Hannah seems genuinely thrilled to be back home. There's only one thing missing and that's Carly, who should be back in the nest Friday night.
Hope everyone has a great weekend.
Tim and Katie
Friday, July 25, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Homeward Bound - Let the Countdown Begin!
Very good news to post today; barring no major setbacks or unexpected illnesses, Hannah will be released from Kennedy Krieger Institute on Thursday, July 24th. She has come a long way in her recovery and is working extremely hard in the therapy sessions.
We are very thankful for the surgeons and nurses at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and the nurses, doctors, and therapists at Kennedy Krieger Institute. They are all amazing and we are deeply appreciative.
Yeah!
Sunday, July 20, 2008
The Ledo's pizza never stood a chance!
Wow, what a weekend!
We had a very short and strange weekend shift this weekend - Katie got a little over 24 hours of freedom starting Friday afternoon and was busy the entire time between running errands and getting Carly ready for her week's stay at Villanova University for a leadership conference. She did get to squeeze in a massage and the therapist never left her shoulders and neck; go figure, there was an abundance of stress in Katie.
Meanwhile, Tim showed up on Friday with a LARGE Ledo's Pizza; that's 30 squares for you non-numerial types. It was gone by lunch on Saturday; I don't think the pizza knew what hit it. I had to stop her on Friday afternoon and night because I couldn't stand to watch her devour any more. It is very difficult for a Dad to say no when his child, who's been hospitalized for almost 3 weeks, continues to ask for "more pizza." What, this tastes better than hospital food?!?
Katie and Carly showed up Saturday night for a quick dinner and changing of the guards, and on Sunday Tim drove Carly up to Villanova. Carly was introduced to dorm life; 2 beds in a space much, much smaller than her bedroom and no A/C. I believe I heard "sweet Jesus" escape her lips. This should be an adventure..
We hope veryone had a great weekend.
Thanks for the support and well wishes,
Tim and Katie
Friday, July 18, 2008
Upright stander
This afternoon at therapy Hannah was in an upright stander for about 30 minutes. We played with a toy and listened to music while socializing with everyone and anyone who walked by her.
She had a blast!
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Workin So Hard!
Hi all,
We have been so busy Hannah and I from 7:00 am till 10pm. We have 2 physical therapies a day, 1 occupational therapy session, see the equipment people, have 3 play therapy sessions and have our daily nursing routine. Yesterday, they put Hannah in a stander so she can get use to putting weight on her legs again. She looks like a skinny giant!
Our dear friends, the Rubins, helped us get junior size clothes because Hannah's shirts pre-operation spine....are showing her midriff! With the huge growth in size comes junior department now!
Hannah's GI tract is slowly getting back to normal! Hurray "operation Constipation" can be over for now! That is making Hannah's appetite come back slowly too! Right now she is munching on some noodles with mom's homemade veg...soup on them!
Today I get a massage for 15 minutes in the social worker's room. Yeah! Looking forward to that and an afternoon walk if I can sneak away during Hannah's nap.
Hope all is well with all of you. Miss you. We will continue to work hard so we can come home soon.
Katie and Hannah
We have been so busy Hannah and I from 7:00 am till 10pm. We have 2 physical therapies a day, 1 occupational therapy session, see the equipment people, have 3 play therapy sessions and have our daily nursing routine. Yesterday, they put Hannah in a stander so she can get use to putting weight on her legs again. She looks like a skinny giant!
Our dear friends, the Rubins, helped us get junior size clothes because Hannah's shirts pre-operation spine....are showing her midriff! With the huge growth in size comes junior department now!
Hannah's GI tract is slowly getting back to normal! Hurray "operation Constipation" can be over for now! That is making Hannah's appetite come back slowly too! Right now she is munching on some noodles with mom's homemade veg...soup on them!
Today I get a massage for 15 minutes in the social worker's room. Yeah! Looking forward to that and an afternoon walk if I can sneak away during Hannah's nap.
Hope all is well with all of you. Miss you. We will continue to work hard so we can come home soon.
Katie and Hannah
Saturday, July 12, 2008
A good Saturday
Hannah has had a good Saturday. Two good physical therapy sessions that went well with lots of stretching, transfering to a sitting position from laying down and over ten minutes of sitting up. Katie is absolutely correct, because of her growth spurt, her hands can't reach the mat when she sits up, so she needs assistance from her therapist.
We have reacquainted with old friends here who remember us from our big visit 8 years ago; Dr. Davoli and Victoria have stopped by and are amazed at how tall Hannah has gotten over the years and the pace of her current recovery. We had another special guest today, Ricky Moskowitz, who works with Tim at Raxco. He came with gifts for both Tim and Hannah; Ricky's daughter Sydney was sweet enough to go to Build A Bear and give an adorable bear named Cutie to Hannah, who has hugged her endlessly since receiving her. Ricky also brought two incredibly delicious corned beef sandwiches (their specialty) from Attman's Deli in Baltimore for Tim, they were fabulous. Hannah's appetite was much better today as she ate a whole plate of spaghetti tonight for dinner.
That's about it for now; hope everyone's weekend is going well.
Tim and Hannah and Cutie
The Weekend Switch
Thanks again for helping us stay in touch with all of you! Hannah is working so hard and like Rena said, it's true our day is full of medications, working, hugging and sleeping. Hannah can not sit up anymore so we are working on that but because her upper body grew 3 plus inches, her finger tips are the only things that reach! She looks like that game "Tip It" as we are right there to support her.
She is not eating very much...and are working on that. The last two days she has broken out on knees, back of knees, and elbows in a hive like rash. Hannah has really sensitive skin. We are trying to figure this out but it may be the mats she works or the cleaner they use between each patient. Tomorrow she wears long sleeve clothes and we put a sheet on the mat to see if she still breaks out. We are keeping a close eye on two pressure sores she has developed but all and all she is good. They had her rolling over and over yesterday, and working on some tight right sided hamstrings and hip flexer muscles.
Tim came up Friday evening with Carly. Hannah was really happy to see them. Tim brought fresh spaghetti...better than Dino's. When I go back on Sunday, we will try Ledos Pizza or McDonald's Hamburgers compliments of our Rubin Friends who also sent her "Hannah Hamburger shirt!!!"She earns the name well!
It was great to be off the chair bed and in my own bed last night. Even felt good to run the vacuum and pick up the dog hairs as you don't get much cardio work out and vacuuming last night...(not usually was very therapeutic...why is that so...perspective is a powerful thing!)
We are blessed to have really great roommates (Julie and Emma) and for living so close Carly got to see how small a room we have 4 people living in and two wheel chairs. It gave her a good visual for college! It's just a little funny that Emma only eats eggs, cheese, and pudding everyday and Hannah eats hamburgers and spaghetti, so between them we see the same foods for most all meals!
Our very good friend, Todd came by to see her yesterday, he works at at Bayview J Hopkins and he said she looked good! He looked great to Hannah who has always been smitten with him.
Today when Carly gets up we are going to spend the day together just hanging out. It's nice to get dates like this too while Tim gets caught up on his Hannah kisses. Hope everyone has a great weekend.
-Katie 7/12
She is not eating very much...and are working on that. The last two days she has broken out on knees, back of knees, and elbows in a hive like rash. Hannah has really sensitive skin. We are trying to figure this out but it may be the mats she works or the cleaner they use between each patient. Tomorrow she wears long sleeve clothes and we put a sheet on the mat to see if she still breaks out. We are keeping a close eye on two pressure sores she has developed but all and all she is good. They had her rolling over and over yesterday, and working on some tight right sided hamstrings and hip flexer muscles.
Tim came up Friday evening with Carly. Hannah was really happy to see them. Tim brought fresh spaghetti...better than Dino's. When I go back on Sunday, we will try Ledos Pizza or McDonald's Hamburgers compliments of our Rubin Friends who also sent her "Hannah Hamburger shirt!!!"She earns the name well!
It was great to be off the chair bed and in my own bed last night. Even felt good to run the vacuum and pick up the dog hairs as you don't get much cardio work out and vacuuming last night...(not usually was very therapeutic...why is that so...perspective is a powerful thing!)
We are blessed to have really great roommates (Julie and Emma) and for living so close Carly got to see how small a room we have 4 people living in and two wheel chairs. It gave her a good visual for college! It's just a little funny that Emma only eats eggs, cheese, and pudding everyday and Hannah eats hamburgers and spaghetti, so between them we see the same foods for most all meals!
Our very good friend, Todd came by to see her yesterday, he works at at Bayview J Hopkins and he said she looked good! He looked great to Hannah who has always been smitten with him.
Today when Carly gets up we are going to spend the day together just hanging out. It's nice to get dates like this too while Tim gets caught up on his Hannah kisses. Hope everyone has a great weekend.
-Katie 7/12
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