Good news / bad news

The good news is that Hannah had a great 1/2 day back at school. The bad news is that the doctors want to do the lensectomy and cataract removal as soon as possible so we are scheduled for surgery on the 30th. It breaks my heart that she is going to have had 2 surgeries in a month! It also will put quite the wrench in our lake cottage vacation, but we'll work around that. The harder part is going to be that the pool is right down the street and it sounds like swimming will be off limits for at least a month after surgery. Sigh.

Back to school

Well, today is the day. Hannah goes back to school. I think I am more nervous than I was her first day of kindergarten! Hopefully all will be calm...she has a doctor's appointment at 2:15, so daddy will be picking her up early (before lunch) and taking her downtown and I will be picking the other girls up at school. Please say a quick prayer that all goes well today (this is the lens doctor) and we can get the next surgery scheduled and done quickly.

One day at a time...

Things are getting slowly back to normal here...with a hearty dose of chaos. Last night the girls had a birthday party - a Webkinz birthday party. They had a great time, all three of them. I was a little nervous since there were so many kids in such a small place...but things were fine.
Hannah had a difficult time this morning since her sisters went to the park...I took her with but she soon realized that sitting off to the side doing nothing wasn't fun, and the tears began. We're working on our homework now, since the house is nice and quiet.
I want to thank again everyone who has called, e-mailed, brought dinners, sent flowers and a really cool fruit arrangement, and a special thank you to the bunco moms who had a masseuse waiting for me at bunco last night!
Also, my college roommate's husband is out of ICU and has actually been able to be wheeled around! Way to go, Steve!
Lastly, I wanted to share this prayer that one of my 'triplet mom friends in cyberspace' sent me:


Prayer to St. Lucy
Relying on Your goodness, O God, we humbly ask You, through the
intercession of Saint Lucy, Virgin and Martyr, to give perfect
vision to our eyes, that they may serve for Your greater honor and
glory.

Saint Lucy, hear our prayers and obtain our petitions.
Amen

Update from today's visit

Today's visit went well...the eye injury is healing as well as can be expected. No signs of infection, no signs of leakage. There is some distortion of the lens due to the stitches, however. What does this mean? It means that the lens is going to have to be removed sooner rather than later. We knew the lens would have to be removed as part of the cataract removal, but we didn't expect that it would be this soon. We meet with the lens specialist on Monday.
The best news...Hannah gets to go back to school! She can't go to PE or outdoor recess, and has to wear her eye shield and sunglasses, but she gets to go back to school! She is going to have a half day on Monday, because of the eye doctor appointment, but she gets to go back to school!
Can you tell I'm a bit excited to have some normalcy back??

Countdown to follow up appointment

Our follow up appointment is at 8:45 this morning. I am nervous. Please keep us in your prayers.

Another non-eventful day

Today was a very calm day. We went to Wal-Mart, rented some movies, and basically took it easy. Hannah has been such a trooper...not even complaining about the eye drops 4 times a day! 2 more days until our next appointment...I am eager to hear what the doctors have to say - I am hoping it is good news.
I am very grateful to all who have helped out...it is all so appreciated. I am worn down but trying to keep a good face for the kids...sometime I'll be able to collapse, but it won't be for a while! So for now I just keep swimming and trying to keep my head above water. Thanks for all the good thoughts and prayers.

Non-update

A non-update is good. We had an uneventful day regarding Hannah's eye. She is such a trooper...doesn't fuss at the eye drops that she has to have 4 times a day, the sore throat from the breathing tube from surgery, any of it. She is much braver than I.
Other than Hannah's eye, we did have some 'eventfulness' - we went and got new tires for the car, had lunch with grandma and grandpa and picked out new DS games for her sisters.
Once again, a giant thank you to everyone for all of your kindnesses. I am overwhelmed. A special thank you to Anne from bunco for dinner and all the special treats for the girls, Reza for the yummy desserts, Heather from church for the wine, balloons and bears for the girls and for bringing dinner, Carolyn for keeping 'taco Tuesday' and bringing tacos for dinner last night, Deanna and Jeff for the beautiful flowers and teddy bear, and Sandra and Tracy for meeting me at the library and listening to me babble. If I have forgotten anyone, I am sorry! All of these things are making it a bit easier to get through this. I just keep remembering that it could be so much worse.
On a side note, please keep my college roommate's husband in your prayers...he had a terrible car accident over a week ago and is just now off the ventilator. Pray that he has as uneventful a recovery as Hannah has been having.
Once again, I am overwhelmed by your caring, generosity and love.

Scary, scary, scary

Here's the latest update:

For those of you who don’t know, Hannah injured her eye on scissors on Sunday. She had a 2 ½ hour surgery that day. We were transferred from Edward Hospital to UIC for the surgery and the ambulance driver was my best friend growing up's brother! We went back to the eye clinic at U of I Chicago and so far all is well. They checked to see that the wound is stitched tightly and that there is no more leakage from the globe of the eye. They also did an ultrasound of her retina and all is well there, too. So, for now, we wait. Hopefully her eye will heal well enough that she will have better sight than she has now, for now she can see just shadows and movement. She has to be out of school for a week (to keep the eye from being jostled as well as keep infection far away) and we have a follow up appointment downtown on Friday. I’ll be staying home with her all week.

It has just hit her this evening that this is going to be a long time and that her eye might not ever be the same. It’s heartbreaking to see your child hurting so much. I am trying so hard to keep this in perspective – at the end of the day, I have a little girl who will be just fine. Eyesight isn’t that important, and she still has 100% sight in her other eye.

A big thank you to Jeanne, who has been keeping you all updated. It’s hard for me to write because writing it down makes it so much more real to me.

Another big thank you to my church bunco group, who are bringing meals this week. All of your calls and concern and prayers are so appreciated.

Please keep the whole family in your prayers – I have one little girl who is scared she won’t see and two other girls who are feeling a bit neglected. This triplet thing is HARD!!

Never a dull moment

Bear with me, this is gonna be a long one!
So, yesterday I was at work and my cell phone rang. I checked the caller ID and it was the school nurse. I answer and it isn't the school nurse, it's the secretary. She's calling FOR the school nurse to tell me that Sarah fell and cut her head open and that someone needs to come take her to the ER as soon as possible. The nurse can't come to the phone because she is 'working on Sarah'. OK, so my mommy sick feeling kicks in. I tell her I am going to call my husband because he is closer to school. I call Stan, tell him to high tail it out of work and go get her and to call me as soon as he sees her. I tell my boss (who, thank goodness was home and it was almost time for the babies to go down for a nap) that I have to go. I call the school back and ask to talk to Sarah and the playground supervisor answers the phone in the nurses office. I ask her if it's bad (I know her from hanging out waiting for our kids to get out of school) and she says that I need to come. Now. OK - now I am in super panic mommy mode - she has a bunch of kids and wouldn't say that unless it was bad. So I call Stan, tell him to bring Sarah to the Edward Hospital Urgent care and that I will meet them there.
After the longest 20 minute drive of my life I get there and start waiting. I call Stan and he says that I should make sure they have a CAT scan there in case x-rays are needed. X-rays? I can't take it!! So I go in and check, and, for future reference, they do have a CAT scanner.
He pulls up with Sarah who will not walk...she wants me to carry her. I grab her and run into the urgent care and the woman at the desk tries to get Sarah into a wheelchair and she wants NOTHING to do with it. She is screaming and yelling that she's OK, she doesn't need a wheelchair.
We get into the room and the nurse takes a look at the wound. It's HUGE. About the size of a quarter, and about an INCH deep. Blood is everywhere. Sarah is freaking because she can't take the sight of blood.
The doctor comes in and does a thorough neuro exam and Sarah passes (thank God!) with flying colors. He tells the nurse to prep Sarah for stitches, so she gets out the cotton ball soaked in lidocaine and puts it on her wound. After she does this, I asked Stan to go confirm with the doctor that Sarah truly didn't need an x-ray because she had been being a bit combative and unlike her normal self. He goes out to check, I get Sarah settled again and we start to watch Dragon Tales.
Stan comes back in and says he's going to go sit in the lobby for a minute, does he look pale? Then, BAM! He passes out. Falls right to the ground. Nurses are running in, the doctor is running in, I get Sarah off the bed and run out to another room. She is screaming that her daddy is dying, I am trying not to freak out and trying to get her away from there AND find out what the heck is happening to my husband.
The nurse comes in and tells us that it looks like the combination of the lovely 90 degree heat here and the stress of getting Sarah taken care of (plus the gore of the wound) probably all added up and caused him to faint. She said it happens most of the time to the dads (apparently we moms are made up of tougher stuff). I tell her he is on blood pressure meds, she doesn't seem concerned.
The doctor comes in and assures me Stan is OK. At this point I am losing it, and Sarah is trying to comfort me and apologizing saying that all this is her fault. Poor baby.
Then they get ready to stitch her and Sarah freaks out, screaming, thrashing. They get her calmed down but have to go ahead and inject the anesthetic into the wound because it was too deep for the cotton ball. She freaks again. By the time they start stitching she has calmed down enough and I am holding her legs down and sobbing. I get it together by the time they finish - 2 internal stitches and 6 (blue!) external stitches.
I collect my husband, who insists he can drive home, and make him get in the van with us. Then we go to pick up my other 2 girls, who, thank goodness, went home with my girlfriends' girls.
After all this, my other girlfriend took me to get the other van from Edward's parking lot.
I am glad yesterday is over.