It all started one week ago today....

My daughter began suffering from severe pain on the right side of her abdomen. She was crying and daycare called us concerned. Hubby picked her up and she soon started vomiting. A couple hours later she was in urgent care undergoing blood tests. The blood test showed her white blood cell count was about 3x normal levels. They sent her to the hospital for further tests.

At this point Hubby called to let me know what was going on. I was on my way home and a bit panicked. I wanted to be there with her! I picked up my son from daycare and headed to the emergency room. I got there around 5:30 PM and she was resting comfortably after some anti-nausea medicine and an IV drip. I could tell she was exhausted but Sponge Bob on a little TV right above the bed kept her entertained.

The hospital needed her to have a full bladder in order to do an ultrasound. Of course she was pretty dehydrated at this point so it took a long time to get her full again. The hospital staff decided to put in a larger IV line to force the fluids into her faster. That was a mini-ordeal in itself since putting a larger IV in a smaller child is a bit more complicated. Luckily the nominated "expert" was able to do the job and she tolerated the poking well without moving her arm around. Her face on the other hand was making a silent scream.

They decided to proceed having her drink a LARGE amount of contrast fluid for them to perform a CT scan. Occasionally this is needed in addition to the ultrasound in order to diagnose appendicitis, plus the fluid would work to fill up her bladder for the ultrasound. She did an awesome job drinking the lemony flavored liquid in the alloted hour time frame.
(I don't even think I could have drunk that much!)

They performed the ultrasound and followed with the CT scan. I stayed back in the room with our son. They were gone nearly an hour it felt like but they were able to confirm that she had appendicitis. Only problem? The hospital we go to no longer operates on children younger than 13. Say what?? Apparently this lovely new children's hospital that was completed a little over a year ago is now the place to go for that. So, here it is 10-something at night and we are going to have to go to another hospital!

The emergency room staff arranged for her arrival at the children's hospital and we headed over there. They were expecting us but we still had to go through some additional intake forms for them. The tests had been sent over so those didn't need to be repeated.

Then the wait was on for the surgeon. Around midnight the surgeon was ready and we moved to a new floor on the other side of the hospital. Hubby and son left for the night and I stayed behind to be with our daughter when she woke up. The surgery didn't begin until around 12:30 AM Thursday morning. I went down to the waiting area and tried to sleep on a rock hard couch. The OR nurse called to give me updates. The surgery took about an hour and then I was able to go up to the recovery room to be with her. The surgeon was able to get the appendix out without a problem, but he looked exhausted! When I commented that "that was quick" he had a very strange look on his face. I hope his night wasn't just beginning.

There were two nurses in the recovery room and only my daughter to care for. One of the nurses tried to get a response by calling my daughter's name about 9 times right in her ear, but nothing. I said "Let me try." and I spoke her name and she opened her eyes and as I asked if she wanted to get to her room so she could rest she rolled over and nodded her head and went back to sleep. Pretty cool that mom's voice was all it took.

It was a little after 2 AM when we finally got a room and then I had to answer about 3,000 intake questions about our family, whether or not we had smoke detectors in the home, etc., etc. and around 3 AM I was able to finally go to sleep.

Thursday was a quiet day spent watching cartoons and trying to get her to eat. She was doing well with the pain and we were ready to take her home by early afternoon. Even though she hadn't eaten much yet there wasn't anything the hospital was doing that we could do at home. It took her about two days to get back her appetite.

She became a little mini-celebrity at daycare. All of her friends drew her a get well picture and she was given some balloons and a stuffed animal. Now she's pretty much back to normal and will be able to start showering again so that her bandages can start working their way off. We go back for a follow up on Sept. 2nd.

It happened at a great time of year - before school started - and we caught it early so this went as well as it could have.

Color Story Challenge #7

Ahh...it always feels good to get a few challenges done each month. Here's my colorstory challenge #7 inspiration:
Title: Beautiful Roses

Design Notes: I used lots and lots of paper distressing and inked all of the edges. The green paper strip was folded and adhered randomly.

Supplies:
Cardstock (Prism)
Patterned Paper (KI Memories, Fancy Pants)
Rub Ons (Stampin Up)
Ink (Versa Color)
Chipboard (Heidi Swapp, Cherry Arte)
Stickers (American Crafts, Making Memories, K&Company)
Punch (EK Success)
Adhesive (Ad Tech Glue Runner)
Paper Distresser (Making Memories)
Brads (BasicGrey)

Journaling:
There's nothing more beautiful than a perfectly shaped rose bud.

Inspired....

Every once in awhile I come across something that's just inexplicably and profoundly moving. It's the kind of something that makes me feel extremely creative. Where I just want to sit down and write. I discovered that something in Nikki Sixx's new "soundtrack" to The Heroin Diaries. It's a concept album like none other, filled with spoken excepts from the book of the same title as well as songs inspired by events described in the book. It's like an expression of yourself in multiple forms. And it works, brilliantly.

It's been, oh, 15 YEARS since I've listened to what was called rock music back then (now I think they call it soft rock or, heaven forbid, classic rock??) but listening to this seemed to wrap me up in a creative lullaby that I don't want to end.

It just reminds me how beautiful life can be when we keep an open mind to new experiences.

I get so excited!

I get so excited that I just want to yell out a big "WOO HOO!" and tell you what all the good news is about, but you'll just have to wait and see. Really big deal for me. :)

One Little Word - BE

Here's an all digi page for this week's OLW.

THURSDAY THOUGHTS - Sourpuss

Blah, blah, blah.

That's the way I've been feeling and it irks me to post two weeks in a row with this kind of attitude. I'm so not a negative-thinker but it seems that's all I've been lately. I really hope to turn things around and I've been trying. I know I have MUCH to be thankful for and probably really nothing to be down about but hey, I'm only human with a lot of delightful female hormones running around my body. Sometimes it takes us a bit longer to be ready for the race.

So...in the spirit of nonsensical blabber I'm NOT going to tell you what's bothering me and I'm NOT going to feel sorry for myself or ask for sympathy. Instead I'll share the good that's been happening this week.

My writing has really been a focus for me this week. I began a new monthly feature at ScrapFriends called Undiscovered Scrapper. Each month I will find a scrapper with outstanding work who, for the most part, flies totally under the published designer/design team member category. This month I featured Tina Aszmus. This is really cool because it allowed me to do what I like to do - write - while doing what I love to do - finding inspiration through other scrappers. It's been a great experience and I'm already getting excited to search for next month's designer.

Also, SHHHH, don't say anything but I was also honored to interview Magdalena Muldoon of Mercart. We will be reviewing the "Art Unscripted" DVD with Carol Duvall that she was featured in this month so the interview will complement that. It won't be released for another week or two. So watch for it! And you didn't hear it from me!!

Creatively things are popping really slowly but I do feel a few kernels getting ready to explode and seeing that tomorrow's Friday and I can stay-up-as-late-as-I-wanna I'm pumped! I've got so much I want to do, it's just nuts how excited it makes me!

Oh, and I just purchased the Cricut Storybook cartridge I've been drooling over AND the Design Studio software which I've heard nothing but raves about. I'm totally busted if my Hubby reads this post! That should be arriving in a day or two and wooo hoooo, I'm going to be Cricuting like mad!!

Till' next week then, enjoy each moment!

A couple recent pages just for fun.
Title: One Fine Day

Supplies:
Cardstock (Prism)
Patterned Paper (Sassafras Lass??)
Felt (Queen & Co.)
Sequins (Funquins)
Journal Page (Making Memories)
3D Sticker (K&Company)
Rub Ons (Dove of the East)
Adhesive (Ad Tech Glue Runner)

Journaling:
This picture probably wouldn't mean much for some but for me it reminds me of how your childhood in the city differs from my own in the country. There's a certain amount of freedom exploring woods, building forts, and finding patches of wild raspberries that you will never experience. Summer '08

Title: Little Swimmer

Supplies:
Cardstock (Prism, Prima Paintable)
Mask (Heidi Swapp)
Acrylic Paint (Ranger)
Stickers (BasicGrey)
Felt Stickers (American Crafts)
Rub Ons (Creative Imaginations)
Circle Punch, Marker (Stampin Up)
Adhesive (Ad Tech Glue Runner)

Journaling:
We finally got you into swim lessons. OK, so we are a little late but your first attempt at lessons did NOT go well! Summer '08

WRMK Winner!!!

I was chosen to win this lovely album package from We R Memory Keepers on Kimber McGray's blog!! This is one of the lines I fell in love with at CHA! I am sooo excited!! Yeah!!