Superbowl Sunday
Today is superbowl Sunday in the US and it is late arvo.
Aria is doing ok. Â She is pretty puffy with fluid at the moment which apparently is normal. Â Her blood pressure, heart rate and temp were low today. Â But with some new meds and a warming air blanket things have improved.
Dr Botha said that the next couple of days are going to be rough for Aria as her little body adjusts to the massive thing that has happened to her. Â For example her weight has dropped from 15 to 11kgs from all the huge sick organs being taken out. Â So we braced ourselves I guess for some rocky days ahead.
Her tummy looks completely amazing. Â For so long now it has been huge and swollen and distended. Â Now it is flat! Â Actually it is concave because her new organs are smaller and don’t fit the huge space- yet. Â But today the belly looks a bit more normal. Â One of Aria’s fave PICU nurses last night commented that the flat belly makes her look taller! Â I said Yeah! It totally does.
Hamish and I are doing ok.  I am feeling a bit surplus to requirements right now and am struggling with that.  There really isn’t anything I can do.  Aria is sound asleep and because her bedside is so busy it is hard to even hold her hand for very long.  So I sit in the corner of the room on the computer and jump up if there is anything of interest.
Asher has spent the weekend with the Arms family and Hamish has gone to pick him up. Â They are going to stay and watch the superbowel. Â Asher can’t really be in Aria’s room right now so he and Hamish might as well stay and have some fun. Â We are so grateful to the Arms family to taking him into their home and loving him so well when Hamish and I are busy with Missy.
Missing our NZ team a lot today. Â Feels like they should be here and be speaking Kiwi to us. Â Don’t get me wrong I am totally amazed as how awesome UNMC is, they are very very good at their jobs. Â But yeah, it is hard to explain.
Anyway better go and see if we can get Missy to show some personality!
UPDATE
That’s so funny, trust the clever radio people to pick it up, well done Anna. Â I will leave it there cause it is kinda funny, I didn’t even notice.
Answer to the questions about the bowel- they give the bowel a rest for seven days so she restarts her TPN tonight. Â Hopefully on Friday they will start her very slowly on INTESTINAL FEEDS 😀 and hopefully in a month she will be TPN free.
26 Responses to “Superbowl Sunday”
Leave a Reply
Support Aria
There are many ways that you can support Aria.
- Bank deposit
- Cheque by post
- Contact us directly
Subscribe to updates
Fundraising progress
Aria's support to date:
Progress meter: 75%
Links
- Hirschsprung’s disease
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Starship Children’s Health
The hospital that takes great care of Aria - The Kids Foundation of NZ
The wonderful charity that supports Aria
# 7 Feb at 5:34 pm
You are certainly not surplus to requirements, being their for Aria is a hugely important thing even though you can’t be hands on, she knows you are close by. Hope Ham enjoys the superbowl, Praise the Lord for the Arms family, take care love you all
# 7 Feb at 5:39 pm
Dear Anita and Hamish,
We just heard about Aria’s operation, and I’ve been catching up on your recent blogs. We are so thrilled for you all and do hope that all will go well in the next little while as Aria’s body adjusts. We will be praying for you.
LOVE from the Christensens 🙂
# 7 Feb at 5:52 pm
Dearest Anita – Aria will so know you are there…. as she hears the click click of the computer and your voice with the nurses, which will bring her security. Wow, what a change her body has to cope with… after Sam’s heart op he looked way worse and took him time to recover from the shock of the op before the benefit of the op kicked it. Will be praying for the same for Aria… and to think all that yucky sick stomach is gone – wonderful! Much love.
# 7 Feb at 6:06 pm
this is awesome to hear miss aria doing so well. i find myself leaving the computer on and refreshing every half hour or so to see if there is more news. love xx
# 7 Feb at 6:16 pm
Hi Anita
I am from Australia and my daughter is waiting for a liver transplant. She is 4 in April and so is close to Aria’s age. I have been following your blog and keeping Aria in my prayers. I showed my daughter Ellie the photo of Aria after transplant and told her Aria has received her gift and is sleeping so that her body can get better. It is the first time I have ever exposed Ellie to how it might be for her when she gets her liver. She has asked many times if it will hurt but doesn’t really understand what will happen to her…we don’t want to scare her.
My prayers continue for all of you and of course the donor family. I hope Aria doesn’t go through too much of a rollercoaster ride (nor you guys for that matter). May God hold Aria gently in his healing hands.
Sharls
# 7 Feb at 6:21 pm
We wish we were right there with you too, but you are never far from our thoughts and prayers. All too soon you will be back in full care, but you are still powerfully contributing your love through that room to your precious little girl.The Lord give grace to you all moment by moment. Much love Nola
# 7 Feb at 7:21 pm
Thank goodness for technology at times! So happy Aria is doing so well, hope that the next few days aren’t too rough for her. I know that now is probably not the best time to ask questions, but in the future you may get a chance to answer it! Was wondering if Aria is still on TPN whilst she recovers or do the doc’s have another way of keeping her sustained whilst she is recovering? Lovely that you have great friends to look after Asher for you, will be nice for he and Hamish to enjoy an afternoon with friends! Love to you all, keeping you firmly in my thoughts. Lis x
# 7 Feb at 7:41 pm
have just heard from janet the good news we wish you all the very best. on behalf of the nz drilling federation take care.
# 7 Feb at 7:56 pm
I’m just now learning of Aria and the journey your whole family has taken over these past three+ years. Your friend Lisa S. (a knitter) told me. She and I are “swap partners” for some yarn and knitting. Anyway, you may add my prayers to all of those already coming. I’m glad you have a church family caring for you, too.
After reading through your entries, I won’t be surprised if you eventually have an offer to publish these entries as a book. What an amazing journey!
# 7 Feb at 8:22 pm
I love the freudian slip you made calling it a “superbowel” towards the end of your post… teehee.. it IS a pretty super bowel!!
Both Dave and I have been checking for updates constantly over the last few days, and even though there is still a long way to go, we are just so unbelievably happy for you guys and Aria – that wee princess has got someone pretty amazing watching over her, for sure!
xx
# 7 Feb at 9:15 pm
Hi, I heard about Aria through a friend of yours Kit. I belong to some swap / art groups and so I have made some contact with my friends there and soon you will begin to receive postcards from around the world from my friends. I hope that this is encouraging to your family and Aria, I thought what better way to brighten her hospital room than with art and bright postcards from around the world. Kit told me her favorite color is purple, if there is anything else that she adores (cartoons, colors, animals, etc) let me know at pborawski@gmail.com and I will get the word out. I will be putting a Valentine card for her in the mail tomorrow so I hope it gets there in a few days.
Pamela Borawski
aka druideye on the web
# 7 Feb at 9:28 pm
Ha ha I like the super bowel too! Isn’t it just wonderful that her tummy is now a normal size and that poor old bowel and liver have gone after doing the job of keeping her going so long. You and Hamish are so used to doing the nursing job that it must feel very strange having all that time on your hands! I know Lisa asked a question about tpn and could I ask one too? How long does it take for the bowel to start up and work for Aria? I know the liver will be working right away and the kidneys are going to be up and running once swelling goes down but was curious about the bowel.
So happy to hear that Asher has had a great weekend away with a loving family – just what he needs and you both need so you can focus on each other and Aria and not worry about Ashie at the same time. It’s going to be amazing to hear how Aria feels when she is fully awake and if she feels better in herself and has more energy right away. I know Lara did, you could just tell that she felt so much better without that swollen tummy (even though she developed pneumonia from being under for 12 hours).
Take care of yourself while you have a chance right now and I hope Hamish has a great time with Ashie tonight!
# 7 Feb at 10:01 pm
Hi Anita – Alex told us the story about when she was in a coma last time and you were chatting away as she slept explaining how many plane connections Aunty Alex had to make to reach her – remember she held up her hand with the correct number when she woke up? just proves what we all instinctively know- that even when ‘sleeping’ our loved ones know what is going on around them. So don’t ever feel ‘surplus’ or ‘redundant’…she knows you are both there for her and must feel all the more secure for it.
Praying for you always
# 7 Feb at 10:58 pm
as always Anita another beautiful update, everytime I read your updates I always have tears in my eyes they are just so beautiful to read, and no matter what happens you or Hamish always have time to update the site for everyone to read on whats going on with Little Aria. thankyou and God Bless you both for doing that. It is so great to hear that Aria is doing so well, still praying lots for you all, God Bless, take care, love and big hugs.
# 7 Feb at 11:33 pm
ha ha was beaten to the post with noticing the ‘superbowel’ spelling blooper had a wee cackle – Aria the SUPERBOWEL girl ta daaaAA – anyhoo in all seriousness we are praying for her and she is never far from my or Cody’s thoughts hugs
# 8 Feb at 1:47 am
praying she recovers well
# 8 Feb at 1:50 am
Awesome…
sounds like Aria is doing well at the moment… and yip it’s a definately a trying and interesting days ahead… and as always we’ll be here standing with you united in prayer and praise and riding that rollercoaster by distance.
# 8 Feb at 2:06 am
um… im so badd at speling that i nevir notissed it and had 2 reed back threw the blog and comments 2 figer it out!
# 8 Feb at 2:13 am
I too chuckled at the superbowel blooper and realised that these little ‘faux pas’ keep us sane when we are under etress as you are of course.When my husband Allan was in ICU for 5 weeks following his coronary bypass operation, these little amusing happenings kept me going. We also had a lot of people praying for us and now he is well and very grateful to God for His deliverance. I am sure Aria will recover quickly and be running around with her little brother before you know it. Praying for you all as always.
Judy.
# 8 Feb at 2:51 am
Thank you so much for all the updates. I keep popping back to check on how Aria is doing so it is great to be able to pray for specific things as needed. Take care.
# 8 Feb at 3:10 am
I just skyped with Francis. He shared about Aria at church in Laos last night and they all prayed for your little darling…. rest well one and all. X
# 8 Feb at 4:26 am
Big XXX to you all! And an extra big X to the flat-bellied wee girl! xxxxxx
# 8 Feb at 5:17 am
lol @ superbowel!
# 8 Feb at 5:38 am
LOL…go the Superbowel! That’s what comes from spending too long in hospitals. My kids went to the fish and bait shop and asked for “squid testicles” the other day. The man just about wet himself. If only we could buy kidney’s for $2.95 too 😉
# 6 Nov at 12:19 am
Great post! Thanks you !
# 27 Dec at 2:14 am
It is really funny how you can meet someone and you start thinking that he’s thinking just like you. I’ve gotta say that you pretty much explained everything I had in my head!