Waiting

It's 5:30, and I just talked to Heath.  He hasn't heard anything all day except that "things are going fine."  It's been 8 hours.  I'm getting impatient; I can't imagine how Heath is feeling sitting in the waiting room all day.  Fortunately Tabitha is asleep and has no concept of how long this is taking!

Better a long wait than a rushed job I guess.

In the O.R.

Tabitha's in surgery now.  The estimated time is 7 hours, and there are almost a dozen people participating in the surgery!  If it goes longer, she may have to be in the ICU tonight, due to the long anesthesia time.

Heath wasn't allowed to hold her while she went to sleep, like we have in the past.  I guess they do the anesthesia in the sterile operating room, so he couldn't go in.  But he said she went with the nurse without crying, and he didn't hear any crying through the door.  That's amazing because in the past she's fought tooth and nail against the anesthesia mask!  So hopefully she just calmly went to sleep!

I think we must be more strongly bonded than we were for her last surgery:  during the previous ones I was very matter-of-fact about it, not too worried.  This time I'm much more emotionally invested.  Maybe it's because it's a huge surgery, maybe it's because I'm not there with her.  But last night I was feeling almost sick to my stomach thinking about all she's going through.  It's probably good I'm NOT there because I may well have passed out by this point!  This morning I'm more at peace, and I know the Lord is watching over her, and she is completely in His hands.

Thanks so much to everyone that's praying for her and us.  It means a lot!

I'll try to update again tonight.

First Day as an In-Patient

Heath and Tabitha had a nice Saturday visiting the zoo and relaxing.  Today they checked into the hospital.  The reason for going a day early is to do a bowel clean-out, so that she'll be totally empty for tomorrow's surgery.  We didn't realize the method for this clean-out though.  I thought it would either be an enema or a drink that cleans out her system.  But I guess those methods aren't thorough enough.  They actually put a tube in through her nose, down to her stomach.  Whatever's in it cleans out her entire digestive tract so there's nothing in it by tomorrow.  Heath said she threw a fit when they put the tube in (of course).  She actually rubbed her nose and pulled it out, and they had to redo it.  But the second one they taped down really well, and she hasn't touched it since.  She's only allowed to have water, which I would've thought would be a lot worse than it has been.  Heath said she hasn't been asking for food, and is doing really well.

So, they've spent a long boring day in the hospital room.  Watching Dora, making crafts, and sleeping.  And the boys and I talked to them on Skype for awhile, which is really fun.  (They're really bored, so feel free to use Skype if you want to talk to them and see them too!  And if you don't know what Skype is . . . it's a free service for video phone calls over the internet.)

Tomorrow will be the big day.  The surgery prep is supposed to start at 8 I think, with the actual surgery at 9:00.  It should probably take about 4-6 hours.  Please keep praying with us.

It's hard not being there, but I'm glad she has such a wonderful daddy to be with her right now.  Can't wait to see them both!

Tabitha's Day

Heath and Tabitha left for Cincinnati yesterday afternoon.  They made it fine, with a fairly uneventful drive.  It's been weird not having them here!  I mean, usually I go away with the kids and leave Heath home.  It's strange being left behind, and not having the two of them here!

Today Tabitha had her cloacalgram.  This is a procedure under anesthesia that puts contrast solution into her and makes a 3D picture of everything inside.  That way when they do the surgery on Monday, they'll know exactly where they're going.  The procedure went fine, but Heath took a beating when she woke up afterward!  She woke up pretty fast after the anesthesia and, even though she was conscious, wasn't all "with it."  She was quite upset and flailing around, managing to leave some good claw marks on Heath.  After a bit she calmed down and was fine after that.

The rest of the day was OK for them, except for the after-effects of all that contrast enema coming out, and not necessarily when and where it should!  I have to say I'm not sorry I missed that part!  My husband is amazing and handles all that kind of stuff much better than I do.

The boys and I went to the zoo with some friends today.  When we got home we got to talk to Heath and Tabitha on Skype and actually see them!  I may be behind the times, but I thought that was really amazing!  Tomorrow Tabitha doesn't have anything going on, so Heath's going to take her to the zoo there.  I hope they enjoy their day because Sunday starts life at the hospital.

For anyone praying for us, here are some specific requests:

safe travel to/from Ohio

wisdom and skill for the doctors

no need for a colostomy (Depending on what they find during surgery, she may need this temporarily.)

an outcome that leads to eventual bowel control  (She currently has no ability for bowel control. With surgery her chances are 50/50.)

pain management during recovery (the surgery is extensive, and I imagine healing will be quite painful for awhile)

the hospital stay (She'll stay up to 10 days in the hospital afterward, and only be fed by a picc line, which I'm sure she won't like.  Also, I imagine it'll get boring being stuck there that long!)

peace for her and for us

anything else I'm forgetting that we should be praying for!

Please thank God with us too:

We have excellent insurance and they agreed to cover this, even though it's out of network.

We were able to get in now, instead of waiting until late summer like we originally thought we'd have to.

That we even found the Colorectal Center, which is probably the best place in the world for handling her conditions!

Tabitha's a tough little cookie and has come through all her other procedures very well.

I'm also very thankful for living in this time in history.  Not only do we have medical procedures that can accomplish amazing things, not only are we able to learn from people we've never met because of the internet, not only can we easily travel across several states to get Tabitha the help she needs, but we can even SEE and talk to each other while we're apart.  As much as I often say I'd love to have lived in an earlier, simpler time, there are definite benefits to living in the 21st century!

Celebrations Galore!

These past few days have been full of celebrations.  Saturday was Tabitha's birthday party, Sunday was Mother's Day, Monday was my birthday, and Tuesday was Tabitha's birthday!  Lots of fun, but after 4 days of celebrating I was sure happy to have no more special occasions!

For my birthday Heath and the kids took me out to dinner in downtown Frederick.  It was a beautiful day, and we enjoyed a nice walk along the canal there too.  Here's us on my birthday.

Tabitha had her "Dora" party on Saturday, and we had a mini celebration as a family on Tuesday, her actual birthday.  It's hard to believe Tabitha's 4!  Somehow in my mind I still think of her as the two-year-old we adopted a year and a half ago.  She's grown up so much in the past 18 months....physically, emotionally, mentally.  With the speech issues and the diaper issues I think I've still been seeing her as a toddler.  But watching her ride her new "big girl bike" today, I realized that she's a "big kid" now!

I'm hoping for a wonderful 5th year for Tabitha.  She's starting off the year with major surgery in a few days, but hopefully the rest of her year will be much more enjoyable.  I'm looking forward to starting her officially in preschool (at home) this fall.  She sees the boys doing their school work and loves to do her version of school work, so I think it will be really fun for her to have real assignments and learn all the fun stuff kids learn in preschool.  She'll also become a big sister this year!  Of course she has mixed feelings about that, but overall we're excited for her to have another girl in the family.

It'll be an exciting year for all of us, I'm sure.  And I can only imagine how much Tabitha will continue to grow and change during this next year of her life.

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart.  We love you.

Birthday Present from the US Government!

We've been expecting to get our I800 provisional approval for the past 2 weeks.  Today it finally came!!  Right on my birthday!  I guess they were just taking their time so I'd have a nice birthday present.  =)

This is USCIS' approval for us to adopt Feng Hao De (Rayanna) and bring her into this country.  So I just mailed that, along with a bunch of other paperwork, to our agency.  They'll send it on to China.  Then we wait for approval from the US Consulate in Guangzhou.  Then China gives us permission to travel.  Then we go!  It's looking like it'll be July.

Very excited!!

Sun, Sand, Waves, and Relatives

The kids and I just got back from a wonderful week at the beach with the Stuenzi clan. There were about 30 of us there this time, out of 50-something total. As always, it was a lot of fun! We spent hours on the beach, played lots of games, had great conversations, ate tons of food, and even had an evening of "Minute to Win It" (compliments of Cousin Kaylin). I missed Heath being there, since he had to stay home and work. But it was a really nice break and lots of fun. I'm so thankful for the wonderful relatives I'm blessed to have.

Here are some pictures to summarize the week.