The latest...

...Gracie has been doing so well. We went in for a follow up last week and Gracie is holding her own for now. We are really happy about that. We are still not in the clear yet though. Graice tends to do well in the summer. We won't know if she is really getting better until winter comes again. That is when she gets really bad. We are hoping that all of that is behind us. We will contiue her medicine through the summer, and the hope is that by winter her body will be able to handle what comes her way.

I will not be updating this blog for now. Please see our family blog for family updates. If something comes up with Gracie I will note on our family blog to check back here.

mortensen20.blogspot.com

Thanks

Not Happy...

As if dealing with a sick child and two other children is not enough, Now I have to deal with Apria. (medical equipment provider) They decided to charge my credit card last week with out authorization. As if that is not bad enough, the charge over drew my checking account. Now I am fighting to get MY money back. I really don't need this. I should be taking care of and spending time with my kids. After hours on the phone they then had the nerve to say I owe them almost $200.00 more. Yeah right. What a mess. This is really not how I want to be spending my time.
Well I just needed to vent.

Gracie however is doing very well. She does have a little bit of cabin fever though. I can't blame her. It seems that all of this has made her grow up a little more. I don't like that very much. I hope that this surgery will help her be healthier then she has ever been. I don't want her to miss anything else because of it. It is hard when you can't go to school or church. Really what else is there for a 5 year old. I do have to say that i am very happy that we have Kelsey Rae. The girls have really started to play so well together. It is fun to see how much they love one another.

Hopefully we will get our money back soon. In the mean time I will enjoy time with the girls. Summer will be here soon and then we will have Ethan with us also. What a fun time.

2 Weeks Post Op

We are now two weeks post op with Gracie. We went to the Doctor and he has cleared her for all normal activity. We are very happy with her recovery. So all is well with her surgery. She is still recovering from her asthma and her low Oxygen levels. We followed up with her regular pediatrician and she is very concerned with Gracie getting sick again in the near future. The Doctor fears if she gets sick again anytime soon, that she will have to be hospitalized again. So in hopes of keeping Gracie well and out of the hospital, her Doctor has recommended we keep her out of school for the rest of the year. This was a very difficult decision. We talked to her school and they have been very helpful. They have agreed to let Gracie finish out the school year through home school. We are very grateful to be able to do this. Gracie has been very understanding about the whole situation. I am so proud of her. We are hoping that after the summer to recover and gain her strenght that she will be strong enough and healthy enough to return to school in the fall. We will continue posting updates. Thanks to everyone who reads this blog. It is very nice to have the extra support.

Home, Again

We have had an eventful few days. After Gracie's surgery, she came home and started getting sick. We kept a close eye on her. On Saturday night we realized she was a lot worse. We took Gracie into the Pediatric Urgent Care. After looking over Gracie, her O2 Sat's where at 88 and she was wheezing pretty bad. That has always meant that she needs to be admitted to the hospital. This doctor felt we could deal with her at home. So we left. I however did not feel well about taking her home. I called her regular doctor on the way home. He very much felt that she needed to be in the hospital. We were able to have the doctors have a phone conference and they were able to have her admitted with out too much more drama. Thankfully. The first night in the hospital was a really bad night. She was on oxygen and had a high fever. It took a few days to get Gracie back to breathing well. We brought Gracie home on Wednesday afternoon. She still has a bad cough and is getting though all of this. It has been really difficult after her surgery last week. She will be good as new in no time. I just wish she was already well. I will keep posting updates.

Surgery!

On Wednesday April 9Th, Gracie will be having her Tonsils and Adenoids removed. This is a common and pretty easy surgery. However due to Gracie's past problems with anesthesia the surgery will be done at the main hospital. We are hoping to be outpatient, however there is a possibility that she will be admitted for one night. We are hoping that this surgery will help with a lot of her problems. We know it is not a quick of even a guaranteed fix. We are just hopeful. We will follow up with how her recovery is coming. The hardest thing will be having her out of school for her recovery. We will follow up later this week with her progress. For anyone who is following this blog from Albuquerque visitors will be welcomed soon after we return home. She would love to have people to keep her busy.

Home again

We got home late Saturday night. On Sunday we got Ethan back and then on Monday KelseyRae came home from Boise. We are so excited to be back together again. It is as it should be, all my kids back in the same state and under one roof. We already have an appointment set up for Gracie to see an ENT Doctor here in Albuquerque. We go in on March 19Th. We saw an ENT in Denver, and he felt Gracie needs to have her tonsills out as well as her adenoids and soon then later. So hopefully we will be able to have that done in the near future. If the Doctor here in Albuquerque does not agree we will be returning to Denver to have it done there. We will follow up next week.

Diagnoses!!

We are being discharged today!!!! Yea, we got some really great info while we where here and are very happy we came. So on with what we know. They have diagnosed Grace with Asthma which we kind of already knew. In addition to Asthma Gracie was diagnosed with Reflux, Laryngomalacia , and Chronic Sinusitis. So what now? Well the biggest concern that needs treated further is the Laryngomalacia. We are going to see another Doctor at a different hospital while we are still here in Denver. The Laryngomalacia has been causing upper airway difficulties for Gracie. So what is it, and how do we treat it? Laryngomalacia is the underdevelopment of her Larynx. Hers looks like that of an infant instead of that of a 5 year old. Because it is underdeveloped it is floppy and flops over when there is any swelling of inflammation. Thus causing breathing problems. This was hard to diagnose and was found through a very difficult test. So we are going to see a ENT Doctor tomorrow to see if he feels if Gracies adenoids are removed if she would have more room to move air. We are very happy with this diagnoses. The other things are treated with simple meds. We are still learning about Laryngomalacia and will follow up with more info when we know what it is. In the mean time we are going to visit with Alan's family who live close to Denver and then return home on Saturday night. We are grateful for all the prayers and support while we have been here.