Fifteen AGAIN

Treatment # 15...again.

Last month Gabi woke up with croup the morning of her treatment and it was canceled.  So for counting sake we are still at treatment #15, trip #16.

We drove again; 534 miles to Englewood, Colorado.  As usual we left Sunday morning and stopped in Rifle for lunch, and to throw rocks into the pond.

I hate flying, but I would have to say that driving is horrible too!  Not because of Gabi, she is an angel the entire 8 hours, the roads are just horrible and dangerous!  On the way out of Wellington on Highway 6 we were nearly (inches) struck by a semi head on.  Then through Vail we nearly hydroplained ourselves off the side of the road, a cliff.  Once we passed through that canyon we entered Eisenhower Tunnel where the road was nothing but a sheet of ice.  Yes, we did make it into Denver and on the Englewood safely, but seriously, that was NOT FUN.  After much anxiety running through at least my veins, an achy back, and numb butt we were finally there.

We went to dinner at Sweet Tomatoes and then to the hotel for swimming.  It was late and I was not excited to swim, but Gabi wanted to and we had to go for her.  It only took one jump into the pool to know that we were not staying long.  I believe they forgot to heat the pool, or the boiler broke, it was ICE COLD! So we got out and Gabi put on a show for us:

Strike a pose,

And one,

Two,

Three,

Four and,

Five.

Those were all taking in a matter of seconds.  It was hilarious! She had the whole hot tub of patrons laughing.

After the fun photo shoot it was back to the room for the next days preparations.  

Monday started early.

5:00am.

She was not happy to be there, as we all could imagine.

She just wanted to be left alone.

She watched a little television, and received a new bear.

We tried to comfort her as much as possible, but as you can see the look on her face tells it all.

She gave us one little smile and her bear a good luck hug before she went with the anesthesiologist.

After that, it was through Hell again.

Being held down with a mask over her face, feeling like she was drowning.

Pleading to me, "No mom, No!"

Her body finally succumbing to the gas and she fell asleep. 

Only to be woken up by hot pain, 

strangers leaning over her,

bright lights blinding her dilated eyes,

loud screaming and crying from patients around her,

a dizzy head,

nauseous stomach,

cold oxygen blowing on her face,

dry cracked lips and throat,

her face swollen past recognition

wires and tubes hanging out everywhere, 

and no mom.

It never gets easier.

We only hope to one day SOON hear from Dr. Yakes that she is DONE.  Right now it seems that we will never hear that word.

While she was in recovery the anesthesiologist came and talked to me about how Gabi did with the treatment.  He made sure to give her all necessary drugs to make sure recovery would be as easy as possible on her.  He said Dr. Yakes injected 10cc of alcohol this treatment.  Are you kidding me?  Sometimes I feel like he doesn't realize what he is doing to our little girl.  A regular treatment involves   5cc-6cc and has never been more than 7cc.  You may think that is a small difference but when you see the effects of that much alcohol in the veins of a 3 year olds cheek.  I wanted to shake him!  To put it plainly, she will now have 3 large scares on her face from where the alcohol burnt through her veins, tissue, and skin.  Her eye was swollen shut for 4 days. Not typical.  She was super moody for 7 days. Not typical.  To make it all worse her Children's Chewable Motrin was recalled!  For the smell of all things.  Now, you may say, give her liquid or crush an adult tablet...well that just doesn't work.  So, for the first 36 hours until we got home to where I left (my fault) our Motrin in the cabinet  she had no anti-inflamitory medication, resulting in massive swelling as you can imagine.  To make matters better she could only ingest 12oz of liquid in the first 24 hours.  

The ride home was eventful.  Driving into Glenwood canyon we drove through a rock slide that luckily we missed just minutes before.  We did however have to quickly maneuver through the debris with only a split second notice at 70 miles and hour.  We made it home in one piece and were so happy to be there.     Gabi saw herself in the mirror and asked not to see herself again.  She didn't want anyone to see her either.  She became very self-concious this treatment, and it makes me so sad to see her like that.  We kept assuring her of how beautiful she is and made sure she knew how much we all loved her.  That seemed to help a bit.

   

She wouldn't even let grandma and grandpa see her.

This is Wednesday, 3 days after treatment.

This is also Wednesday.  A better picture of the alcohol burning through her cheek.

The eye patch was homemade, thanks.  Her eye was bothering her and so Grandma Shelli took care of it.

Thursday, she was back to school.

She woke up being pretty funny.  Very excited that her eye was finally open!

I told her that she was having an Easter Party at school, so she ran and put some clothes on (Izze's).  

APRIL FOOL'S

No, really she didn't know about April Fool's Day but she told me that she wanted to be funny and tease her teacher. Of course I let her, seeing as it was an appropriate day for such silliness.

She is in recovery mode and doing well.  

We CAN wait until the next treatment which is scheduled in May.