tried to get 1 year pictures.  Fail.  Tried again at 15 months.  Fail.  Then Kayley was born prematurely so the last thing on our minds was updating Drew's 1 year pictures.  We tried to take Drew a few times when we took Kayley in for pictures, but he would have nothing to do with it. 

Kayley never had a problem with pictures.  However, she hasn't had a professional picture since her 1 year pictures.  She turned 2 when I was in Peoria and Andy and the kids were still in Phoenix.  Things were very hectic so her 2 year pictures never happened.  She turned 3 in June.  It is October.  Oops. 

But, our failure ended yesterday!  I took the kids for pictures and it was a success!  Drew was REALLY into it and loved it.  Who is this kid?! 

Kayley was much more timid than him so we had less to choose from of her, but at times she got really into it and loved to say cheese and show off her new cheesy smile!  They took quite a few pictures of her like this:

Instead of Drew being the youngest Thiel grandchild in the pictures at Grandpa's house, he'll be the oldest again!  Of course, at the rate we go with updating pictures, he'll be stuck in time at 4 years old for awhile!

Fight! Fight! Fight! for IOWA!!

Andy and I met his family in Iowa City last weekend for the Iowa/Pittsburgh game.  What a great weekend! 

Before we left for Iowa City, we took Kayley to her pre-op appointments.  She was great during her physical.  Then we had to go to the hospital for bloodwork.  I tried to explain that they were going to poke her arm and take a little blood, but she didn't understand.  She told me no they wouldn't because she doesn't have any blood!  She did great while they took her blood.  She screamed, but didn't move her arm.  However, she was VERY dramatic afterwards.  There was a lot of crying as we walked out of the hospital and screaming that her arm hurt.  The kids have been in Iowa with my parents for a week and Mom said Kayley has insisted on wearing a bandaid at all times because of her hurt arm.  And she has complained that she can't do certain things (like pick up her toys I am sure) because her arm hurts so bad.  If she has her way, she is going to have us waiting on her for months after this surgery!   

After Kayley's bloodwork, Andy and I left for Iowa City.  Thank you again to Mom for coming to watch the kids and take care of Sox!  We went to the Wig and Pen when we got to Iowa City.  Oh how I have missed that place! 

We got up bright and early and were tailgating by 7:30am.  The game was awful for 3 quarters, but the 4th quarter more than made up for it!  Thankfully, we didn't leave even though we considered it.  After the game, Andy showed us why he was an all state kicker by kicking field goals with honey buns.  It was one of those things you had to be there to fully appreciate.  :-)  We hit another favorite place Saturday night - the Vine.  Great weekend!

Paul (a Thiel at heart), Butch, Chris,
Andy, Mitch and Matt

The Thiel boys and girls

Brotherly love?

All I can say is, it was late.

Sox - Two Partial ACL Tears

Sox had a rough week.  That is an understatement.  She was excited to see Andy and she jumped off the deck towards him and immediately pulled up in pain.  Andy took her to the vet and they decided they needed to do an x-ray to see if she tore her ACL.  If it was a complete tear, they would do surgery while she was already under for the x-ray.  If it was a partial tear, they would not need to do surgery, but she would be on very restricted activity for awhile to allow the ACL to heal on its own. 

A little back story - Sox had been limping and having trouble walking and jumping up into the car for awhile and we thought she was having hip issues or arthritis, etc.  Neither are good.

The vet x-rayed both of her hind legs and her hips.  Andy called me at work, sounding upbeat, and said he had good news and bad news.  I immediately thought it was a partial tear, but no surgery.  Considering our alternatives (partial or complete tear), this was good news!  Turns out, she had a partial ACL tear in both of her hind legs.  Because she had two, they needed to perform surgery on one to fix it and then the other could heal on its own while she was on restricted activity.  I had to ask what the good news was and he said it was that her hips look good and there were no signs of arthritis.  Sox had her surgery on Thursday and came home on Friday.  Hindsight is always 20/20 and I am thinking now that pet insurance may have been worth looking into!

Sox has to spend most of her days for the next two weeks in her kennel.  She is not loving it.  When she is out of her kennel, she has to be on a leash.  She has a long road ahead of her, but hopefully we can get her all healed.  We usually only panic when Kayley is running.  I will be a wreck when Sox starts running again!