Ukelele

Ali reporting from full day #2 in the hospital.  It was a pretty good one!  I arrived at about 9:30am, and Mom hung around for 1 hour.  The high points of the day were many.  Mom came back around lunch time with a special treat!  Katie received a package from Alpena Michiganites, namely Camilly and Co.  My favorite thing was Cade’s green truck that he chose to send Katie.  Love that. 

Katie started normal feedings, instead of pedialite..so this is great.  She is still suffering from the extreme trots (sorry, Katie.  Your life is on display for us right now.  Sorry.)  So we are hoping to get that cleared up before she leaves the hospital. 

Good news: IV wouldn’t flush so THEY JUST TOOK IT OUT!  Hallelujah.  Katie hates that thing.  Bad news: They had to draw a blood sample today and since her IV came out and wouldn’t work, they had to come and stick her.  FOUR DIFFERENT PEOPLE!!!  Shoot.  She hates (understatement) that.  Her veins are small and not easy to see, so the poor gal got poked in several different spots (and digged at! Ew) before they FINALLY found a vein that would pop up.  Guess where it was?  On the knuckle of her index finger on her left hand!  Ouch.  And ouch it hurt me too, because she was holding my hands and SQUEEZING THE LIFE out of them.  First she squoze (I know. Not a word.) my forearm and that really didn’t hurt.  In fact, she was PINCHING my arm as the pain got worse and I giggled about that.  Then she went to my left hand and that really hurt because my thick ring was in the way.  Well, hopefully it helped her.  She was NOT happy about that part of the day.

But, luckily RIGHT after that the music therapist came in.  I liked her!  She brought her guitar and asked Katie if she wanted to get the ukulele.  Katie said YES.  And so together they practiced chords then played a Taylor Swift song, Bruno Mars, and Rascall Flatts.  Katie sure is quick with that!  I was very impressed.  And Wade loved it too, he was talking through the whole thing.  It was such a lovely time for Katie, I know she really enjoyed it.

After that my little ducklings took a long nap (even Wade. He is the non-sleeper here!).  Then Katie and I played some air hockey on her ipad after cleaning her mouth. 

She is at the peak of swelling today, it seems. Her left side is worse than the right and seems to be bruising around her eyes.  Her lips are really dry, so we try to keep them moisturized with aquaphor.  She hates that, too.  I asked her if she had looked in the mirror yet, and she said yes.  The only thing I could get out of her as far as how she is feeling emotionally is that she is glad to have the RED device off.  I AM TOO.  That blasted thing.

We talked to Lyndsey on the phone right before Wade and I left.  Katie even got up to walk me and Wade out and take a stroll around the unit.  That is really good.  Next goal is to get her showered and wash her hair.  They brought in this shower cap that you warm up in the microwave and put it on and rub it around and it’s supposed to clean her hair.  I have no idea how that works and my curiosity was peaked to the max when she told me.  I doubt it would do much for Katie’s beautiful, thick hair though.

Katie looks really different.  It is an adjustment for me… I find myself looking at her and thinking about her other face and how she’s like a different person.  Then I look at her body and its’ the same and I know she is KATIE still, but she really is different.  I hope she adjusts well!  I mean really she got a NEW FACE.  Who does that happen to????  She still has those eyebrows…oh those eyebrows.  Her expression says it all when those are lifted. 

I would like to share a very special moment for me that happened yesterday.  Katie had fallen asleep and I was sitting next to the bed.  Her mouth pools liquid/saliva and I didn’t want it to drip since it’s still bloody and we had changed her and cleaned her up, so I tried to gently suction that.  She opened her eyes and looked at me and I apologetically looked at her and whispered “sorry!!!!” as I really did not want to disturb her.  Our faces were 5 inches apart and she brought her hand up to my cheek and started rubbing.  At first I said “what?” thinking do I have something on my face, does she want me to back away, is she trying to tell me something?  Then she just kept rubbing and looked right in my eyes and I realized she was just stroking my face.  It took me aback.  I looked at her and gave her a kiss on the forehead and said I love you, Kate.  She signed I love you back.  It was a really tender moment for me.  Expressing feelings honestly and openly is pretty important to me, and getting those emotions from other people is very important.  Katie is still learning to express feelings, so this was a momentous moment for me.  It makes me cry a little telling you.  I sure am grateful for this time to come closer to Katie and Mom.

Well, we are hopeful for less swelling, less diarrhea, and no need for strong drugs tomorrow.  It will be really great for her to be back at the RMH and we can hang out here.  Things are going well, thanks for your prayers and love!

Love to all,

Ali