2008 February - Aria MacDonald

Ok so this blog is about Aria but I thought I would give Asher, her little brother, his own mention today.

We count ourselves blessed, yet again that God has given us such wonderful child. He was such a darling in hospital and is a great kid to have around. Aria loves him which is great. I take him in every morning to get her up. He lies down next to her and she kisses him madly and his isn’t bothered at all

He smiles constantly, these big smilies as soon as you look at him. He is a big boy too and growing great 🙂

Yay we are so happy with both our darlings

I thought I best update Aria’s blog!!  We are having a grand time at home and I had forgotten about it a bit.

 She is totally back to her old self and it is wonderful.  She hadn’t been right for awhile now, perhaps it was the sickness, maybe the heat.  But she is smiling and laughing and we can play with her again.  No yelling!  But yes the odd tanty.  The new game is to open the fridge door and play with the various jars and bottles of stuff.  So she isn’t a fan when I ask her to close the door

Anyway we might of escaped for awhile but Lara and her mum and dad are back in.  Hopefully just for a very quick stay and then home.  It is hard work and tough times 🙁

Yay!

Not much more to say except that we are really pleased to be here.

Aria will be on antibiotics every 8 hours for another week which is a bit of a hassle but much better than every 6 hours and MUCH better than being in hospital.

My lovely friend Corina is making us tea tonight. Yay- super grateful. The bummer about coming home is that it is normally to a fridge of not-so-fresh vegies/milk/bread/anything and a major case of the I-can’t-be-bothereds.

Also the house turns into a mess cause I get home at 8/9pm and out the door again at 6.45 to beat traffic.  Thankfully my awesome support Nola came over today so I am getting on top of the washing/ironing/tidying/blog updating/dishes slowly.  But really I just want to sleep 🙂

Thanks for checking in on us!

I am so excited to update the blog today!!  I have been thinking of the title all day!!

Yup today is Wiggle Wednesday, Aria is the proud new owner of a new central and tomorrow we can go home.  Yipppppeeeee

And in other great news Mr M was able to put the line back in the same vein the first line had been in.  Often once you have had a central line in a vein it scars over and can’t be used and you start to run out of IV access.  There are lots of places they can go including the 6 major veins and the side and groin area but each one is precious.

It has been so hard and we are drained emotionally and desperate to be home together as a family.

Thank you for all your support and comments- they really perk us up and encourage us

Ok so we didn’t really expect it to happen today but we are hoping it will tomorrow. Aria is on the acute list for surgery tomorrow.  But it does mean she will get bumped for emergency or more critical cases. 

Today was ok, again we lost another luer and again she had to have a new one put in.  But this time we gave her some stuff that makes her a bit sleepy and lets her forget.  To be honest it weirds me out a bit but it made a big difference and it wasn’t nearly as tramatic for her.  The docs use this elastic thing which they tighten around her arm to make the vein stand out.  Yesterday she screamed when she saw it today she picked it up and asked me to put it on.  I couldn’t figure it out and ask her if we should get a doctor to do and and she nodded!!!!  So I did and the doc came in and she didn’t freak out.

Hamish and I asked if we could take some of that magic stuff home with us.  Sam- that will help us forget the last week!!

Anyway so CLV tomorrow and home on Thursday?  I hope so.  We are so tired and miss being home together.

Ok so today wasn’t CVL (Central Veinous Line) Monday and it isn’t like it is happening tomorrow either.

Aria’s surgeon is away until tomorrow so it is looking more like Wednesday.  She is ok at the moment so I think we can wait until then.  We really want Mr M to do it cause he knows Aria and he is the best (and very nice).

Today was better. Aria slept for 2 hours and so did Asher (at the same time woohoo) so Hamish and I went for a nice walk and hung out at the family rooms.  Aria only got pricked once 🙁 Her luer tissued in her little hand AGAIN.  Hamish and I both went in to sing and dance and make idiots of ourselves but it is totally worth it if it makes Miss get thru it a bit better.  Aunty Alex had Asher and he managed not to water on her this time.

The grand plan was also for Hamish to go to work today but last night I had a bit of a tummy bug incident and was feeling terrible in the morning.   Feeling 100% now, I am wondering if it was stress related.

So tomorrow my sister is coming in and then Nola and Aria’s nana.  Still at some stage I better suck it up and do a day by myself.

Ali- come and visit, I would love to see you.  We go walking lots over at Auckland Hospital so might see you.

What a day

Hamish decided this morning that he needed to go home for a break.  And he did to, he is shattered and drained.  So I began my inner monologue of ‘Anita you CAN and WILL cope in hospital with the kids’

So I arrived in with a grand plan.  Get Aria her antibiotics and put her to bed for a nap.   We did the first antibiotic and DARN her luer tissued and she started yelling :(  HUGE bummer because it meant going back into the treatment room for more poking and pain.  As her central line has gone we rely on luer poked thru her skin into a surface vein- hard to put in little wriggling hand/feet.

Thankfully Alexandra (my sister) turned up soon (with coffee yipppeeeee).  She took Asher while I when into the treatment room while poor Aria got tortured and a new luer put in.  I was so happy Alexandra was there, there was no way I could take Asher into the room with me and Aria, no way even at 8 weeks old can I subject him to the sound of Aria screaming like that.  Unfortunately for her troubles Alex got pee’ed on by Mr.  Boys!

Sweet antibiotic 2 was started and the pump started beeping and Aria started yelling.  No Way!!  This one had tissued as well!!!!!!!!!!

Apparently there was only one Registar on for the entire hospital (madness) so we waited for him/her to turn up (4 hours later).  None of the house officers wanted to do it.  Meanwhile Hamish had turned up and I gave him the sorry story.

So we made it thru the day and I didn’t need to call Hamish back in, thanks to Alex and he got a rest at home, I resisted the urge to text him and tell him what was going on cause I knew he would want to come in. 

Anyway – tomorrows post should be called Central Line Monday- please let it be tomorrow Aria gets her line!!!!

Aria’s line came out late last night.  Her and Hamish had a pretty good night, it is the calm before the storm.  Her temp is normal as of straight after she came out of surgery, that line obviously needed to go.  So the clock starts ticking – we need 48 hours of no temps and then perhaps a new line.

I got a text from Hamish last night- ‘Cuteness update So we are watching TV (him and Aria) Aria indicates she wants to lie down.  She then asks for the light to be turned off.  Then a hat. Then the blankets.  Then for me to lie down.  It was super cute.’

Yes Hamish uses full spelling and punctuation in his texts.  All these commands from our girl who doesn’t talk yet, quite funny.  She is such a darling.

Rua- hello!  Thank you for your comment.  We think about you all and Lily so much.

Aria wasn’t getting better so her line has come out.  Pretty bad news.

The next few days are going to be awful as she suffers with no food until she gets a new one.

Please pray the temps go away quickly and a new line goes in ASAP

Poor Aria, she had a temp again last night!!!  Arggghhhhh

At least she had a better nights sleep

Will we ever get home?