The time came for another follow up in Denver at the Children's Hospital. This time we planned it during spring break so we could spend more time in town with family. The plan was to get the hospital stuff out of the way and then play like crazy, and that's just what we did!
Because she struggles to breath easily while sleeping, Dr. Prager decided to go ahead and have Eden do a sleep study. This was our first time doing this, so I wasn't too sure what to expect. Obviously, since I have baby Karly, I wasn't in a position to go with Eden so daddy got to be her buddy during all the medical stuff this time. (Let me just interject here and say it's really hard to me to stay behind any time she has to go in for a procedure or appointment). They checked in around 7 or 7:30 in the evening and she got all wired up for the test. They played some games and hung out, and then went to sleep. Eden handled it all like a champ, as usual. She didn't seem to mind one bit and thought it was funny and kept calling herself a mummy.
Bright and early the next morning the medical team woke them up and sent them out the door. We didn't have to be back for her next procedure until the following day so we had a fun play day with the Asays.
Friday morning, Eden and Brad checked back into the hospital for her bronch in the operating room. It's such a bummer that for a procedure that takes only 20-30 minutes, she has to go under general anesthesia which makes the whole process take about 5-6 hours. We are all so used to the routine by now though that we always come prepared, and then just go with the flow.
Pre-op: playing games and waiting to go back to the operating room.
Post op: just about an hour after waking from anesthesia. You can see it in her face, but she bounced back great this time. She had to fast all day, so the first order of business was to get her some food.
As soon as they got back from the hospital, Eden just jumped right back into playing with her cousins. Her and Wren are such sweet friends. It's so fun to hear them giggling and enjoying each other. When we are together, we hardly see these two because they are always off playing so good together.
Jade came up with a fun idea to paint the kids faces using wet sidewalk chalk and they loved it!
Bentley thinks Brody is like the coolest "big kid" ever. He follows him around everywhere and wants to do everything Brody does.
Cooper and Olive are cute little buddies too.
Last November when we were with Greg and Steph's family for Thanksgiving, Eden and I went out shopping with Steph and Maddie and we stopped by the American Girl doll store. Eden immediately fell in love and went looking through all the dolls to find one she liked. She settled on #33, which she thought kind of looked like her and was her favorite one. She tried to convince me to get her a doll, but there was no way I was going to spend that kind of money on a whim (especially for a girl who's never really been into dolls). So she left there determined to save her money and come back to buy herself a doll.
So, for those of you who don't know, these American Girl dolls are over $100 each so I didn't think she would remain as hyped up about this doll once some time passed and she realized how long it was going to take to save this kind of money, and how expensive it was. However, she proved me wrong! She has saved every penny of allowance, and done extra jobs to earn more money and kept her focus on the prize!
So going back to the American Girl Doll store was the highlight of the trip for her. She immediately found box #33 and then we found the doll whose description and features were just like Eden's. She went back and forth between the two, but it was a quick choice for her to stick with #33 which was the one she had fallen in love with several months prior.
She was so excited. This was a great experience for her to save for so long and to reach her goal. It was fun to watch her go through this.
After going to the doll store, we were able to meet up for lunch with Greg, Steph and the kids. It was so fun to see them this trip too, even though it was for such a short time.
Then for the remainder of our time there, Eden and Wren played dolls. :)
And Eden made sure her precious babies were buckled in for the long car ride home.
It was such a fun trip. We are grateful (as always!) to spend the time with family while we are there.
Medical Update: After completing her first sleep study, Eden has now been diagnosed with sleep apnea. Fortunately, it's mild and her oxygen saturations stay in the normal range so she doesn't have to sleep with a c-pap machine. (yay!) He did prescribe two medications: flonase and singular, which tend to help with pediatric sleep apnea. I'm definitely not super excited about adding more medications for her, but if it helps her get better rest and breath easier, it's obviously worth it.
Results from the bronch: her airway is still looking good. He felt like it has made tiny progress in growth, but it's progress! He didn't need to remove any scar tissue or do any maintenance work which was great news. He felt like things are definitely going well and he doesn't need to do another bronch for a whole year! Yay! This is significant progress for us.
He also looked into her ears while she was under anesthesia since she has been having trouble with them. Her right ear drum still has a good sized perforation which isn't healing on it's own unfortunately. So next time she is under anesthesia, he will probably be putting some kind of patch into her ear to try to close that hole. In the meantime though, we just still have to be so careful to keep her ears dry. With summer coming up, it makes me a little nervous, but hopefully the swim plugs we have will be sufficient enough so she can enjoy swimming and not have pain in her ears.
Overall good news though! This girl has overcome so much and time has proven to be beneficial for us! Little by little, this medical life we have lived is not so present anymore. :)
