Wingin' It

So I really suck bad at keeping up with this blog. I need a verbal blog. I am in my car a lot and I can always come up with things I want to talk about it, but of course, by the time I get home, it's bath, bottle, bed time. I always tell myself tomorrow I will update. Well here we are almost one month since my last post and I am just now updating! Oh well! One day! Maybe that can be my 2011 New Years Resolution, to be able to update once/week. I don't even know where I left off, I guess I could go back and look but that would mean learning how to save this post and come back to it. And since I have yet to figure out how to add more pictures, I will just update with where I think I left off.
Let's see, dad had his open heart surgery! It turned out to be a quadruple bypass, plus repair his mitral valve. The mitral valve was unexpected, and the surgery lasted longer plus it was way more evasive than just a simple bypass. Scary that bypass surgeries are so common. Dad did great, came home to OKC with us and sadly we had a set back. Dad was part of the 10-15% group that got fluid on his lungs. So after another surgery at St. Francis, plus another weeks stay there, he is officially home. The doctors, nurses, techs at St. Francis were awesome! They practically became family on the 3rd floor. We knew them by name and they knew us by name as well. Especially me, because when I was not in Tulsa to visit, I called relentlessly. If I couldn't get dad on his room phone or his cell phone, I made a point to call the nurses station and they would go into his room to check on him for me at that time and tell him to call me. I am sure they just loved that! Needless to say, there is a lot more to dads recovery, but I am sure he would prefer that I leave out all the gory details! He is doing well, and Caroline and I love visiting him. Just wish he lived closer!
On another note, we leave for NIH on Sunday! I can't believe it. Seems like we were just postponing our trip in February to April and thinking that it was forever away. And now here we are. We have our flight and hotel info. Plus we received our itinerary for all the doctors appointments. I am not going to lie. It's going to be rough. We get in Sunday night and start at 7:30 Monday morning. Now 7:30 is average for most people, but Caroline usually is taking a bottle at that time in her pj's while watching Matt Lauer. Not only do we start at 7:30 but we go all day long. Admissions, check-in, rehab appt, x-rays, meet with OI organizer of the program, lunch, physical therapy for 2 hours, THEN we meet with the doctor (Dr OI) at 4:30. We will be so drained by the time we see her. I am going to make our list of questions tonight, so we hopefully don't forget to ask her everything. During the appointment with Dr OI, they will do Caroline's skin biopsy. Just the words skin biopsy freak me out. I hope to gosh it doesn't hurt her. Then we get dinner, go to bed, just to start over again on Tuesday. At 8AM is her 1st appointment and it's a DEXA SCAN (where they check for her mineralization and check for osteoporosis, etc) No idea how long that will take. As of now, that is the only thing scheduled for Tuesday. I am thinking that Web and I might have some DNA work checked on us as well. Web and I are anxious to see if we are carriers. That will help us determine the rest of our family. Tuesday night we are back in OKC. So it's definitely a quick trip. I am not really scared of the doctors appointments, more just ready. I want to show them Caroline and I want them to show us more things that we can do to make her stronger. I hope we gain a lot of knowledge during the PT appointment.
I have made lists of things that I think we will need for Caroline. I have to pack the usual suspects, diapers, wipes, bottles, formula, clothing. But we also found out we need to bring our stroller. So add that to our list, which means we need to bring our infant seat because Caroline can't sit straight up in the stroller yet. She is soooo close to sit up on her own, but not quite there yet. Web and I will probably get charged an add'l $100 for all the stuff we are bringing on the plane! Oh well! It's our 1st time to fly with a baby, so better to be prepared than not! I already looked at the TSA website and read about bringing bottles on the plane!
As you can see, we have been super busy! But like I have told some people if it's not one thing, it would be another. So we can handle this. We can get through this. And when/if life starts getting a little less complicated, I am sure I can find something to keep me busy!
Well this is all for now. I hope you all had a great Easter with your family! I am changing the picture to our family Easter photo. I PROMISE to update this blog once we get back from NIH! Thank you all for your continued prayers and support of my dad and our Sweet Caroline.
XOXO