Our Great Hospital Adventure

For those of you that have been around a while, you may remember that Alex and I spent 3 1/2 weeks in Children's Hospital last July due to appendicitis.  It was an often crazy, chaotic, stressful time.  Although we had lots of fun too.  I started to write about our adventures there, but life took over and I never finished.

Well, I recently created a photo book about our time at Children's and thought I'd share it with you.  So if you have an extra hour or two, you can finish reading our story.  :)  Seriously, it is text heavy.  I had 3 1/2 weeks worth of stuff to tell about and wanted to document the details for him.  So I'll understand if you either don't look at it at all or if you skim over it.  Of if you just look at the pictures, because frankly the text is really small and hard to read online.  Shutterfly doesn't offer a zoom feature in viewing mode (I asked!), so what you see is the best I can offer.  You can view it full screen, which helps a little.

How's that for encouragement to look at this book? :)

So sit back and relax.  Pour yourself a cold drink - or a hot one if you are in the middle on winter like we are - and enjoy.

Click here to view this photo book larger

If you made it all the way through, you deserve a treat, so go get yourself one!

When I told Alex I was making a book on our time at the hospital, he asked me if I wrote about the NG tube.  He still freaks out a little when that subject comes up!  I hope he never has to have another NG tube ever in his life!

Have a fabulous weekend!  Go 49ers!  

(Although I truly don't care who wins the Super Bowl, but I must cheer against the Baltimore Ravens.  They are, after all, a rival of my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers.)  :)

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I Clicked It Up a Notch: July

July was a tough month for us.  If you've been following along at all, you know Alex and I spent 25 days in Children's Hospital after his appendix ruptured and he had several complications after his surgery.  Being stuck in the hospital and still striving to complete my final Project 365, I had to get quite creative in my photo taking.  I didn't want to have almost a whole month of photos of my poor, sick boy.  And he was pretty tired of having the camera in his face while were there anyway.  :)

I had to decide how I clicked it up a notch in July and this is the photo I chose.

We spent lots of time in the play room at the hospital when Alex felt up to going.  The folks in charge there are very good about coming up with different, creative things for the kids to do.  One day we got to play with Spin Art.  I thought it looked very cool while it was spinning.

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Week 30 in Pictures

We're home!!!!  Alex (and I) got released from the hospital on Wednesday.  We had to wait until Doug got off work to come get us, so we still spent the better part of the day at the hospital, but most of it, Alex wasn't hooked up to anything.  So we had lots of fun playing.  He was actually a little disappointed when Doug showed up because the hospital was hosting a fun Luau starting at 6:00 and Doug got there at 5:40.  Alex wanted to stay for the party, but we were anxious to get home.


He got his PICC line out in the morning, which was traumatic, as expected.  Although the IV nurse was really great.  She let Alex do most of the work which made it easier on him.  He felt more in control.  Removing all the adhesive is what freaks him out the most.  But she let him do almost all of it.  And then he didn't even feel the line being taken out.

We are so glad to be home.  Alex is doing great.  Eating and playing and fighting with his brother and sister.  Just like we never left.  :)   We're trying to get back to normal now.  I'm still trying to get caught up on sleep.  I told the kids to give me a week to sleep in in the mornings and then I should be okay.  We'll see.  :)  I managed to sneak in a chiropractic adjustment on Friday.  Man, did I need that after sleeping on a couch all that time.

Anyway, I am excited to be home and have the opportunity to photograph non-hospital stuff.  Here's what last week looked like ...

{Sunday}

Alex and I really enjoyed spending time in the hospital's healing garden.  We went there quite frequently ... when he felt up to it.

{Monday}

Alex was allowed to have clear liquids today!   He was so excited to have apple juice and a popsicle.  I tortured him by making him wait for the popsicle while I photographed it.  :)  Not the greatest photo but I was quite limited in my set up capabilities.

{Tuesday}

Jello for breakfast (and lunch)!  Must be more fun to eat it with your fingers.  He was watching TV and doing his best to ignore me taking his picture.  :)  Poor guy's cheek is all broken out where the adhesive was holding the NG tube in.  The other side didn't do that the first time we were in the hospital, so I don't know why it happened this time.  It is clearing up now though.

{Wednesday}

Shiloh, one of the therapy dogs that visits the hospital, stopped to see us before we went home.  He's such a handsome dog!

{Thursday}

Lots of flowers blooming at home including these liatris and sunflowers.

{Friday}

After so much hot, dry weather, we have been getting quite a bit of rain lately.  At dinnertime we noticed a rainbow in the sky and decided to try to find the end of it - leaving dinner sitting on the table.  While we didn't find the end, we did find this nice clearing where I could photograph the double rainbow without the usual trees in the way.

{Saturday}

I finally got to spend some time enjoying the hummingbirds that visit my feeder.

     


My favorite photo from July ...

If you recall, we got to watch the fireworks from our hospital room window ... one of the bright spots from our stay there.

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Scavenger Hunt Sunday

After missing last week due to the fact that being in the hospital with Alex made it nearly impossible to find the prompts ... at least that's the excuse I'm sticking to :) ... I'm back this week.  We got released from the hospital on Wednesday, after spending 25 days there.  He is doing great and we are so thankful to be home!

This week's items are Paint, Green, Eyelashes, Shapes, and Clouds.

{paint}In honor of the Olympics, we had a little fun with paints.  Go USA!
{green}Green is one of the colors in these rainbows which we were so excited to see this week.  We even went in search of the end of the rainbow.  We didn't find it but we had fun trying.
{eyelashes}Why is it that little boys seem to get the longest eyelashes?  Totally unfair!
{shapes}One of the many crafts we did at the hospital was fuse beads.  Alex made a circle and I made a butterfly.
{clouds}Sunsets always seem prettier when there are clouds in the sky.
That's it for me.  Be sure to head over to Ashley's for more great Scavenger Hunt photos!  Have a great week!

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Week 29 in Pictures

If you recall from last week's post, we are back in the hospital again.  Alex had another surgery on Friday to remedy a bowel obstruction caused by adhesions which were a result of the appendectomy.  He's doing much better now ... improving daily.  We hope to get to go home on Friday.  He had his NG tube removed this morning and was allowed to sip some apple juice this afternoon.  We're taking things really slow to make sure we don't take any steps back this time.

He had lots of fun today, playing in two different play rooms, and riding the elevator.  Now he is snuggled up on the couch with his Grammy watching a movie on his DVD player.

Since we are in the hospital again, many of my photos this week are of Alex.

{Sunday}

This sweet little lion was given to Alex in the Children's Hospital ER when we, unfortunately, had to return after having just left on Friday.

{Monday}

Our first full day back in the hospital and Alex wasn't really allowed to get out of bed and off the suction for the NG tube, so we had some toys brought to us instead.  Otherwise it would have been an incredibly long, boring day.

{Tuesday}

We waited all morning for Alex to get called down to have his new PICC line put in.  And, of course, they called us down right after this gentleman came to play drums and bongos with the kids.  We got to spend about 10 minutes with him at least.  And Alex enjoyed playing the bongos while he could.

{Wednesday}

I think I told you before how Alex is getting terribly spoiled while in the hospital.  Well, today we went to the gift shop so he could pick out a toy and came back with a music set which included this xylophone.  I'm sure our neighbors are just thrilled.  :)

{Thursday}

Alex got to play doctor today during a Teddy Bear workshop hosted by the hospital.  If the train engineer gig doesn't work out, he could always become a surgeon.  :)

{Friday}

Second surgery day.  He was pretty tired afterwards so he slept most of the evening.  Doug and Grammy came to be with us and I was able to enjoy a little of the Parent Only night the hospital hosted.  I got a mini massage and had a few refreshments while my little man slept off the anesthesia with his pal, Woody.

{Saturday}

While looking for something other than hospital stuff to photograph, I found this bumble bee in the hospital's healing garden.  I wondered why he wasn't moving at all until I noticed the rain drops on him.  He was probably just waiting to dry so he could fly away.

          
Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great week!

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Week 28 in Pictures

Well, the good news is we got to come home from the hospital on Friday.  The bad news is we are back again.  :(  I didn't get to finish my blog posts about our great hospital adventure, but let me just quickly summarize the past few days.

Alex was doing great on Thursday and Friday so we got to go home.  All tubes, IVs, and PICC lines were removed and we were so excited to be leaving Hotel de Children's Hospital.  Everything was swell until Saturday evening when he started vomiting.  He vomited 4 times between 7 pm Saturday and 11 am Sunday, so I called the hospital and they wanted to see him.  So we drove back down, had X-rays, an IV, another NG tube, an a CT scan.  He was admitted Sunday night around 8:00 and here we are.

The word is that he has an abscess in his belly.  Tomorrow we are supposed to go to IR (surgery) to get another PICC line and possibly have the abscess drained.  He will be started back on TPN (nutrition) and he's also getting more IV antibiotics.

Boo.

Not sure how long we will be here this time, but we are definitely hoping it won't be as long as last time.  We do not want to spend the whole month of July in the hospital.  Minus those 45 hours we got to spend at home over the weekend.

Anyway, having said all that, most of last week's photos were taken at the hospital again.  And it looks like this week's photos will be also.  :(

{Sunday}

Daddy and Alex had fun looking at an Eye Spy book.  Alex is really good at Eye Spy.  (The tube in Alex's nose is the NG tube - used to drain fluids from his stomach).

{Monday}

Alex loves to watch the marble machine that is in the hospital clinic's waiting room.  We were there several times during our stay just to see the train and the marble machine.  And I'm sure we'll visit it again now that we're back.  (When we would go walking, I would tie his NG tube inside his gown's tie in the back.  That way no one had to hold it and it wasn't pulling on him.  The nurses thought that was the neatest idea.)

{Tuesday}

Doug brought our last chrysalis to the hospital so I wouldn't miss when this handsome fellow decided to join us.  This was the magical day.  We set him free in the hospital's healing garden.

{Wednesday}

Some Pittsburgh Penguins players came to the hospital to play games with the kids.  Grammy and Alex wanted their picture taken with Iceburgh, the Penguins' mascot.  Fun times!  Except for the whole being-stuck-in-the-hospital part.  :)

{Thursday}

Alex and I did some spin art in the playroom.  It looked prettier while it was spinning.  :)

{Friday}

The day we came home!  Honey was so excited to see us, she nearly knocked me over.  Once I got her calmed down, I decided she needed to be my POTD.

{Saturday}

Nick and I went for a walk down to our neighbor's pond.  There were plenty of dragonflies buzzing around.  This one was nice enough to sit still for me.  :)

     
If you are doing a Project 365 this year, be sure to stop over at Inspire Me Photography and link up.  Tracey will be featuring a photo each week from someone who has linked up.  She has themes for each week, but you are not required to stick to them.  Otherwise I would have been booted out a long time ago!  :)  Oh, and you will LOVE her photography!  She's awesome!

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Pittsburgh Penguins Playtime

We never imagined we'd still be at Children's Hospital after 13 days.  We fully expected to go home last Friday.  But due to a few bumps in the road, here we are.  However, one of the perks of still being here is that yesterday a bunch of Pittsburgh Penguin players came to the hospital to play games with the patients.

Alex doesn't watch hockey (although he might now) but that didn't stop him from having a blast with a few of the players ...

blowing bubbles out in the garden ...

playing his own version of chess in the foyer ...

(Liam O'Brien didn't mind.  He didn't know how to play chess either.)  :)

posing for a photo with Simon Despres after a few wicked games of bowling and horseshoes ...

hanging out with Iceburgh, the Penguins' mascot ...

(Grammy happened to come for a visit in the middle of all the fun).

and playing Connect Four with Harrison Ruopp.

These are a few of Alex's favorite players from the day ...

Liam O'Brien, the one in the middle, was especially his favorite.  They did several things together.


Alex got a t-shirt and managed to get several of the players to autograph it for him.  His brother is going to be so jealous when we get home!  :)

As much as we don't want to be in the hospital, this is the best hospital to be in.  Everyone is wonderful and the activities they have for the kids are fabulous.  If you get bored here, it is completely your own fault.  :)


As it looks right now, we will be busting out of here tomorrow.  We are really looking forward to getting home and sleeping in our own beds!

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