Gabi's Angel Kiss: December 2009

We went to a family Christmas party this morning and every year Santa gives the children gifts when they sit on his knee of course. Well this year was especially special for Gabi. She sat on Santa's lap and gratefully accepted his gift to her. Just as she was going to climb off his knee he noticed there was actually another gift for her. As you can imagine, that was very exciting for her to see another gift, and this one was even BIGGER! When she opened it up it was a BEAUTIFUL quilt that was handmade by Ben's aunt, just for her.

It had a special note to Gabi telling her how special she is and that she is loved and thought about daily. The quilt was a token of love and sacrifice because of the treatments she so frequently endures.

Thank You Joyce for your hard work and thoughtfulness.

Treatment #14 down. Who knows how many more to go, I sure wish I did.

We went back to flying this treatment because of weather, which was a great idea seeing as I-70 was closed through the canyons the days we were traveling.

Gabi was really excited to fly on a plane again. this is her at least 38th time on a plane. What normal 3 year old has flown 38 times? I am just surprised I am still alive ( I HATE flying! I think I am going to die, the anxiety kills me!). Gabi is great on the plane and loves it.

Giving daddy hugs.

When we arrived in Colorado the temperatures were FREEZING, actually below freezing, Gabi loved to "make smoke" come out her mouth. She thought that was super cool.

After some shopping and dinner we checked-in the hotel and changed into our swimming suits. That is Gabi's favorite part of going to Colorado. Not that there are many "fun" things to chose from.

After we swam and settled down for the night she looked up at the ceiling and quickly jumped up from the bed and announced that she was ready to go home and that she wasn't going to stay here any more, she hated the hotel and she didn't want to live there anymore. You see, she is catching on to the routine, no matter how hard we try to mix it up or keep her and her mind occupied on fun and activities, she gets it. She told us that the "bumpy ceiling made her sad." After a lot of talking and fingernail painting she finally dozed off; to be rudely awoken at 5am to get to the hospital.

Once there she explained to us everything that was going to happen. "First we go see that lady (the admissions lady) and get my bracelet (patient wrist band) and put stickers on it. Then we go up the elevator to the room with all the couches (surgery waiting room). Then we go with the nurse and watch TV on that tiny TV (Pre-Op)." At this point she gets very anxious and doesn't trust anyone. We try to talk her and bribe her into taking Versed so that she will be calmer and hopefully not remember the treatment but this time was NOT successful on getting her to take it. The only thing she would do was put on her hospital gown because "Angi made it and she loves me so much, and Addi sent it to me." Because she didn't take the Versed it made it a lot harder to get her under anesthesia. She fought so hard and kept saying, "Mom, I love you, MOM! I LOVE YOU!" and I could see in her eyes her pleading for me not to do this, not again. I tried to tell her that everything was going to be okay but the hard part is that we tell her how beautiful she is and how special her birthmark is; and she doesn't understand WHY we are going to the doctor to "FIX" it or "HELP it get better." She is so sweet and I hope this ends soon!

She recovered from anesthesia quickly and was in no pain (that she would tell me or acted at least). Se asked if she could take the IV home because she was so scared of taking the tape off her arm because they seriously tape 1/3 of her arm so the IV will NOT come out. One more time we had to pin her arm down while she cried to please not hurt her anymore so we could get the tape off and the IV out. Once it was finally out her boots were on and she was outta there, but not without her Christmas candy cane she got to take out of Santa's sleigh.

Once we were in the car she said that she was STARVING and all she wanted was a hamburger and fries, so of course we obliged. She ate a few bites and was ready to go swimming! She quickly changed and was posing in the mirror in minutes.

She had to bring her lady bag poolside so she was ready to swim in style.

After 2 more times swimming and a good nights rest it was time to go home.

Our flight wasn't until late Tuesday night so we had to burn the day hours and finally we could get home. We had to walk to out little plane in the still freezing temps.