Wednesday, December 30th

HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY AUNT CHRISTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

8:15 - Courtney had a good night's sleep (although she was snoring a lot) :-)

The doctors came in at 6:00 AM this morning and took the tubes out of her nose. She says it feels better now. She has not had anymore vomiting and she is still NOT on oxygen. She ate her yogurt this morning and drank chocolate milk. She has already watched Enchanted on DVD and is now watching her videos she made on her iPod.

I am going in to work this morning, but they have at least discussed the possibility of going home sometime today. Kelsey will be in later this morning.

11:00 - The doctor who did the surgery came by to see Courtney and thought everything looked good and he said he could tell a difference with her speech already. The first attempt at getting her up and moving around was not successful. She is still having issues with her stomach bothering her and they have given her more medicine. She laid down again and doesn't want to do much right now, but she has been asking for Kelsey (who should be there now). There is still a chance we go home today, but she will need to be able to move around without the nausea. I will update as I find out more throughout the day.

1:00 - Courtney ate a good lunch, but is complaining about her throat hurting and still dizzy when she gets up. She gets more pain medicine around 3:00, so they will try walking again later. Right now she is laying in bed with Kelsey watching a movie.

2:00 - Jennifer just called to say that Courtney had walked 2 laps around the floor she is on and went into the Quiet Room and looked out of the windows. Thus far she had not gotten dizzy or had issues with vomiting or pain.

6:00 - Well so much for the no issues. The next time she got up to go walking, she had gone to the bathroom and was sitting down to let Kelsey fix her hair, and she started gagging and made her throat start hurting and began crying. She is okay and has everything managed about 80% of the time, but we can't really go home with the 20% problem she is having. The doctors are still discussing our options on how to control this at home. We may go home tonight or they may decide to wait until tomorrow morning. She has been eating better - Jennifer ordered her some baked fish (hoping it will be flaky & soft) and pinto beans (mash up easily) for supper.

I ran into several people (former nurses & from the Family Resource Center) on the way in who wanted to find out how she is doing. :-)

7:15 - OK. They have increased her pain medicine dosage and no talk of discharging us tonight, so it looks like we will be spending another night here. Jenn and I took turns going down to get something to eat and Courtney ate some pinto beans (mashed up with ketchup), a smoothie, and some vanilla pudding. She also drank her chocolate milk (I know - Surprise, Surprise). She is taking a little nap right now and then we are going to go for a walk around the unit.

The more things change, the more they stay the same when it comes to Courtney and our trips to Vanderbilt. LOL There is never a dull moment anytime Courtney comes here. :-)

10:15 - OK, like I said....... Courtney got up from her nap, used the bathroom, and off we went for our walk. We took pictures by the trains, the Christmas decorations on the Grand Staircase, in front of the toy soldiers, the Christmas trees in the main hallway and by the Butterfly Garden. She was looking and feeling great. Then when we got back close to the room, she got a glazed look in her eyes and after sitting for a few minutes, she vomited again. After we got her cleaned up, changed her gown, and got her ready for bed, she looked like a different kid again. She went to sleep listening to Hannah Montana and is sleeping peacefully.

Since we still don't have this pain medication thing figured out, we will probably be here at least part of the day tomorrow. :-( It really depends on what the doctors say when they come in tomorrow during rounds. I will probably go in on time tomorrow because I think we might get to leave early tomorrow for the holiday.

Thank you again for all your prayer support, words of encouragement, and comments here and on my Facebook page.