Zoo!!!

We finished off our ATL adventure with a trip to the zoo. Everything Carolyn said started off with "Well at the Birmingham zoo...." or "Did you know that...." and some of it I actually didn't know. She is pretty sharp especially when it comes to animals!! I am going to have to think of more things to do for the next trip!! Please let me know if you have any suggestions!!

Drumroll please.....

I think I was more excited to get all that hair out of her face....But still so excited to finally see the "big ear"!!! How AMAZING! Carolyn grinned from ear to ear (haha...sorry, could not resist) and said "I LOVE my new big ear!!!" when i showed her the picture of it.

Three more days of bandages, then we can remove them for good. Her rib graft site is also great... He took the bandage off and said it was healing well and those sutures would dissolve.

Dr. Jones said the next surgery will be the easiest for Carolyn and will be scheduled for the last week in May. Second surgery will last about an hour and a half to two hours and we can drive home afterwards. Can't believe we are already finished with this one and Carolyn was so brave and amazing throughout!!

We are on our way to the zoo now and will post pics from that later!!

Back in the ATL

We are back in Atlanta and hoping the hotel has fixed the fire alarms :). Carolyn's appointment is at 9 and I can't wait to see the new ear!! Afterwards we are planning on going to the zoo!! Cowdery came with us on this trip...we let Carolyn decide if he could come or not. She may be regretting her decision since they have fought nonstop since we got here. But tomorrow is another day and hopefully everyone will wake up in a good mood!!

I am in trouble...

The stuffed animals have started making specific breakfast in bed requests. This is going to be a long recovery :)!!

Carolyn slept all night last night and is moving around so good this morning. I think she is getting sick of me hovering and trying to help. She keeps telling me that she is fine and she can do it!! She and Cowdery have been playing so sweet this morning too (from past experience I am not expecting that to last though :)).

Her only complaint is the itching under the ear bandage (which Molly warned me about.) Molly is a good friend that has a super cute and sweet little boy that went through these surgeries 2 years ago. They live in Auburn and we met through my sister-in law Callie. She is such a blessing to me (more than she knows) and so is Nathan!!! If you want to look at pics from his surgeries, her blog is www.mollyandrodfoster.blogspot.com and he started his in July 2009.

We go back to ATL Sunday and post op is 9:00EST Monday morning! Can't wait to see the new ear. I will post pics, but remember this is a 4 stage process and we are just on step one!! Right now it will look like an ear under the skin with her little ear on top (they will use the little ear for the lobe in the next surgery).

Thanks again for everyone's thoughts and prayers during this time!!! I can't thank you enough!!!!

Reunions!!

I was expecting a reunion of hugs and excitement from Carolyn and Cowdery... I had my camera ready and was feelings the tears. This is what we got.... Carolyn grabbed the sucker and tried to push him away!! Haha!! Why did I think things would be different? But she was really excited to see her "husband" T!!

We are home!!!

We are finally home and I think she's already so much better...or maybe I'm just so much better :). Either way we are home and healing! Hopefully we have the nausea behind us too!

We came home to some BEAUTIFUL flower arrangements! Thank you Charlsie and Lacey!!

Can't wait to have Cowdery home and see our best friend T!!!

The trip

So far the trip has been somewhat eventful...not in a good way. Carolyn got sick again :( so we had to clean up in a gas station bathroom. It was kind of my fault though. I was reading her a book and didn't even think about it making her car sick. And the weather is horrible but CK is driving very slow. Carolyn is asleep now and I am hoping between the phenergan and lortab she will stay that way for the remainder of the trip!
I am just ready to get home, get everyone cleaned up and Carolyn in her bed!! And we can't wait to see Cowdery!

Getting on the road!

We had another visitor last night!! Aunt Callie!! I am sure Carolyn is getting a little sick of me an CK, so visitors are a welcome distraction!!

We slept great until she got sick again in the middle of the night. I am not sure what's causing that since it would have been after the pain medication wore off. The fire alarm also went off a couple of more times, but at least we didn't have to evacuate!! Guess they are having some sort of malfunction. Other than that, we slept great!!! Much better than the hospital. Carolyn is doing such a good job getting up this morning! We walked to the lobby and ate breakfast, and she walked back too! We are about to get on the road and so excited to get home!!!!

Oh the excitement...

Well the fire alarm just went off at the hotel. We don't really know what happened, but heard there may have been a small fire on the first floor. CK ran down the hall to see if we needed to take Carolyn out or if it was just a fluke the alarm went off. Then I carried Carolyn outside and we watched the fire truck and got lots of sweet, concerned comments from the other guests. Even though it was really annoying at the time :) this may have been a blessing, because it actually got Carolyn out of the bed!! We also made her walk back down the hall to the room and she did such a good job!! The more she gets up the better. The hard part is getting her up to do it!!

Ride out of the Hospital

Here are some pics of Carolyn's ride out of the hospital. We are settled into the hotel now and looking forward to getting some good rest without being attached to beeping machines :)!!! Notice Carolyn's new dolphin that is as big as me.....Uncle Drew is such a sucker!!!

Notice anything missing?!

The drain tubes and IV are out!!!! Dr. Jones just came in and said everything is great!! We are going to the hotel for the night!! Woohoo!! Carolyn said she was going to play and eat candy when we get there!!

Finally up!!

She finally got up even though it was a struggle. She went to the bathroom and even had a wardrobe change!!! Rhinestones on the pjs are always a good motivator!! (thanks Shushu!) Hopefully we can convince her to go on a wagon ride later. Right now she is not even responding to a bribe from the toy store!! There is so much cool stuff at this hospital... CK just went to take some pics to show her to see if we can get her out of bed with that!

Long night....

We had a long night last night. There were lots of tears and some sickness but she is eating this morning and is excited to see her visitors!!

Doing good!!

Carolyn is such a trooper and continues to amaze us!! She is doing everything that is asked of her even if it hurts. She has been blowing bubbles (to make sure she is taking deep breaths) and we have even gotten a few smiles!! Only one tear and that was from the chest incision. She has drank a couple of juice boxes, had some really fun (non-creepy) clowns come sing to her, and is getting ready to eat!! Next step is getting out of the bed.... Which no one is looking forward too!

Here are some of her new friends, which of course she has already named... Don't forget these are morphine inspired names :)!!

Meet Chocolate....thank you baby Manning!! And Rainbow...from Mrs. Bernice and Shapes the mouse from all her friends at First Pres!!!! Not sure if they are in order or not.

Rm 118

We are together again!! She is doing so good. The recovery nurse said that she was so sweet and did not even cry when she woke up. She has been awake on and off. So far she has said "I got my ear" and "Mommy, I just forgot my panties." :)

She is out!

Dr. Jones came in and said she did great!! She is in recovery and hopefully we will see her soon!!!

Pics from yesterday

Here are some pictures from the Children's Museum yesterday (we told her that the aquarium was closed since we just went two weeks ago :))She had so much fun, but I think it would have been more fun had Cowdery been with us and she had a playmate!