Courtney slept most of the morning and didn't drink any, so that didn't answer any questions we had about what her stomach could handle. Jennifer got her up and she drank a milkshake and then went walking.
We got to leave work early today, so I went straight to the hospital. When I got there, Courtney and Kelsey were playing Wii in the play room on her floor. When they finished, Courtney ate another milkshake and some ice cream. Jennifer had talked to the doctor earlier and he told her that whenever she was comfortable that we could take her home to let his office know and they would speed through the discharge process. Since she was able to drink that and not have any issues, we were confident she could do fine at home. So they started the discharge process and we left about 5:00.
We ran by the pharmacy to drop off prescriptions on the way home. Then we ordered supper from O'Charley's and I filled up the car with gas, picked up supper, and picked up the prescriptions. Courtney started playing Wii as soon as she got home. While we ate supper, I watched the end of the Predators game and the beginning of the UT game. At least the Predators won their game in OT. I was feeling good about the UT game until the Hokies are running all over them in the 2nd half. Courtney has eaten supper and taken her medicine and is now watching videos on our camcorder.
She is going to sleep downstairs on the couch tonight. She is excited about that and we are just happy to be bringing in the New Year at home. Kelsey is spending the night with a friend for her friend's birthday and New Year's party.
Thank you again for all your prayers and encouragement. I will continue to update her progress, but not in this much detail. :-) I will use this site to update during her back surgery this Spring also.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Thursday, December 31st
9:00 - Courtney decided that 5:45 AM was a good time to get up and go walking this morning.
Some of the doctors came in before she got up and talked about plans for the day. We really aren't sure that the pain medicine is the problem, since it does not bother her when she is sleeping. They said that they aren't concerned yet if she isn't able to eat, as long as she is getting plenty of liquids (no dehydration). They want to give it til noon today and see how she does, but only give her clear liquids and maybe light food.
After they left, we got our shoes on, took her to the bathroom, and then started walking. She couldn't figure out why it was still dark outside and not a lot of people were walking around. :-) We went down to see the trains again (still not on) and walked the hallway on the 2nd floor. We were out about 25 or 30 minutes. We got back to the room and she ate a few bites of Jello and went back to sleep.
Jenn and I took our showers and I got ready and came to work. I wore my blue jeans (since that was all I had left that was clean) and hoped that everyone else thought this was a casual day also. It turned out that a lot of other people did. :-)
I will update as I find out more through the morning. I hope we are getting to leave work early today anyway. :-)
Some of the doctors came in before she got up and talked about plans for the day. We really aren't sure that the pain medicine is the problem, since it does not bother her when she is sleeping. They said that they aren't concerned yet if she isn't able to eat, as long as she is getting plenty of liquids (no dehydration). They want to give it til noon today and see how she does, but only give her clear liquids and maybe light food.
After they left, we got our shoes on, took her to the bathroom, and then started walking. She couldn't figure out why it was still dark outside and not a lot of people were walking around. :-) We went down to see the trains again (still not on) and walked the hallway on the 2nd floor. We were out about 25 or 30 minutes. We got back to the room and she ate a few bites of Jello and went back to sleep.
Jenn and I took our showers and I got ready and came to work. I wore my blue jeans (since that was all I had left that was clean) and hoped that everyone else thought this was a casual day also. It turned out that a lot of other people did. :-)
I will update as I find out more through the morning. I hope we are getting to leave work early today anyway. :-)
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Tuesday, December 29th
Thank you to everyone for your continued prayer support and words of encouragement in the Comments.
Courtney had a fairly good night.
I stayed in the room with her and Jennifer went to a "Family Sleep Room" (basically a small hotel style room with a bathroom, bed, chair & TV) . I don't think she slept much due to a constant noise (some kind of machine or DVD stuck in repeat mode or something) in the room next to her.
I was able to get some sleep, but Courtney woke up 3 times needing to use the bathroom. They had a portable potty that she could use at her bedside. The first time she got up, she felt like she was going to throw-up, so they gave her some nausea medicine and some more pain medicine. She felt like throwing up again the 3rd time, but it was too early to give her the nausea medicine again. Her throat hurt more after she almost vomited, so they gave her more pain medicine. They have also had her on Oxygen to keep her SATs up where they should be. They are weaning her off of the oxygen as she can tolerate it and keep up her SATs.
Robin (our friend and Courtney's main nurse for most of her stays at Vandy in the early years) was working today and came by to see her this morning. She always gets smiles out of Courtney and got her an ICEE to help soothe her throat. We also saw Dr. Mary Taylor, who is one of the doctors that was there in the early years and was amazed at how much she has grown and how well she is doing.
I left the hospital about 8:30 to come in to do a little work. We are shorthanded this week, so I am going to work a half-day and head back to the hospital. Kelsey is on her way back to the hospital (Courtney has been counting down the time until she gets there since 6:30 this morning.
5:00 - I left work at 2:15 today and found out on my way to the hospital that Courtney had been moved into a room on the 8th floor. She is not needing oxygen assistance currently, but they are still trying to manage her pain. She is having some dizziness when she sits up. She drank some chocolate milk earlier and is now lying down to take a nap while listening to her iPod. We had some visitors from the Family Resource Center (Adelaide and Kim), who brought her a High School Musical balloon and a card from everyone. Kelsey is going to a movie later and spending the night with Lauren again tonight.
10:00 - Courtney has had a good night. She drank a half-pint of chocolate milk earlier tonight and then ate half of a vanilla pudding for supper. She asked for more about 9:00 and ate the other half of the pudding. She did vomit a little earlier tonight, but has not since she ate this time. Jennifer and I got to go down and eat supper together while Robin stayed in the room with Courtney. She has not had to go back on oxygen and they have taken her off the morpheine. She is getting scheduled doses of antibiotics and Lortab for her pain. This is allowing them to stay ahead of the pain and she hasn't complained much at all about it tonight.
She is now laying down to go to sleep and Jenn and I are going to watch a movie. Kelsey is on her way to Lauren's after watching her movie. I will update more tomorrow morning. Good night.
Thank you for your continued prayers for recovery.
Courtney had a fairly good night.
I stayed in the room with her and Jennifer went to a "Family Sleep Room" (basically a small hotel style room with a bathroom, bed, chair & TV) . I don't think she slept much due to a constant noise (some kind of machine or DVD stuck in repeat mode or something) in the room next to her.
I was able to get some sleep, but Courtney woke up 3 times needing to use the bathroom. They had a portable potty that she could use at her bedside. The first time she got up, she felt like she was going to throw-up, so they gave her some nausea medicine and some more pain medicine. She felt like throwing up again the 3rd time, but it was too early to give her the nausea medicine again. Her throat hurt more after she almost vomited, so they gave her more pain medicine. They have also had her on Oxygen to keep her SATs up where they should be. They are weaning her off of the oxygen as she can tolerate it and keep up her SATs.
Robin (our friend and Courtney's main nurse for most of her stays at Vandy in the early years) was working today and came by to see her this morning. She always gets smiles out of Courtney and got her an ICEE to help soothe her throat. We also saw Dr. Mary Taylor, who is one of the doctors that was there in the early years and was amazed at how much she has grown and how well she is doing.
I left the hospital about 8:30 to come in to do a little work. We are shorthanded this week, so I am going to work a half-day and head back to the hospital. Kelsey is on her way back to the hospital (Courtney has been counting down the time until she gets there since 6:30 this morning.
5:00 - I left work at 2:15 today and found out on my way to the hospital that Courtney had been moved into a room on the 8th floor. She is not needing oxygen assistance currently, but they are still trying to manage her pain. She is having some dizziness when she sits up. She drank some chocolate milk earlier and is now lying down to take a nap while listening to her iPod. We had some visitors from the Family Resource Center (Adelaide and Kim), who brought her a High School Musical balloon and a card from everyone. Kelsey is going to a movie later and spending the night with Lauren again tonight.
10:00 - Courtney has had a good night. She drank a half-pint of chocolate milk earlier tonight and then ate half of a vanilla pudding for supper. She asked for more about 9:00 and ate the other half of the pudding. She did vomit a little earlier tonight, but has not since she ate this time. Jennifer and I got to go down and eat supper together while Robin stayed in the room with Courtney. She has not had to go back on oxygen and they have taken her off the morpheine. She is getting scheduled doses of antibiotics and Lortab for her pain. This is allowing them to stay ahead of the pain and she hasn't complained much at all about it tonight.
She is now laying down to go to sleep and Jenn and I are going to watch a movie. Kelsey is on her way to Lauren's after watching her movie. I will update more tomorrow morning. Good night.
Thank you for your continued prayers for recovery.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Courtney's Surgery Update
The surgery is scheduled for 1:15 PM today at Vanderbilt. We were supposed to be here by 11:15, but we got a call from the doctor's office stating that he was running ahead of schedule and asked if we could come on in. We packed the car and left about 10:10.
We got signed in and they called us back to holding by 11:00. Courtney changed into her gown and the doctor came by to speak with us. Judy, Christy, Grandmama, and Grandpapa are here to see her before she goes back to surgery. Our associate pastor also came by and had prayer with us.
OK. We are talking Vandy time, so if the doctor is running ahead of schedule, then that means that we may have the surgery close to the original time. :-) It is now 1:00 PM and she is next in line. They took the patient before her back for surgery about 15 - 20 minutes ago. She is doing well thus far talking with her visitors or playing with her new Ipod Nano that she got for Christmas.
2:00 - They just took Courtney back for surgery. They gave her the "sleepy" medicine about 30 minutes ago and she was resting well when they took her back. They expect the surgery to take about 3 hours. I will update as we get news throughout the surgery.
4:15 - Courtney is out of surgery. We just spoke with the anethesiologist and he said that she did great and is breathing well. They are going to keep the EKG on her for awhile just to keep an eye on her. We are waiting to speak with the surgeon now and find out when we can see her in Recovery.
We just spoke with the surgeon and he was very pleased with how the surgery went. He said that she will be uncomfortable for a couple of days and will not be able to eat, but otherwise everything went as well as could be expected. They have taken her to Recovery, but we are not able to go see her yet.
Thank you for your prayers.
7:00 - We have seen her in Recovery and they are working to get her pain under control. For precautionary measures, we will go to the PICU tonight (due to Courtney's history). We will be moving there in the next few minutes.
9:30 - Courtney got into her room in the PCCU about 7:15. We had to wait in the Family Room for about 45 minutes while they got her turned over to the new nurse. Kelsey went to eat while we were waiting. Jennifer went to eat while Kelsey was visiting and then I went to eat when she got back. I walked Kelsey back to her car at 9:00 so she could go to Lauren's house to spend the night. Courtney is now sleeping peacefully and we are relaxing in the room with her. We were able to get a Family Sleep Room, so one of us will sleep in the pullout chair in the room and the other will go to the sleep room. Our nurse is hoping for a very "uneventful" night that leads to her getting a good night's rest and feeling better in the morning.
I am going to try going into work tomorrow, but that will depend on how things are going here and how busy it is at work. I will start another post tomorrow to let everyone know how she is doing.
Thank you again for your prayer support. Now we are just praying for a successful recovery. We would like for it to be a speedy one, but really it is whatever is best for her.
We got signed in and they called us back to holding by 11:00. Courtney changed into her gown and the doctor came by to speak with us. Judy, Christy, Grandmama, and Grandpapa are here to see her before she goes back to surgery. Our associate pastor also came by and had prayer with us.
OK. We are talking Vandy time, so if the doctor is running ahead of schedule, then that means that we may have the surgery close to the original time. :-) It is now 1:00 PM and she is next in line. They took the patient before her back for surgery about 15 - 20 minutes ago. She is doing well thus far talking with her visitors or playing with her new Ipod Nano that she got for Christmas.
2:00 - They just took Courtney back for surgery. They gave her the "sleepy" medicine about 30 minutes ago and she was resting well when they took her back. They expect the surgery to take about 3 hours. I will update as we get news throughout the surgery.
4:15 - Courtney is out of surgery. We just spoke with the anethesiologist and he said that she did great and is breathing well. They are going to keep the EKG on her for awhile just to keep an eye on her. We are waiting to speak with the surgeon now and find out when we can see her in Recovery.
We just spoke with the surgeon and he was very pleased with how the surgery went. He said that she will be uncomfortable for a couple of days and will not be able to eat, but otherwise everything went as well as could be expected. They have taken her to Recovery, but we are not able to go see her yet.
Thank you for your prayers.
7:00 - We have seen her in Recovery and they are working to get her pain under control. For precautionary measures, we will go to the PICU tonight (due to Courtney's history). We will be moving there in the next few minutes.
9:30 - Courtney got into her room in the PCCU about 7:15. We had to wait in the Family Room for about 45 minutes while they got her turned over to the new nurse. Kelsey went to eat while we were waiting. Jennifer went to eat while Kelsey was visiting and then I went to eat when she got back. I walked Kelsey back to her car at 9:00 so she could go to Lauren's house to spend the night. Courtney is now sleeping peacefully and we are relaxing in the room with her. We were able to get a Family Sleep Room, so one of us will sleep in the pullout chair in the room and the other will go to the sleep room. Our nurse is hoping for a very "uneventful" night that leads to her getting a good night's rest and feeling better in the morning.
I am going to try going into work tomorrow, but that will depend on how things are going here and how busy it is at work. I will start another post tomorrow to let everyone know how she is doing.
Thank you again for your prayer support. Now we are just praying for a successful recovery. We would like for it to be a speedy one, but really it is whatever is best for her.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
October 2009
Kelsey participated in the Homecoming Week Activities at DCA.
Kelsey had several saves in the game and DCA had the lead until the last few minutes when SAS scored and the game ended in a tie 1 - 1. DCA finished in 2nd place in their District and hosted Knox Webb in the Region tournament. They lost that game 1 - 0 and were only 1 game away from playing in the State Tournament.
Courtney had her adenoids removed a few days before Halloween and did not go Trick or Treating this year, but she helped carve the pumpkins. During a weekend visit to my parents the previous weekend, my Dad had to be taken to the ER in Sweetwater. He had a slight heart attack at some point and we had to take him to Park West in Knoxville. Courtney had her adenoids removed the day before my Dad was to have open heart surgery. It was supposed to be an outpatient procedure for Courtney, but she had to stay overnight. I had to leave her there with Jennifer and drive to Sweetwater late that night. I made it to Sweetwater and went to sleep at 1 AM and then left for Knoxville at 6:00 the next morning. Both of them did well. Courtney went home on the 30th and my Dad went home a few days after that. 
Kelsey's last regular season soccer game for DCA was at St. Andrews -Sewanee. Since both of Jennifer's grandmothers live in Winchester, we all met Ms. Edna and had lunch with her and then visited Memo before going to the game. Memo is 94 years old now and was having a good day.
Kelsey had several saves in the game and DCA had the lead until the last few minutes when SAS scored and the game ended in a tie 1 - 1. DCA finished in 2nd place in their District and hosted Knox Webb in the Region tournament. They lost that game 1 - 0 and were only 1 game away from playing in the State Tournament.
Kelsey also turned 17 during October. It is hard for me to believe she is growing up so fast.
Courtney had her adenoids removed a few days before Halloween and did not go Trick or Treating this year, but she helped carve the pumpkins. During a weekend visit to my parents the previous weekend, my Dad had to be taken to the ER in Sweetwater. He had a slight heart attack at some point and we had to take him to Park West in Knoxville. Courtney had her adenoids removed the day before my Dad was to have open heart surgery. It was supposed to be an outpatient procedure for Courtney, but she had to stay overnight. I had to leave her there with Jennifer and drive to Sweetwater late that night. I made it to Sweetwater and went to sleep at 1 AM and then left for Knoxville at 6:00 the next morning. Both of them did well. Courtney went home on the 30th and my Dad went home a few days after that.
September 2009
After participating in the Kids Bowl Free program at Hermitage Lanes during the summer, Courtney joined her first bowling league. She bowled on Saturday mornings for 8 weeks and had a great time. She was on the same team as her friend Jason.
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