Some updates and more prayers needed

Some updates... I meant to blog for awhile now. So much has happened but here are 2 of the most important and vital updates that could use prayer.


My Mom

My mom's brain surgery went really well! Although afterwards she was unable to speak at all for several hours. She stayed with us during her physical therapy. She is doing well but continues to have some balance issues. She also has no peripheral vision. Currently she is in Puerto Rico with some of the dance team from church for a conference. I am so happy that she was able to attend after having brain surgery 3 1/2 wks prior to the trip!


Jadae

He had been doing a lot better expect for a pain in his lower right abdominal. Several doctors had examined it and said that it was an inflamed lymph node. All other pain from his Crohn's was pretty much nonexistent expect for this. At the beginning of this past week he was experiencing a lot of pain. Wednesday night was very intense and he could not walk. His lips were white and he felt lightheaded. We called for an ambulance and left for the local ER, me following behind. (my dad was here and watched Malachi).
At the ER they did a CAT scan and the doctors told us that his appendix had ruptured sometime back in Nov. But is was blocked off so it did not kill him. They talked to their surgeons who were uncomfortable with doing the surgery and wanted him sent to Cleveland Clinic, where his Crohn's doctors are. This made us very nervous but the drs reassured us Jadae's life was not in danger.
After finding someone to take Malachi for a several days (it was 2:30 am at this pt) I went home to pack myself and Malachi a bag. I then picked up Jadae's mom and we drove through the night to Cleveland Clinic were we met Jadae.
Thursday doctors came in and examined him and reviewed the CAT scans. It was not a ruptured appendix after all. But his appendix was inflamed. Turns out he had a perforated bowel. Which is quite dangerous as he could become septic and a whole host of other issues.
Friday they did a loop ileostomy at 4 pm. Surgery was completed at 7 but his recovery took a lot longer then expected. Shortly after they sent him to the PACU (surgery recovery room) they gave him too much pain medication- which made him stop breathing. So after they remedied that they were very cautious of how much pain meds they could give him. His heart rate was really fast and he had a very low respiratory count. Finally after 6 am they were able to send him to his room. Jadae's mom and I were able to see him for only 5-10 minutes every 2 hrs.
It was so hard to see him like that. Saturday was a rough day for him. He was in a lot of pain and still have some oxygen problems. Today he was so much better. They did have to give him a blood transfusion today.
This had been the longest that I had ever been away from Malachi. I talked to him every day on the phone but he refused to talk to me until yesterday. Jadae's mom and I went home today. Although Jadae wanted me to be with him he also wanted me home with Malachi. Malachi does not understand what is going on. We could even tell him as he was in bed when the ambulance came.
Jadae is still at Cleveland Clinic. We are not sure how long he will be there. He will be off of work for 6 wks. Then 3-6 months from now he was have another surgery to reverse the stoma. Which he will be off of work again for an extended time period after another hospital stay.
Emotional I am doing ok. Overwhelmed and not understand why so much has been happening. Every month since Oct someone in my immediate fam has been hospitalized. I've cried a lot this past week. Some days my nerves and anxiety were fine, other days I was more of a mess.

A lil more than just overwhelmed

It's been over a month since I last posted. So much has gone on and my family needs your prayers.

The week of Thanksgiving my husband was hospitalized for his Crohn's disease. he was over an hour away. He had a partial blockage - which they were able to get under control with steroids. So no surgery yet!!! He was there for almost a week. It was a rough week- never knowing what was going on (he didn't even know), if he would have surgery, and me at home taking care of Malachi- who didn't understand why daddy was not coming home. It was a fluke but Jadae was able to see Malachi one time in the hospital in his room! Malachi and I would pray every night for his daddy!

Now, not even 2 wks later my mom is in the hospital. (A lil' background) She was diagnosed with Breast cancer (stage 3) almost 2 yrs ago to the date. She was treated with chemo and radiation and was cancer free for several months. It came back this summer and had spread to her lungs. She had a mastectomy done and has been undergoing radiation for several months. She had her last radiation treatment Wednesday.

All this week she felt like her balance was off and she mentioned it to her doctor which ordered a MRI done right then. Yesterday morning they admitted her because they found 2 tumor's in the back of her head. One is small the other is walnut sized. They are located near her vision cortex on the brain. They are removing the bigger one today. The cancer has spread to her brain.

My mom is having brain surgery today around 11 or noon. The surgery is expected to take from 4-6 hrs but up to 8 hrs. I am scared. This is scary. Please pray- have other people people. She needs a break in life. She has had a hard one, a rough childhood.

I've been told that as far as brain surgeries go this one is minor. And that the doctor is optimistic.

So much has changed in a single day. Yesterday I woke up and things were fine. And then I ended up spending the entire day in the hospital and plan to do the same today. Pray for us!

My first offical attempt of doing Tot School

I have never offical sat Malachi down for Tot School. I teach him new things all the time and do many things on the spur of the moment. I also teach Scarlett tons of things. Right now I am teaching her how to read off and on. I am not very consistant with it but as the mood hits I work with her. It is a little easier to do "Tot School" with her, as she is almost 4 and Malachi is only 22 months old.

Anyhow, yesturday I sat them down at the table and squirted shaving cream (I have quite a few bottles that I got at CVS for free) all over the table. I had planned on helping Scarlett learn how to write and read different words (she knows a handful of them right now) and teaching Malachi his shapes and how to draw them.

Scarlett was more focused than Malachi. Malachi was just content to play and run his hands through the shaving cream. I reviewed the shapes with him for a little while. Then I just let them play until the smell just got too much for me.

stART- A Plump and Perky Turkey

This past wkd Malachi and I drove up to my sister-in-law, Sara's, house to spend the wkd with her and her family. Her oldest son is a year older then Malachi and they love to play together. We had planned for a great, fun-filled wkd. We got there Friday evening and hung out, played the Wii, watched a movie, etc.

During the middle of the night I got sick. And I ended up being sick all wkd. I almost never get sick. It was awful. Sara took really good care of me! So there went all the plans we had for the wkd. The boys still had a lot of fun playing together!


We are not exactly sure why I got sick. I never ran a fever at all. But I could keep nothing down and then some more. There are three theories that we have
a) I caught some sort of stomach bug
b) I started a new medication 2 wks ago and ever since then I have been really nausea
c) I bruised (possibly even cracked) my ribcage a few days before the trip and have been in tremendous pain since then. So maybe I was sick due to the stress on my body


Sunday morning I was feeling a a little better. So we did a craft I had planned. I read them, A Plump and Perky Turkey by Teresa Bateman. It is a really cute book about townsfolk trying to find a turkey for Thanksgiving dinner. So they decide to advertise that they need a turkey to model for their Art fair, hoping to trick the Pete the Turkey after he judges the townsfolk creations. I am not doing the book any justice.


We then made turkeys with the boys using the outlines of their feet and hands. After the turkeys were completed I knew they looked different then what they were suppose to look like. Once I got home I realized that we did a few things wrong. I am blaming my sickness~ tired + weak + not feeling well = a poor memory!

This was the first activity that I did with stART. Which stands for Story with Art. A very fun idea to make story time very interactive and to help use your child(ren)'s imagination!




Today I re-read the story and re-did the craft with Malachi and my niece, Scarlett. This time I made the turkeys according to how they were suppose to be made.

(Sorry about the quality of the pic's. Our camera is semi-broken. It takes pictures. But the display screen is all white and we have no view finder. Therefore, when I take pictures I have to pray and hope that my aim is correct and that I am in focus!)


For more ideas, go to StArt at A Mommy’s Adventures.

It's what's for Dinner...Last night

I like trying out new recipes. Espically when I know that Jadae can est whatever I prepare. I tried out a new recipe last night. It is very simple but good! And since I have not posted a recipe in awhile I will post it here.

Farmer's Chicken

Yield:
4 servings
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons flour

2 cup milk

1-2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed

4 celery ribs, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

12 ounce package of stuffing mix

Instructions:
1. Saute onion, and prepare stuffing mix according to package directions and set aside.
2. In a medium sauce pan, melt butter and then add flour. Stir until bubbly, then cook one minute. Slowly add in milk, stirring continually to avoid lumps.
3. Add chicken, celery, onion, salt and pepper. Cook and stir for 5-10 minutes, until chicken is done and celery is starting to get tender.
4. Pour mixture into an 8x8-inch casserole dish. Top with stuffing. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

I did not use the celery. (I forgot we had some and Jadae is not sure if he is able to eat it yet due to his Crohn's) I also subsituted Rice Milk for the milk. And I accidentally dropped the cutting board that I was chopping the onion on and lost half my onion :( But overall is tasted really good. Next time I will add more chicken (I used a little over a pound) and a little less milk. (it was a little too moist for my husband).

( I got this recipe from Tammy's Recipe's at http://tammysrecipes.com/)

I Won a Give-Away!

As part of 1+1+1=1's 1000 Subscriber Celebration, Carisa gave away several BrainyBaby dvd's. And we won one of the Animals dvds! I was very happy about winning this because Malachi loves animals!

Last week while Malachi was on a mend I decided to put the DVD in the player for the first time. Both Malachi and my niece that I sit for loved it! It was all about animals. It went on to talk about different animal facts (a cow has 4 stomachs), what different animal baby's are called, what animal families are called, etc. So educational and kept both thier attentions! (Malachi is 22 months and Scarlett will be 4 next month)

God heard our prayers!

After Malachi had been hospitalized we were told to keep an eye on him. If he were to vomit, act lethargic, lose consciousness, etc. we needed to call the neurosurgeon in Cleveland right away.

Malachi has been sleeping with us since he fractured his skull because I wanted to keep a close eye on him and make sure that he is okay throughout the night. Malachi had thrown up. Thursday morning I woke up and smelled something awful. Malachi had thrown up. I yelled for Jade right away. Fortunately he had not left for work yet. I called the neurosurgeon, who wanted us to bring him back to Cleveland right away.

Not knowing what to expect we grabbed an overnight bag and got there as quickly as we could. (I had packed a bag of a few days worth of clothes for each of us when we got back earlier in the week- so we would be more comfortable while we stayed in the hospital). On the way there Malachi got sick again. He looked so scared. I was scared. I figured that since he was vomiting again he would need surgery. I did not want to even think of how bad the outcome could be.

While we were waiting for a room in the ER Malachi had told each of us that he loved us. That made me nervous too. Did he know something we didn't? Was he saying good-bye?

He was rather clingy and tired, and just looked miserable. He was having diarrhoea every hour or so. We were in the ER all day long. Malachi had another CAT scan to see if the area where the fracture was was swelling or bleeding at all. A radiologist, doctor, and neurosurgeon all look at the scan and could not find anything!

In fact, not one single person could even find the original fracture!!!! Skull fractures typically take a long time to heal.

We know that God healed Malachi's skull! Praise God!

(read previous post to learn more about his accident)