What A Great Day

Yesterday began very early for me. My day began at 5:45 am, and I started with a nice, big bowl of Crispix cereal while watching the morning news for a few minutes. Then, I got the Madore-ables up, dressed, and got a good breakfast into their tummies. I kept watching the clock and we were running on time. I hate being late, and sometimes (especially on days like this) I feel like I have an anxiety of being to my destination either early or on time. On the way down to my Mom's house, I realized a few things:

1. How much I despise traffic because it's usually caused by something that could have been prevented in the first place...is merging really that hard to do?
2. How much I love being a stay at home mom and how thankful I am for not dealing with a morning commute.

So, I then dropped Samantha off at Mom's house and just about ready to go annnnd...smelled something pretty fierce coming from the littlest of the Madore-ables. Sarah always has great timing when it comes to diaper changing. Ahh, time is a ticking. Ok, I need to change her. So once that bomb was detonated, Sarah and I were on our way to Boston Children's Hospital. Tick tick tick tick tick. The ride from Mom's house to Longwood Avenue in Boston takes approximately 35 minutes...without traffic. With traffic? It takes at least 1 hour to 1 hour 30. How did the ride go you ask? Tick tock tick tock tick tock. Not so good unfortunately. I kept my cool. I said several Hail Mary's. I kept telling myself that this was Boston traffic, and there was nothing I could do to change this. Sarah's appointment was at 9am, and at 8:30 I hadn't even hit Storrow Drive. I called Sarah's doctor's office to say I was running late. I'm so glad that I did. On the way down to Children's Hospital I realized several things:

1. I am amazed that people really don't know how to merge
2. I am amazed at how one can put on a full palate of makeup on one's face while driving at 70 mph at the same time.
3. I am amazed at the amount of people who text while driving
4. I am amazed that even with 4 lanes on the highway there is still a backup
5. I am amazed at how confident the bicyclists are in Boston

Once I parked the car, I was a little rattled. I had to laugh crossing the street. I don't know how familiar you are with Boston Children's Hospital, but the entrance to the hospital is at a busy busy intersection. It's pretty crazy to cross the street. Well, I'm waiting for the "traffic beep" to let us cross the street, and I look over and I see a half dozen wild turkeys just walking down Longwood Avenue and Blackfan Street. Yes, wild turkeys. (Not the adult beverage kind, but the actual animal). Sarah yelled out "DUCK! DUCK!" and I was good to go. Who would have thought an almost 2 year old could make me forget that I was 35 minutes late to an appointment?

Sarah and I called for the elevator, and I laughed with a couple of women in the elevator who had also seen the turkeys...mainly because Sarah was yelling out "DUCK DUCK DUCK!" I'm glad that I called the office when I did. I signed Sarah and I in, and was seen in less than 15 minutes. In those 15 minutes, I talked to this amazing couple with a daughter who looked to be around Sarah's age. Sarah and this little girl played wonderfully. They shared chalk together and colored on the very large chalk board on the wall. Then Sarah's name was called. We were shown to the room.

After about 10-15 minutes, Sarah's specialist came in and checked out her eyes, ears, nose and her throat, all to which Sarah giggled. The doctor asked questions, I answered them. Then he said those words that I have been waiting to hear: "I am very pleased with Sarah's progress and in my opinion, I don't feel that you have any reason to come back. You do not have to make any more follow up appointments".

Hearing those words made me realize that all the craziness that morning was totally worth it. I refrained myself, but in my head I was doing several happy dances while Sarah's doctor was talking.

So thank you so very much to Boston Children's Hospital. Thank you so so so very much to Dr. Ostrower (who has now moved onto another hospital in Connecticut since Sarah was first diagnosed). A great big thank you to Dr. Amanda Didas and Dr. Reza Rahbar for your amazing care while we were with you. Jeremy, Samantha, Sarah and I couldn't be happier.

HOORAY FOR SARAH!

WE LOVE YOU!

WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!!!

The List

My poor Sarah. She has seen more hospitals in her (almost) 21 months of life, than I have seen in my life time. She is so strong, and has shown that she can kick this aspiration thing in the rear bum backside behind. Here's a brief timeline of Sarah's hospital visits:

12/4/2008 - Sarah visits her first hospital when she was born. (OK, this one doesn't count because it's usually custom that a child is born in a hospital, so I'll let this one slide).

1/4/2009 - Jeremy and I (thanks to my friends Rachael & Molly) discover Sarah's horrendous, loud breathing/stridor (wheezy sounding), and thus begins the discovery of Sarah's Laryngomalacia. Sarah was rushed down to Boston Children's Hospital for 10 days. During these 10 days, Sarah had a Bronchoscopy and a Superglottoplasty. As a result of the Superglottoplasty, Sarah had a NG Tube (Nasal Gastric tube) inserted up her nose, and down her throat into her stomach so she can eat. (Fortunately, Sarah only had to use a NG Tube for a little over a month before her team of doctors at Children's said she could take bottle feedings as long as we put baby rice cereal to thicken the liquids. As long as her liquids were thickened, then she could take liquids orally through the mouth).

(Sarah also visits Boston Children's between 1/2009 and 1/2010 on several occasions for just regular checkups and a few Modified Barium Swallows in between. There's just so many, that I don't remember the exact dates).

1/13/2009 - The day after Sarah comes home from Children's Hospital, Sarah's NG Tube fell out and Jeremy ran her to the local hospital to have them re-insert it. Only to find out that this particular hospital doesn't have a pediatric wing, and then a huge insurance mess begins...but I digress.

1/25/2010 - Sarah has a second Bronchoscopy done at Children's Hospital to see if any improvements have been made since 1/2009. Thankfully, Sarah's specialist saw just a teeny tiny bit of improvement...which is all we needed to hear. We knew at that point that all we needed was just to take one day at a time...and have faith that Sarah would be better and pray for a lot of patience. Thank God for those small miracles...hope is a wonderful, valued thing.

4/2010 - Sarah visits the ER due to a reaction while we were at Texas Road House. She had issues breathing, and we assumed it was the peanuts. Although, when we had her tested for allergies, the peanut spectrum test came up negative....hmmm, odd. Either way, we're playing it safe and not bringing her back to Texas Roadhouse until she is old enough to date. (Don't tell Jeremy I said that though).

8/27/2010 - Sarah visits the ER due to a small laceration cut on her left eye lid. Poor girl was just playing with Samantha in the living room and fell over and hit the toy desk we have in there. She showed no signs of concussion thankfully. She only bled for a little bit, but Jeremy and I realized (and with the help and consultation of our good friend Molly) that the cut was too deep to heal with just a little bit of Neosporin and a band aid. So, Sarah and I traveled to the ER at Lawrence General Hospital around 9:30pm, were seen by the nurse at 10:00pm and the doctor at 10:30pm and were home by 11:30pm. Sarah kept entertained with her fruit snacks, lots of books, and rubber glove balloon animals (hopefully Lawrence General Hospital doesn't send us a bill for that part of the visit). The doctor came in and treated Miss Sarah with Dermabond (a.k.a liquid stitches) and could see an immediate improvement. Sarah was more annoyed with the fact that she had to stay still so the doctor could apply the Dermabond. The doctor and I sang several verses of "The Wheels On the Bus" while I was helping hold Sarah down so the doctor could do what he needed to do. It took about 60 seconds to complete, but it felt like the longest 60 seconds of all time. As soon as the doctor was all done, even in her tears, Sarah immediately said, "Bye!" as if she was throwing the doctor out of the room. It was pretty amusing. She was very excited when the doctor pulled out an Elmo sticker...from tears to smiles all in a spand of 5 seconds.

Sarah did very well today and has recovered 100%. She slept all night last night, woke up very happy. Had a great breakfast, and a great afternoon nap. So, Jere and I aren't worried...we're just happy that our little Madore-able is back to her old fun-loving, smiling self. Let's just hope we don't have anything to add to this "list" for a long time.

Here's a before and after photo of Miss Sarah.

The photo on the left was taken around 8pm on Friday night, and the photo on the right was taken at 10am on Saturday morning.

Five Things Friday

5 Things That Have Made Me Smile In the Last Week

1. Sarah is continuing to do VERY well on thin liquids. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! We're going on 2 months now without having to put any Thick-It (food starch) in Sarah's sippy cups, and we're also going on 2 weeks without having to put any baby rice cereal in Sarah's afternoon and nighttime bottles. We're just SO excited about this new accomplishment. Sarah's surgeon told us back in January 2009 that Sarah would eventually outgrow this, but of course it seemed so overwhelming and such a long time to wait for this day. It was a good feeling to send an email to Sarah's specialist/surgeon to share the good news. We just ask for continued prayers for our little monkey :)
2. I've really had a great week with the Madore-ables. We've certainly had a lot of fun adventures. Samantha is at a great age right now where her imagination is running wild and she's catching on to so many things. Sarah is just eager to learn and certainly learns a lot from her big sister, Samantha.
3. So much baby news this past week...not for me, but for former classmates, relatives and friends. Congratulations to Stacy & Bruno, John & Lucie, Ryan & Rachel for your new little arrivals. Congratulations to Christian & Kate, Jon & Catherine, and Will & Nicole for their their soon to be arrivals. HOORAY FOR BABIES!!!
4. Jeremy and I will be celebrating our 6 year anniversary tomorrow. I can't believe where the time has gone, and how far we've come. Nanny will be babysitting the Madore-ables for a few hours so Jere and I can go out to dinner. Jeremy & I don't get too many dates these days, so we're very excited about dinner tomorrow.
5. I recently got my hands on a Rachael Ray magazine and have been drooling over yummy recipes inside. I'm halfway through a project that I started working on forever ago: a schedule for meals. I have so many recipes I want to try, and if I know ahead of time what's going to be cooked during the week, it'll help me prepare and know what to buy at the grocery store. After all, I'm a busy mom these days, so any simplicity would be fabulous in my life.

Five Things Friday

5 Things That Have Made Me Smile In the Last Week

1. I just found out this morning that I'm going to see Bon Jovi with a friend of mine from High School on 7/24 at Gillette Stadium out in Western Massachusetts...I more than smiled, I did a little happy dance.
2. Tomorrow is my father-in-law's birthday and we'll be heading to Maine on Sunday to celebrate and visit with the family. It's been a few months since we've made the trek, so it'll be nice to see everyone. The girls are great car travelers too...especially if they know there are some Dunkin Donut's Munchkins involved.
3. It took me about a week, but I finally finished watching 1985's "Live Aid" concert. The entire concert (both from Wembley Stadium in London and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philly) was on 4-DVD's. For those of you who don't know me, I am a HUGE 80's music fan, so I was in my element the entire time. (Thank you to Paul for letting me borrow it).
4. I have officially lost 25 lbs since January 9th...never thought it would be possible, but being married to someone like Jeremy and having two little cuties under my roof, they're all the motivation I need to keep going.
5. It's been at least 4 weeks since we have added any food starch to Sarah's sippy cups. Sarah was born with an abnormally shaped epiglottis ("Laryngomalacia") where she aspirates fluids into her lungs. When she was a month old, Sarah had a "Supraglottoplasty" performed on her where she was required to have a nasal gastric (NG) tube inserted down her throat about about a month. After Sarah had the NG tube removed when she was about 2 1/2 months old, we were told that we could remedy the situation by adding a couple tablespoons of baby rice cereal to her bottles. We started adding food starch to Sarah's sippy cups when she was about 5 or 6 months old. If we thicken her liquids, there's no problem...it's plain liquids is what she would aspirate on. Now, we have actually eliminated adding the food starch to the sippys and pretty soon will attempt to start reducing the amount of rice we put in Sarah's bottles. I've also stopped making baby food/puree too now that Sarah is eating more solid foods. We're so very excited about this new milestone. Sarah will continue to be an outgoing patient at Boston Children's Hospital until further notice. She won't have to go until September 25th for a check up. Jeremy and I were told back when Sarah was first diagnosed back in January 2009 that Sarah will eventually grow out of this, so we're hoping this is the beginning of the end of Sarah's trips to Children's Hospital.

It's the small things that make me smile and get me through the day...