And the tonsils and adenoids are gone!!!

To say that this past week hasn't been the greatest, is really the understatement of the year.  To sum it all up, it has not been fun, not fun at all.  I can not wait until all of my loved ones are back to feeling good and being happy again, that time cannot come soon enough.

Today, was Britt's big tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy day!  We had to check in this morning at 7:30, and I couldn't believe it when we were back home by 11:00.  Dr. Chase described her tonsils as being "very angry,"  what exactly that means, I don't know, but he said they definitely needed to come out.  Her adenoids were also too big and needed out as well.  When Britt woke up, she said her tonsils and adenoids were still sitting on the table in a little cup next to her, she thought that was pretty cool.  Too bad she wasn't able to take a picture so we all could see.  So far Britt is feeling pretty good, but we know that the next 10 days or so are going to be rough.  We've loaded up on popsicles and gatorade and smoothie stuff and we have the humidifier going.  Hopefully, we'll be able to stay ahead of the pain with her pain meds and that she'll be feeling better by Christmas.  Britt was so nervous, but she was a rockstar, even waking up from anesthesia wasn't too bad, and that's been hard for her in the past.  So far, even though it's only been a few hours, everything has gone much better than expected!

Brock has been wheeling around in his wheelchair for a week now, and I'm truly wondering how he's ever going to survive 5 more weeks like this.  He's so frustrated because he can't do anything by himself and it's driving him crazy, he completely hates it.  He's gone to school the last couple of days but come home at the end of the day in serious pain.  So, 2 of my 3 kids are now regularly taking Lortab, not good, I know.  Maybe I should start taking them too, it would probably be good for me!  Brock goes to his post-op on Monday, they'll take all the stitches out and maybe remove the splint, but I'm not sure about that.  One thing I do know is that I'm already tired of lugging that heavy wheelchair around and loading it in and out of my car, but I'm probably not as tired of it as Brock is!   needed to get out of the house for a while last night so he went down to watch the high school basketball game.  He came home even more depressed, he really misses playing.  It was hard for him to be just watching the game, he wanted to be out on the court.  This is definitely going to try Brock's patience, as well as mine and Britt's and Abby's.

Abby just can't fight this stomach virus she's had, and it's the weirdest virus I've seen her get.  I know that because she's immune-suppressed, viruses effect her differently anyway, but the last couple of weeks have been so up and down.  Some days she's nauseas and feels like she's going to throw up, other days it's coming out the other end, then she'll have a day where she feels okay and I'll think she's finally over it, but the next day it starts all over again.  She's going on 2 weeks of this now.  I haven't talked to the transplant team about it much because the symptoms come and go and they're not too severe, but the one constant is that she's sleeping about 3-4 extra hours each day.  School has been hit-and-miss as well.  I can say that when I hear about all of the sicknesses going around right now, maybe staying home from school is okay for Abby for a while.  She needs to get better though, this has been dragging on too long, she needs her friends and school, a lot.

So, as you can tell, things haven't been exactly fun around the Doman house, in fact, they've been pretty depressing.  Somehow, I've managed to stay healthy through everything, which is good, because I spend most of my time that I'm not working, doing things for my kids and taking care of them.  Or, visiting with my dad.  He ended up needing a second surgery last week.  His sternum wires had come loose and were rubbing on each other, and he got an infection.  During the surgery they reopened his sternum and cleaned out the infected tissue, then rewired his sternum  and put in a titanium plate to help to reinforce it.  They also had to get a plastic surgeon involved, they had to cut his muscles and use move them around to help to cover the sternum.  I told him that his new talent can be playing Christmas music on the titanium plate in his chest, he could probably become famous someday!  It wasn't an easy surgery and it made it so that he had to spend an extra few days in the hospitals.  He's home now and recovering, but it's going to be long recovery too.  I really want everyone to feel better by Christmas, I love Christmas.  Despite Britt's sore throats,  Brock being on crutches, and me being broke from paying for it all, I sure hope we can still find some way to enjoy it.

Abby goes back to clinic on the 27th.  Even though I haven't had much time to think about it, that thickening in her heart is still in the back of my mind.  Hopefully, her echo on the 27th will look perfect and that worry can go away!  If Britt and Brock feel good enough, we're taking them to Salt Lake with us and then we're going to do some shopping while we're there, that gives us something to look forward to anyway.  Then, someday, someday that I hope isn't too far away, I'm going to take a vacation somewhere where there's a beach and that it's nice and sunny and where everyone is healthy, ahhhhhh..........that's my peaceful place.