He's still in the hospital

Today is day 16 without my husband at home. Last Thursday he had a CT scan that showed a very large abscess on his colon. His colon has a microscopic hole in it which was leaking infection into his abdomen. To protect the infection from spreading an abscess formed outside of his colon. They inserted a drain tube through his stomach near his belly button and left it to drain until Tuesday. On Tuesday he had another scan and we really thought they would take it out and he would come home. The radiologist still saw quite a bit of infection so he took the other tube out and inserted a larger drain tube in to the abscess. Much more painful than the first time according to Danny. This was yesterday so Danny was down and out the whole day. He's better today and up walking again. He's on a soft bland diet and slowly regaining energy.

Over the weekend he decided he needed a shower. He couldn't get his IV or the drain tube wet so he stood right outside of the shower and we washed him up. Towards the end when I was changing his gown he said he was lightheaded. I told him to hold on because I was taking off the drain tube and putting it on his new gown. He said then that he was going to faint. I told him to sit down, but it was too late. His eyes rolled back in his head and he just fainted! I've never seen anything like it. I tried to hold him, but couldn't and he fell into the shower and hit his elbow and head. He was completely out of it for about 2 minutes. Then he just snapped out of it and was coherent. Scared me to death! He wasn't injured and the nurses just think it was the steam and medicine in his system.

The doctors think he will be able to come home Friday...with the drain tube in place. They want to keep it in for 7-10 days, but feel by Friday he'll be strong enough to come home. I was a little hesitant about that at first, but I think we can handle it. I will have to empty it and record the amount as well as monitor his temperature.

This has been a roller coaster for our family. I could not have made it this long without the support from our family, our friends, and our church. Thank God for those people.

Please continue to pray for his recovery.

Update on Danny

Danny is still in the hospital and will likely remain there until at least this weekend. The docs changed their diagnosis after a second CT scan. He now has diverticulitis (sp?). Diverticulosis is a condition he's probably had for 5 or more years. The colon is strained and forms little bubbles that bulge out of the colon. If food or waste becomes trapped in one of these bubbles it will become infected...thus becoming diverticulitis. Anyway, he has a bad infection and a microscopic hole in his colon. To avoid emergency surgery he is being pumped full of very strong antibiotics. Please pray for him to overcome this without surgery. Surgery on an inflamed and infected colon can be very risky.

His spirits are getting better. He was becoming very depressed and not wanting to walk or bathe or talk or watch TV. The docs finally allowed him to have a liquid diet and I think that has helped him. For 5 days he was only allowed ice chips. He now has more energy and is walking more, which will also help his recovery. He actually watched some movies yesterday and today. Yesterday morning I asked him if he wanted to come down to my office later to watch the Astros' game on the internet (he's in the hospital where I work). He said no and I said that I would get him a radio to listen to it instead. He snapped at me and said he didn't care about baseball. Well that broke my heart because anybody that knows him knows he LOVES baseball. Later that evening he asked me to get him a radio because he would like to listen to the games. That was a huge improvement. Too bad the Astros lost 14 to 1 I think!

If you would like to send him a message go to memorialhermann.org and click on the e-greetings link on the bottom right hand side. The location is in the Woodlands and the room number is 5251.

Please keep us all in your prayers. I'm making it, but Daley and Laura are having a hard time dealing with him away from home and me coming and going like crazy. They seem to start getting upset as soon as they hear someone knocking at the door. They know it will be a sitter and that means mommy is leaving yet again. They really both miss their daddy terribly. Maybe it wouldn't be so hard if they didn't have such a wonderful and involved father. I work every evening so they are home with him every night and they are certainly missing that time together.

Please pray for Danny

My husband, the love of my life, is in the hospital right now and needs everyone to pray for a speedy recovery. We've been told he has colitis, but really don't understand what that is and why it would cause such a long stay in the hospital. Monday afternoon he came home from work feeling "yucky". That evening he began running fever and running to the restroom. After about 12 hours of all of that stuff he was in terrible pain. We decided it was best to go to the ER. After 8 hours of misery in the ER and after a x-ray and CT scan, they told him he had colitis or inflamation of the colon. The best way to treat this was IV antibiotics and pain medicine in the hospital. Originally they said 48-72 hours, but now the docs are saying he may not go home until the weekend or later. He's not really improving either. He still has severe nausea and pain. They are changing the antibiotic to one that isn't quite so strong believing that the antibiotic could be causing the nausea. They are also doing another x-ray on his tummy to make sure everything still looks okay. Fortunately, the girls have 2 wonderful grandmothers that live very close so I'm able to spend the night with him and part of the day.

Added frustration...Laura started running a fever today. Ibuprofen hasn't worked yet either.

Please keep Danny in your prayers.

Good, Bad, or Laura?

Danny took a day off this week so I could go to an appointment. Daley was at school that day and Danny spent the morning taking care of Laura. When I got home I asked Laura if she had been a good girl. She immediately said bad, but that is only because she says the opposite of what I say when discussing her behavior. So I asked Danny was she good or bad today. He just looked at me so I said "well was she good or bad or was she just Laura?". He began laughing and said "Yes...she was just Laura". If you know her well you will understand. She is such a comedian...just like her father I might add. She is a loving baby as well, but a little prankster. Her favorite thing to do right now is to pretend she's going to kiss us and instead head butt us. She especially likes to do this to her Nana. Before this she would go in for a kiss and give us a juicy raspberry instead.

This afternoon I left Daley and Laura in the living room after lunch while I went to put my make up on. When I returned (maybe 5 mins) Laura was sitting at the table eating a pear and a nectarine. She had crawled up on the table and got both pieces of fruit out of the bowl. After some pictures I cut them both up for her to eat. I had to because they both had little bite marks all over them. What a stinker!

Daley's grandma and grandpa gave her money for her birthday this year. She decided she was ready for a new bike. It is a pretty big bike, but she's getting more comfortable on it. It will be a while before we can start teaching her to ride without training wheels because of the height, but that's okay. I'm in no rush for her to grow up.

Here is a picture of Daley when she was about Laura's age-19 months. What a cutie!

This a picture of Daley around 2 and a half.

Here is a picture of Danny. Now you see where the girls get their good looks!

Daley's 5th Birthday

Daley turned 5 on March 4th. We had a wonderful party at a park in The Woodlands. I can't believe how big she is getting. I feel like this birthday was a real milestone. She's no longer a toddler and she won't be a preschooler much longer. She's just going to be a kid now. I'm sure that doesn't make any sense, but birthdays tend to be emotional for me.

Here are some pictures from the party.

Daley and Wesley digging into the cake

Present time!

Laura giving the horse a kiss and hug

Laura taking a swing at the pinata

Lindsay and Erika are 2 girls that volunteer at the hospital. They've taken Daley ice skating before and Erika has babysat for us. Daley invited them to her party and they used their artistic talents to paint faces at the party. They did a wonderful job and the kids really loved it!

Spring is here

It has been busy around the Craft house lately. Spring is here and this is my favorite time of the year. I love the warm sunny weather. I love to watch the birds that are active again after the winter months. Most of all I just love to watch all of the flowers beginning to bloom.

The first week of beautiful weather we decided to renew our zoo membership and check out all of the animals. This was only Laura's second visit to the zoo and she is really starting to get into all of the animals. Her favorite...the pigeons that flocked around us while we were snacking on goldfish. She did get a little upset when one bird looked at her sippy cup of water a little too long. She grabbed her cup and said "Waura! Wather!" (translation-Laura's water).

Daley always enjoys our trips to the zoo. She really loves the petting zoo and the snake house. I'm not sure that she really likes the snakes. I think it is more about tormenting me. I'm terrified of snakes and she knows it, but she also knows that I will suck it up and do anything for her.

Sick days-not always such a bad thing

Laura woke me up this morning at 7:15 am. This is very rare. She normally sleeps until 8:30 or 9:00. Daley usually gets up around 7:30 and plays in her room. So when Laura woke up early and Daley was still asleep I suspected something might be wrong. Laura and I went into Daley's room around 8:00 and found her just waking up. I kissed her head and whispered "good morning" and she was burning up. So Daley has been running a fever and has had a little cough. Laura has been stuffy and I'm sure will catch whatever Daley has. The thing is that it was really nice hanging out in bed with my two sick little girls. Normally on a Tuesday we'd take Daley to school then Laura and I would head to the grocery store and dry cleaners. Then we'd rush home to get her down for a nap so that she'll be awake in time to pick up Daley. While Laura was napping I would do laundry, make tea, make dinner for tonight, and take a shower.

Instead of all that, we all three spent the day in our pajamas and spent a lot of time snuggling and resting. When Laura took a nap Daley and I snuggled some more while we watched The Pacifier.

Daley certainly felt worse than Laura and early in the day Laura was trying to play with her. I explained to Laura that Daley was sick and didn't feel well. After that Laura spent 30 minutes rubbing Daley's head, kissing her cheek, and holding her hand. It was one of the sweetest things I've ever seen.

Tomorrow may be a bad one if both kids are really sick and whatever they have has fully erupted. Today, however was wonderful!