Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Rupp Family Reunion 2016
Every 10 years the Rupp's have a big family reunion. And this year was the year for it! It is always a super fun jam packed weekend full of family & fun! Last time it was held Vince & I were still newlyweds with no kids and this time we had 3 kids in tow! The kids had a BLAST hanging out with all their cousins and Vince & I had a blast hanging out with all the extended family we don't get to see often enough! A huge thank you to everyone who made the weekend happen and planned so much fun for everyone! Hard to imagine next time we will have a 15 year old and 2 12 year olds!
Matters of Abby Heart:: A Little Scare
17 days after surgery we had a little post surgery scare. We noticed when Abby got upset and was crying that a bulge was protruding out of her chest in-between the bottom of her zipper line scar and her chest tube scar. Vince & I both thought it was concerning and took a video and sent it to his sister. She immediately called us and said we needed to call Children's Mercy-she thought it looked like a post surgery hernia but wasn't sure and said we needed to call asap. So we called and waited for the on-call doctor to call us back. So we waited. And then waited some more. After almost 2 hours we called back and waited some more. And then called back again and waited. Finally at 11pm we gave up and went to bed to "try to sleep". To say we were upset that after 3 calls we had not received a call back was an understatement. But we decided to see how the night went and if she got up at all we would just take her down to CMH. Luckily she slept all night but the second she woke up I called again and expressed how upset I was that this was my fourth call in 12 hours. Less than 5 minutes later we got a call back from a cardio nurse practitioner who first apologized for the "call back issues" last night and then asked me to send her a video and pictures of what was going on. Minutes later she called back and said "not to freak you out but I need you to come downtown NOW and pack a bag for all of you". Vince had just gotten to his office and turned right around and came home. I called his mom and she was at the house 5 minutes later. I threw together a bag for us and we were out the door. We were at CMH less than 30 minutes later and rushed into radiology for x-rays and then sent straight to Cardio. We saw the NP and after looking at the x-rays and looking at Abby she said that her worst fear that one of her twist tie wires holding her sternum had broken was not the case. That has a huge relief because if that had been the case she would have been back in the OR to get it fixed. She was still concerned though and wanted Abby's surgeon to look at her. He was currently in surgery but we were told he'd be out any minute. Well we waited & waited & waited & then waited some more. We were minutes away from getting admitted back into CMH when he got out of surgery and came and looked at Abby. He said unfortunately Abby was one of the unlucky 300 kids who develops a post-heart-surgery hernia. He says he maybe sees it once a year at the hospital. And Abby was his unlucky kid of the year. He then handed us his card and said that if in 6 weeks it hasn't healed itself he will personally go in and fix it himself. Then he told us we could go home! Since I am way behind with the blog I am happy to say that her hernia has totally healed on it own and will not require and further treatment! Yay!
Thursday, August 25, 2016
Matters of Abby's Heart:: Recovery Days 2-4
Tuesday::
Tuesday morning started pretty early with labs, x-rays & rounds. Abby was still pretty sleepy and didn't want to eat anything other than milk. After rounds she got to have her pacemaker lines removed, her picc line came out, one of her hand iv's came out along with her catheter . I think she was feeling more comfortable with all that off/out of her. Late morning she said she wanted to eat so we got a variety from the room service menu. All she would eat was the diced peaches but anything is better than nothing at this point. She she was eating now they decided to send her to her room on the cardio floor. We waited and waited and waited for the orders to get processed and in the meantime Carol came and brought us lunch and my Dad came and brought Abby more soy milk (she did't like the hospitals soy milk). Abby seemed excited to see the both of them! One fun fact while we waited was we asked our nurse to look up Abby's blood type-she's O+. So thats about the only thing she got from me but hey I'll take it! We finally got to move to her new room early afternoon! The room was way smaller but we had our own bathroom & fridge! As soon as the nurses got Abby settled and had walked out of the room she started to throw-up and man did she throw-up. I ran out and got help and everyone was so great helping her get all cleaned up. I think that was just what she need to do to get the rest of the anesthesia out of her system because after that she took nice snoozer and woke up seemed to be much more like herself! Luckily Uncle Matt was on his way down to visit his god-daughter and stopped by mom & dads for new lovies as all Abby's were now needing a good long hot wash. As soon as Matt walked in Abby gave him a little smile! I had not seen her smile since before surgery so it was a great sight! After he left she even gave me a little selfie smile! The boys wanted to FaceTime with her before dinner so we had a little FaceTime chat and Ben was beyond happy to see that Abby was ok. After we chatted with the boys she got to have a popsicle which made her very happy and we got lots of smiles while she ate it and we blew lots of bubbles for her to look at! After her treat she was tired and took a little snoozer-when she woke up she sat up in her bed which shocked the heck out of me as she had yet to do that. At that point I knew she was starting to really feel better! About an hour later she was in my lap and started to crawl out of it so I let her stand in-between my legs for a few minutes. Then she wanted to start walking! So Vince grabbed her hand and off she went-a little wobbly but still she made it over to grab a toy! Vince & I just couldn't believe it! Then we ordered her some dinner and she ate a decent amount of fruit & yogurt! Then we hung out and watched more Bubble Guppies until she was ready for bed.
Wednesday::
Abby slept pretty good minus the few interruptions from the nurses checking on her and giving her her meds. She was up about 6am to go down to radiology for some x-rays and then she wanted to crawl into bed with me and snuggle for another hour. It was the best feeling! Then it was time for labs which didn't go so well. The poor girl already had some many poke holes and blown veins. It broke my heart but the nurses finally got what they needed and were out the door. It was just after 7am and I was missing the boys so I told Vince I was going to go surprise them and take a shower and I'd be back. I stopped off at Lamars to grab some donuts and when I got home they were both still asleep. After about 15 minutes Will woke up and I ran into his room-he gave me the biggest smile and longest hug and we snuggled for a bit before coming down for donuts! Shortly after Ben woke up and was so happy too! We had a great little donut party and then I took them to "summer school" at Nativity. I ran back home grabbed a quick shower, packed some fresh clothes, hit Starbucks for Vince & I and was back shortly after 10am. Abby was in the playroom when I get back-coloring and playing with stickers with some of the volunteers! We went back to her room and had another little donut party with her! Then GG came by to bring food and see her Abby Doodle! Abby was all smiles! She had lunch then took a decent snoozer. Vince went for a much needed run and I tried to just get caught up on responding to texts, call, emails, ect. Then our neighbor Kristie brought us Spin for dinner and gave Abby cards her boys had made for her! We are so lucky to have such great neighbors! Abby wanted nothing to do with her hospital dinner but ate 2 pieces of pizza! After we finished up dinner Uncle Potty & Aunt Leah stopped by to visit! She had the best time showing off all her toys she swiped from the playroom! Then she got the best surprise...Ben & Will came up to visit with Grandma & Papa Jimmy! The 3 of them were so excited to see each other! Ben couldn't stop hugging her and Will couldn't stop talking to her! Abby wanted to go show the boys all the fun stuff to play with in her pod and there was a tricycle out there and she started to climb right on! Still looked up to her iv pole but she didn't care! Vince pushed her along and Papa Jimmy followed with her iv pole! She was so happy! She didn't want to ever get off it! But we finally did and her and Will had come quality twin time on the couch watching Bubble Guppies for a bit before it was time for bed for all the kids.
Thursday::
Wednesday night went about as well as Tuesday night. And the morning was the same x-rays & blood work. During rounds all the doctors were very pleased with her recovery and made a few goals for the next few days...to get her drainage tube out, get her pain controlled with oral meds, drinking lots of fluids and a good echo. And hopefully home by Sunday or Monday! Abby was struggling with her fluid intake so we were really pushing any fluids we could in her. Late morning her team decided to take her IV fluids bag off and see how she would do. She was so happy to be free from that pole! It made it hard for her to cruise the halls in her Cozy Coupe! A volunteer came by and asked if Abby would like to come down to one of the chapels because the cast of Beauty & The Beast was in town preforming at Star Light and were stopping by for a visit. We thought Abby would love to get a change of scenery so we took her down. We were surprised to see all the news crews there! Abby enjoyed the song they preformed and got a few autographs before we took her out on the adjoining terrace for some fresh air since it had been since Monday morning since she had been outside. She loved being outside in the sunshine! We had to drag her back in to eat lunch! GG & Bapa brought us lunch and we played for a bit before nap time. Vince went out for a run and then I went and walked over to Crown Center just to get out of the hospital. About that time I got a text from Vince that Abby was on tv! She was on the news! So another first to cross off the list for Abby! Then Grandpa & Grandma Marq came by for a visit and to bring us dinner! She had a great time showing them even more toys she's swiped from the playroom! After a quick little sponge bath and hair washing in the sink it was time for more Bubble Guppies and then bed.
Friday::
Thursday night was the worst night we had besides Monday night. Her nurse came in to give her meds and her iv line had gone bad. The nurse was hopeful she'd be getting rid of it in the morning so she didn't want to out a new one in but the doctors disagreed and after about an hour of back & forth the decision was made to place a new one. So we waited another hour (midnight-ish) for the team to come place it. It was awful. Poor girl is so brave though. After it was done and we got her calmed back down and asleep it was after 1am. And a little before 6am they were there to take her for her daily x-ray. Then came the lab nurses but since she had the new iv it was pretty easy. During rounds they decided it was time to take out her drainage bag and they said if her echo goes well we could TAKE HER HOME TODAY since we lived so close to the hospital. I about fell over! So the team came to pull the drain which wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be. And shortly after she was getting her echo which looked good. The pulmonary valve was acting up a bit but they said it was from the surgery, swelling of the heart and the healing process. They cleared her to go HOME! We of course had to wait a few hours before the orders went through and the paperwork was ready. This of course lingered on into nap time and Abby was less than thrilled. It soon became clear we needed to lay her down for a nap or get outta there fast so she could go home and sleep. Luckily the nurse worked her magic and got us out the door! Abby fell asleep before he even pulled out of the hospitals circle drive! Vince & I were both still in shock they let us leave so fast! When we got home we put her right back to bed and Will was still sleeping. Ben was so excited to have us all back home! Our neighbor Kim dropped off pizza for us and her & Kristie took the boys over to have backyard picnic with their crew. After the 3 of us ate Abby wanted to go outside so we ventured over next door and the kids were all so excited to see her! She was even trying to climb up the play set to slide! Bed time was quickly approaching so I went and put Abby & Will down. I was so an amazing feeling to have all 5 of us back under the same roof! Abby slept all night-I woke her up once for medicine but she went right back down! She was so happy to be back in her own bed!
Tuesday morning started pretty early with labs, x-rays & rounds. Abby was still pretty sleepy and didn't want to eat anything other than milk. After rounds she got to have her pacemaker lines removed, her picc line came out, one of her hand iv's came out along with her catheter . I think she was feeling more comfortable with all that off/out of her. Late morning she said she wanted to eat so we got a variety from the room service menu. All she would eat was the diced peaches but anything is better than nothing at this point. She she was eating now they decided to send her to her room on the cardio floor. We waited and waited and waited for the orders to get processed and in the meantime Carol came and brought us lunch and my Dad came and brought Abby more soy milk (she did't like the hospitals soy milk). Abby seemed excited to see the both of them! One fun fact while we waited was we asked our nurse to look up Abby's blood type-she's O+. So thats about the only thing she got from me but hey I'll take it! We finally got to move to her new room early afternoon! The room was way smaller but we had our own bathroom & fridge! As soon as the nurses got Abby settled and had walked out of the room she started to throw-up and man did she throw-up. I ran out and got help and everyone was so great helping her get all cleaned up. I think that was just what she need to do to get the rest of the anesthesia out of her system because after that she took nice snoozer and woke up seemed to be much more like herself! Luckily Uncle Matt was on his way down to visit his god-daughter and stopped by mom & dads for new lovies as all Abby's were now needing a good long hot wash. As soon as Matt walked in Abby gave him a little smile! I had not seen her smile since before surgery so it was a great sight! After he left she even gave me a little selfie smile! The boys wanted to FaceTime with her before dinner so we had a little FaceTime chat and Ben was beyond happy to see that Abby was ok. After we chatted with the boys she got to have a popsicle which made her very happy and we got lots of smiles while she ate it and we blew lots of bubbles for her to look at! After her treat she was tired and took a little snoozer-when she woke up she sat up in her bed which shocked the heck out of me as she had yet to do that. At that point I knew she was starting to really feel better! About an hour later she was in my lap and started to crawl out of it so I let her stand in-between my legs for a few minutes. Then she wanted to start walking! So Vince grabbed her hand and off she went-a little wobbly but still she made it over to grab a toy! Vince & I just couldn't believe it! Then we ordered her some dinner and she ate a decent amount of fruit & yogurt! Then we hung out and watched more Bubble Guppies until she was ready for bed.
Wednesday::
Abby slept pretty good minus the few interruptions from the nurses checking on her and giving her her meds. She was up about 6am to go down to radiology for some x-rays and then she wanted to crawl into bed with me and snuggle for another hour. It was the best feeling! Then it was time for labs which didn't go so well. The poor girl already had some many poke holes and blown veins. It broke my heart but the nurses finally got what they needed and were out the door. It was just after 7am and I was missing the boys so I told Vince I was going to go surprise them and take a shower and I'd be back. I stopped off at Lamars to grab some donuts and when I got home they were both still asleep. After about 15 minutes Will woke up and I ran into his room-he gave me the biggest smile and longest hug and we snuggled for a bit before coming down for donuts! Shortly after Ben woke up and was so happy too! We had a great little donut party and then I took them to "summer school" at Nativity. I ran back home grabbed a quick shower, packed some fresh clothes, hit Starbucks for Vince & I and was back shortly after 10am. Abby was in the playroom when I get back-coloring and playing with stickers with some of the volunteers! We went back to her room and had another little donut party with her! Then GG came by to bring food and see her Abby Doodle! Abby was all smiles! She had lunch then took a decent snoozer. Vince went for a much needed run and I tried to just get caught up on responding to texts, call, emails, ect. Then our neighbor Kristie brought us Spin for dinner and gave Abby cards her boys had made for her! We are so lucky to have such great neighbors! Abby wanted nothing to do with her hospital dinner but ate 2 pieces of pizza! After we finished up dinner Uncle Potty & Aunt Leah stopped by to visit! She had the best time showing off all her toys she swiped from the playroom! Then she got the best surprise...Ben & Will came up to visit with Grandma & Papa Jimmy! The 3 of them were so excited to see each other! Ben couldn't stop hugging her and Will couldn't stop talking to her! Abby wanted to go show the boys all the fun stuff to play with in her pod and there was a tricycle out there and she started to climb right on! Still looked up to her iv pole but she didn't care! Vince pushed her along and Papa Jimmy followed with her iv pole! She was so happy! She didn't want to ever get off it! But we finally did and her and Will had come quality twin time on the couch watching Bubble Guppies for a bit before it was time for bed for all the kids.
Wednesday night went about as well as Tuesday night. And the morning was the same x-rays & blood work. During rounds all the doctors were very pleased with her recovery and made a few goals for the next few days...to get her drainage tube out, get her pain controlled with oral meds, drinking lots of fluids and a good echo. And hopefully home by Sunday or Monday! Abby was struggling with her fluid intake so we were really pushing any fluids we could in her. Late morning her team decided to take her IV fluids bag off and see how she would do. She was so happy to be free from that pole! It made it hard for her to cruise the halls in her Cozy Coupe! A volunteer came by and asked if Abby would like to come down to one of the chapels because the cast of Beauty & The Beast was in town preforming at Star Light and were stopping by for a visit. We thought Abby would love to get a change of scenery so we took her down. We were surprised to see all the news crews there! Abby enjoyed the song they preformed and got a few autographs before we took her out on the adjoining terrace for some fresh air since it had been since Monday morning since she had been outside. She loved being outside in the sunshine! We had to drag her back in to eat lunch! GG & Bapa brought us lunch and we played for a bit before nap time. Vince went out for a run and then I went and walked over to Crown Center just to get out of the hospital. About that time I got a text from Vince that Abby was on tv! She was on the news! So another first to cross off the list for Abby! Then Grandpa & Grandma Marq came by for a visit and to bring us dinner! She had a great time showing them even more toys she's swiped from the playroom! After a quick little sponge bath and hair washing in the sink it was time for more Bubble Guppies and then bed.
Friday::
Thursday night was the worst night we had besides Monday night. Her nurse came in to give her meds and her iv line had gone bad. The nurse was hopeful she'd be getting rid of it in the morning so she didn't want to out a new one in but the doctors disagreed and after about an hour of back & forth the decision was made to place a new one. So we waited another hour (midnight-ish) for the team to come place it. It was awful. Poor girl is so brave though. After it was done and we got her calmed back down and asleep it was after 1am. And a little before 6am they were there to take her for her daily x-ray. Then came the lab nurses but since she had the new iv it was pretty easy. During rounds they decided it was time to take out her drainage bag and they said if her echo goes well we could TAKE HER HOME TODAY since we lived so close to the hospital. I about fell over! So the team came to pull the drain which wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be. And shortly after she was getting her echo which looked good. The pulmonary valve was acting up a bit but they said it was from the surgery, swelling of the heart and the healing process. They cleared her to go HOME! We of course had to wait a few hours before the orders went through and the paperwork was ready. This of course lingered on into nap time and Abby was less than thrilled. It soon became clear we needed to lay her down for a nap or get outta there fast so she could go home and sleep. Luckily the nurse worked her magic and got us out the door! Abby fell asleep before he even pulled out of the hospitals circle drive! Vince & I were both still in shock they let us leave so fast! When we got home we put her right back to bed and Will was still sleeping. Ben was so excited to have us all back home! Our neighbor Kim dropped off pizza for us and her & Kristie took the boys over to have backyard picnic with their crew. After the 3 of us ate Abby wanted to go outside so we ventured over next door and the kids were all so excited to see her! She was even trying to climb up the play set to slide! Bed time was quickly approaching so I went and put Abby & Will down. I was so an amazing feeling to have all 5 of us back under the same roof! Abby slept all night-I woke her up once for medicine but she went right back down! She was so happy to be back in her own bed!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)