**Please forgive any typos as I am writing this on my phone**
started Thursday morning with prayer, peace, and coffee. After spending 4 entire days at home only leaving to take Anellah to the doctor for an ear infection, I was excited for the day. Antibiotics would be kicking in and we MIGHT even get to do something fun for Spring Break since all our other plans had been cancelled.
Capper got up and went straight to playing with his trains. I was about to start fixing breakfast when I heard Anellah coughing. Ok, I guess she was still a bit sick, but a cough didn't need to dash all our plans! Then she called out for me. I went to check on her (in all honesty a bit annoyed that she was waking Evelyn up). I was immediately thankful and praised her for calling to me because she had just thrown up a large amount of blood.
Within 15 minutes the fire department had arrived, my Dad was there to take Capper and Evelyn, and Daniel was in a taxi to pick up his car from the Park & Ride. I grabbed a few essentials (charging cords, wallet, phone, and snacks), gave one last look at the microwave on the porch which was melted from flaming cookies the day before, and was off to Seattle with lights flashing.
Our experience in the emergency department wasn't terrible, it helped that Frozen was one of the movie options! Of course we saw plenty of doctors, nurses, and other staff before finally heading to our own room around 1:00pm. We spent the next 20 hours trying to rest with literally constant interruptions. She fell while going to the bathroom which meant a bunch of extra assessments every hour but I refused to allow a CT scan because it seemed like overkill. Anellah continued to have some internal bleeding through the night and needed a blood transfusion. By morning she was still being a good sport but was having a harder and harder time settling back down after each interruption. She has been an incredible sport through everything including the 7 attempts to get a blood sample. At one point she said, "I want my surgery NOW!!" In other words "I know you won't let me eat or go home until the surgery is over so let's get this show on the road!"
Finally, at 11am this morning she was taken into the operating room. The scope didn't take long as they put the camera down her throat and treated the bulging vessels. She had a slight complication as she was waking up because she is getting over a cold so she had some wheezing but eventually she was brought back to her hospital room calmly asleep. One blessing is that she did not have the fear and anxiety while waking up from anesthesia that she normally has. Now we know, for future, what kind of anesthetic can be used for her.
It's important to know this detail about anesthesia because there will be plenty more of it to come. This complication was the last "hopefully she won't need surgery" step. If she didn't have a cold right now it sounds like we would likely be having surgery during this hospital admission. As it stands, however, we will probably be here for a couple days, go home for a couple days, and then return for a week-long stay involving surgery. I should have more details on that step after talking to surgeons tomorrow.
Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. It has been hard and tiring but in each moment I have been choosing to say, "blessed be Your name." Please continue to pray for our family as we process these next steps and for rest and healing for Anellah. Thank you!
started Thursday morning with prayer, peace, and coffee. After spending 4 entire days at home only leaving to take Anellah to the doctor for an ear infection, I was excited for the day. Antibiotics would be kicking in and we MIGHT even get to do something fun for Spring Break since all our other plans had been cancelled.
Capper got up and went straight to playing with his trains. I was about to start fixing breakfast when I heard Anellah coughing. Ok, I guess she was still a bit sick, but a cough didn't need to dash all our plans! Then she called out for me. I went to check on her (in all honesty a bit annoyed that she was waking Evelyn up). I was immediately thankful and praised her for calling to me because she had just thrown up a large amount of blood.
Within 15 minutes the fire department had arrived, my Dad was there to take Capper and Evelyn, and Daniel was in a taxi to pick up his car from the Park & Ride. I grabbed a few essentials (charging cords, wallet, phone, and snacks), gave one last look at the microwave on the porch which was melted from flaming cookies the day before, and was off to Seattle with lights flashing.
Our experience in the emergency department wasn't terrible, it helped that Frozen was one of the movie options! Of course we saw plenty of doctors, nurses, and other staff before finally heading to our own room around 1:00pm. We spent the next 20 hours trying to rest with literally constant interruptions. She fell while going to the bathroom which meant a bunch of extra assessments every hour but I refused to allow a CT scan because it seemed like overkill. Anellah continued to have some internal bleeding through the night and needed a blood transfusion. By morning she was still being a good sport but was having a harder and harder time settling back down after each interruption. She has been an incredible sport through everything including the 7 attempts to get a blood sample. At one point she said, "I want my surgery NOW!!" In other words "I know you won't let me eat or go home until the surgery is over so let's get this show on the road!"
Finally, at 11am this morning she was taken into the operating room. The scope didn't take long as they put the camera down her throat and treated the bulging vessels. She had a slight complication as she was waking up because she is getting over a cold so she had some wheezing but eventually she was brought back to her hospital room calmly asleep. One blessing is that she did not have the fear and anxiety while waking up from anesthesia that she normally has. Now we know, for future, what kind of anesthetic can be used for her.
It's important to know this detail about anesthesia because there will be plenty more of it to come. This complication was the last "hopefully she won't need surgery" step. If she didn't have a cold right now it sounds like we would likely be having surgery during this hospital admission. As it stands, however, we will probably be here for a couple days, go home for a couple days, and then return for a week-long stay involving surgery. I should have more details on that step after talking to surgeons tomorrow.
Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. It has been hard and tiring but in each moment I have been choosing to say, "blessed be Your name." Please continue to pray for our family as we process these next steps and for rest and healing for Anellah. Thank you!
Praying for you. What a great strong mama you are. Thank you for the update and the chance to pray for you and your family.
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