Our Valentine GIRLS!!

Kimberlyn!
Kaitlyn!
One of Kimberlyn's Valentine cards she signed to pass out to her classmates. I love her way of cramming all of the letters in the little heart....she started with K I M, then added B E up top, had to go to the bottom with R L and realized she had to fit in the Y N....so they became totally out of order, but by golly, they are all in that heart!! Notice the ink pen line on my nice dining room table??? We still love her!

Happy Valentine's Day and

Happy successful surgery day for Tommy!!

We are home from the hospital now. Tommy did wonderful! Well he woke up quicker than Robby did (8 yrs ago) and could HEAR!! He was very upset/scared and confused....it was sad. He immediately drank his bottle and then screamed bloody murder for about 5-10 minutes...in reality it felt like an hour or two, so maybe it was less than 5 minutes?!?! He snapped out of it and watched TV for few minutes, sucked on his blankie and then chilled out.

Doc said the staff in the OR was wondering what the deal was with the noise and length of time it was taking him. He told me Tommy had a severe amount of fluid and it was thick to the point of being difficult to get it all sucked out! He said to expect him to react differently to his normal surroundings since the thick fluid made his hear sound like having foam ear plugs in 24/7!?!? YIKES!

He's napping and glad to be back in his crib...thanks for all the prayers.

All loopy a few minutes before he was taken back for surgery.

Very fussy/upset after...

Ah, finally starting to relax!

TV?? This is like at home...

All better after his nap and eating lunch!

Family update...

Well no big news today like Tommy taking steps like last I posted.

I wanted to write a quick update. As I told you I expected, Tommy will get tubes in his ears. The ENT doctor said he's got a serious case of some fancy named thing, basically of having fluid in his ears with recurrent ear infections. To be a candidate for tubes you must meet one of three different criteria...Tommy meets all three things! Please pray for him to stay healthy and not get another ear infection which could delay surgery. He's scheduled for the surgery on Thursday (Valentine's Day).... I chose this date as it was the soonest surgery date the doctor had and I'm praying Tommy and his surgery will keep my thought off of the fact that my Mom would have turned 60 this day.

On a lighter, more exciting note....Thursday will mark Tommy's full official year home from the NICU...that's cause for way more celebration than Valentine's Day anyhow!

We have a busy few days ahead of us, all the while I'm praying for a big dump of snow! Forecast says 3-5 inches tonight with another few inches tomorrow! Yippee!

Tomorrow Tommy has an appointment to have his hearing tested again...his other hearing test was done as NICU babies are at an increased risk for hearing loss, it was done before his ear infection battle started. After this appt we'll go and do the pre-admission stuff for surgery.

Wednesday I have a check-up to check my thyroid (it's more in check now than ever) and then Kaitlyn goes to the dentist for a quick appointment...never-ending here lately!

Thursday is surgery day and should mark the beginning of a needed break...until next week :)

Lastly...I wanted to let you know about something burdening my heart. You see 10 months ago the opthamologist released me saying I had no permanent damage to my eyes from Tommy's delivery. Well, I have been seeing spots or floaters (not sure what to classify these things as) in my right eye off and on for a few weeks now. I finally got off my rump and made an appointment to see my PCM for a referral back to the opthamologist (obviously a new one since we moved)-- while making this appointment in person they basically told me if I see this, this or that to report to the ER immediately...that's scary! That has been in the back of my head since Friday...at the same time they told me they feel this isn't a big deal, I'm worried. When I lost my vision for those few days...it was scary to wonder if it was gone forever, what would it be like and so on. You can imagine where my thoughts have been lately... I'd appreciate you joining me in prayer for this to be exactly what they think...NOTHING important!

The exciting news is thi spast Friday Larry and I had a date night, we swap babysitting each Friday with our good friends....now we are forced to go out on a date every other week...WAY COOL! We limit ours to dinner, as Tommy STILL won't take a bottle from anybody but mom and dad!

WALKING?!?!?!???

Can you believe it....Tommy took his first two unassisted steps tonight after dinner....we're SO Happy!!





He also ate a chicken nugget, cooked carrots, peaches and peas....a true BIG BOY DINNER!! OH, my!!

What a week.....

A cute picture of our jail bird.

Tommy looking out at his fabulous view of this artwork...sad thing is they started taking down during our stay??
Here's the picture he looked at....it was a nice view considering...


Since I've missed church again I should use some of this quiet time to update you.

Last Sunday Tommy and I stayed home because he was sick. Larry left with the kids to church and told me to watch Tommy's breathing....well I had noticed earlier that morning that his breathing was fast. Needless to say we went to the ER around 2:30 that afternoon.

We went to Children's Hospital...wow, is that a nice treat, treat IF you must have a sick kid at the ER that is?!?!? They were fabulous, although scared me at first. The lady gave me some paperwork to fill out and asked that I stay near the desk because they would be calling Tommy next for vitals.

So, they called him after I finished writing down my name and address....one nurse is doing vitals, another nurse is asking questions. During this she speaks to the tech asking him not to fill all of her rooms??? I stay quiet and start to worry...finally she said he's going straight to a room. Okay, mind you the waiting area looked like McDonald's during a birthday party. I simply said "this must not be good"?! She told me with his rapid breathing and him being a preemie she didn't want to chance him catching something else out in the waiting area.

Since Tommy was not given the RSV preventative shot due to being too healthy of a preemie basically, I'd always feared him getting the virus.

They immediately hooked him up to the monitors...he was breathing 70 breaths per minute and his heart rate (HR) was 189! They did tests after test, a chest x-ray fearing pneumonia and so on. He in fact had RSV. Thankfully we caught it early and with a few breathing treatments....Super Tommy avoided being put on O2.

Connie, this fabulous, my favorite respiratory therapist nicknamed him Super Tommy. She said she'd never had a 1 year old fight her as badly as Tommy fought her. Luckily after the first fight, the next two breathing treatments went a bit more smoothly...

After just 24-48 hours there his HR came down to 110-120 and his breathing came down to 30-40 which is/was expected when baby is sick. At the same time it was noticed he developed another ear infection. He got these nasty, burning shots of antibiotics for three mornign sin a row. He will now see an ENT (ear, nose and throat doc) in a week or so for what I guess will be a set of tubes in his ears.


The ER doc was wonderful, but the icing on the cake was Tommy's primary care pediatrician was on call for the base pediatric clinic...for a week. So, he knew Tommy and cared for him during his 4 night stay. As usual, God took care of our family and was looking out for us. We are so blessed!


Today I should add, although I feel sick, Tommy is doing way better. We missed church due to the van not starting?? Shocked, me too! Thinking it's the starter...we'll have to have it towed to a repair shop tomorrow. L-I-F-E!!

A picture update....

I know this is way overdue...not much been going on, but so much at the same time.



We came home from Disney on Jan 6th with one sick baby! Tommy started puking our last night in hotels on our way back home. No fever and not much congestion...he also slowly stopped eating, I mean stopped so much he was taking in just 7 ozs of formula per day. We thought he was just out of sorts, not feeling well out on the road. After 1 1/2 days home and his eating not improving we went in to the doc. His third ear infection?!?!? Actually he's ears have not been back to normal since his first infection in November. So, he had a rough go of it and finally got better....I should have posted...now he's going down hill again. He's got a cough that is causing him to puke. It's so sad. We'll watch him closely...and pray that we can avoid the ER as tomorrow the clinic is closed for MLK Day.

Oh, here's a recent exciting note...last night Tommy was walking with holding onto JUST ONE hand of Daddy's. He didn't want to stop...I'm thinking he will for certain be walking before his adjusted 1st birthday.

Here are some pictures and highlights.


Tommy hanging out with Great Grandpa P. This was nice for Grandpa as last visit Tommy was out of sorts (and sick with his first cold)...unfortunately he was sick again, but enjoyed his visit!

Here is Great Grandma holding her newest Great Grandson, Patrick (2 months old)...Bill and Jen's baby boy.

Cousins glad to see each other, need I say MORE??

Dad and kids mesmerized by the show in front of Cinderella's Castle right after getting there....and NO, we weren't over dressed. After breakfast the temperature was an unusual FLA Welcome of 36 DEGREES!

The BUZZ ride....this will go down in the Nance memory books as the most memorable ride DIsney has! Our first trip in 2002 is when it happened. Then about 6 months later we were in FL for Uncle Bill and Aunt Jen's wedding, and had to go back to the Magic Kingdom for one day to rdie the Buzz ride....they quit counting after 20-something! It was fun for Robby to ride this now with Brice. It's Robby and Brice and they are just behind Kaitlyn, Aunt Jen and Uncle Bill (and somewhere Baby Patrick was in there too)

This would be Tommy's take on the Buss ride :) Poor sick baby boy!

Mom, Kimberlyn, Robby, Brice and Kaitlyn on the Mad Tea Party ride....man...Kaitlyn and Mom's favorite...TEACUPS!!!

Here we have Uncle Bill (crazy spinner) Kaitlyn and Brice on the Teacups...Larry videoed....yes, it was ONE TEACUP :) with 2 adults and FOUR kids!!

Kimberlyn enjoying some of that frozen pineapple treat....I believe as kids my Grandma E. MADE us all try it...for me, I think she ended up MAKING me love it! It's a fond memory that reminds me of childhood Disney trips with her.

The pineapple treat sign...

Waiting to watch the parade....Mom, Tommy, Kaitlyn, Dad, Kimberlyn (hiding) Brice and Robby. How do you like my hair-do??/ That would be the result of a sweet nephew and a darling son begging me to go on Splash Mountain....WHILE it was 56 degrees!! Oh, the line was short, imagine that...after the ride -of which I got soaked on! It was 53 degrees....We might be getting accustomed to Ohio weather...but that's a bit cold for a water ride with overcast skies to boot!

Girls posing with Tommy in Minnie Mouse's house.

What on Earth are we going to do with these cuties?? Wiating in line (a long line) to see Minnie.

Last....our last night in a hotel before arriving home....Kaitlyn pulled out her tooth in the car just before arriving. Thankfully the Tooth Fairy found her in the hotel that night!

I'm addicted...

To checking in on this other blog....see link to Confecssions of a CF Husband on the upper right side.

I stumbled to this blog from another. It's a couple Nate and Tricia (has cystic fibrosis) whom chose to continue their pregnancy over Tricia preparing for a needed double lung transplant. Man, read on there and you'll see why I'm addicted waiting for updates! Isn't God just MARVELOUS!

Larry left a comment last night....to me it brought back memories of Tommy...and makes me teary-eyed...to him, it hit him harder/differently-- he feels exactly what Nate is feeling but not typing. I was not near as ill as Nate's wife, but those first few days were very scary as my condition (failing kidneys) was not improving immediately after delivery as my doctor expected. Then he had to also juggle 3 kids at home (thankful for the help of his Mom), a baby in one city and his wife in another city! (That telling him to call the nurses' station when he called me for updates!)

I'll update a much needed Nance Family update soon...