A few nights ago we were talking with the kids about T being in the hospital. We then were talking about how everyone of our kids have spent the night in the hospital! WOW! Am was happy that she was the winner with 3 nights and 4 days. Chris and I were talking later about how if it weren't for modern medicine our family would be smaller and a lot different! Lets start with T- he is going to be the winner of nights in the hospital when this is all over and done with. Without modern medicine who know what would happen with the tumor and how this would all end up. When C was 9 month he fell off the bed and broke his arm. The x-ray showed a cyst. It was very close to the growth plate and our doctor was very worried that it would over take the growth plate and stunt the growth of his arm. He went through 4 surgeries to get rid of it. We just took him for his check up and you wouldn't believe the x-ray. It was amazing! It was a perfect healthy looking bone. We are so thankful. When E was three weeks old she got a fever and we took her to the ER. She had a spinal tap done there and we were told she had meningitis. She was in the hospital for 2 nights and three days. Am had Rota virus and like I said we were in the hospital for a few days. She couldn't keep anything down and was hooked up to an IV to keep her from dehydrating. Ab was the only one who has spent the night in the hospital, without being sick, but still needed overnight watching! We are counting our blessings for living in this day and age. Our family would be very different if we lived in a different time.
We spoke with Dr. Snyderman on Sunday and we were very impressed. He answered all our questions and was very confident. He said he thought he would be able to get the tumor in one surgery depending on bleeding. Most of it will be through the nose, but he will also have to do an open approach. He will go up under his lip and get what he can't endoscopically. T will have to go in the day before and have a pre-op embolization done which will clot one of the arteries feeding the tumor. The other artery is a main one and they will have to deal with the bleeding when they get in. He said it has gone into his cranium, but didn't think it has perforated the lining before you get to the brain. He has a neurosurgeon that will be working with him during the surgery. His surgery will take all day! If all goes well he will be in the hospital about a week. If he bleeds to much they will have to do it in more than one surgery and they usually wait a week in between. The surgery is scheduled for January 2nd. We can't thank you enough for the love and prayers you have given on our behalf. Please keep them coming and please remember the doctors who will be working on him. It is very scary, but we feel so calm and peaceful. We know all will be well.
Today all the kids were home from school for Veterans Day. The boys had lost their computer privilege, but after lunch T wanted to know what he would do to earn it back. I told him go rake the back yard. Would you believe he talked all the others into going out with him. We raked all the leaves into a big pile and before taking them out to the road I decided to try and get Christmas card pictures.
I told them it could be long or short, but I was going to keep them out there until I got one good one. I took 87 pictures.
One of my dearest friends Beckey, sent this hat to T when she first heard he was going to have to have Chemotherapy. He loves it and will still wear it even though he luckily doesn't have to d0 chemo.
He actually asked me to take pictures of him. What a good kid!
I told the other kids on the count of 5 to throw leaves on him
With the power of 5, raking the leaves didn't take us too long.
The girls have loved playing in the leaves this fall. They will go out and rake a small pile and jump in it over and over. Now if I could only get them to rake the leaves to the road.
Fall beauty! She is working on her leaf collection.
She started collecting leaves this fall and will bring them in and tape them into a book. She will them name them and say why she likes them. It really is a great collection.
Aren't they the cutest things ever? (if only the would get along like this all the time)
I thought C was coming out to help rake.
I thought wrong...they started to have a leaf fight and apparently his hands weren't getting all that he wanted. That's using your noodle! We have been blessed with beautiful weather this week in the 70's and we are all loving it and trying to enjoy it as much as possible because we know it won't last long.
I know Halloween is over and we are on to Thanksgiving, but I wanted to share a few pictures. We have gone trick-or-treating with our friends the Jensens for the last few years. They live on a great street with sidewalks and lights, two things our neighborhood lacks!
Here is my hunter. He made the "blood" with a sharpie after it was already on his head and ended up with a red mark there for a few days.
This is my "fallen angel" He was too big to stay with us this year and went out with his two best friends Christian and Noah!
My three beauties!
A spider queen. Her feet started to hurt and she got in the wagon about half way through and there was no talking her out. She was done!
My snow princess who didn't quit until we got to the last house
a very cute cat (not a bunny)
She loved her make-up. She was a few houses behind all the kids, but she was so fun to go with. We had a great night.