Becca's Wish Trip........Update:September 2011.....Photo's....Sorta :)

[MAGICFOR2]

I just had to post a message about nothing
I just happened to look to the left and I noticed that my post count was 499, so I just had to post my 500th one about absolutely nothing at all because I just wanted to.

CONGRATULATIONS! You have to celebrate the small stuff, right? I'm still praying and lurking to see Becca's progress. Thanks for keeping in touch and God Bless you!

 

[my2disneyboys]

Becca would adore a postcard, She loves Eyeore, Tigger and Mike Zowhatchamacallhim from Monsters Inc.
I will shoot you a PM with our address...thank you so much for thinking of her.

We have come to realize, even before she got sick that most people in this world are good, kind, generous and loving.

We have been given so much love from church and the disboutiquers and loads of people on these boards, our hearts are overflowing with prayers, kind thoughts and gifts.....it makes my heart sing but my eyes cry with happiness.

Mandy

Mandy,
It sounds like another hard morning for Becca. (and for you guys)
We are thrilled to be able to send a post card from Disney. We are having Breakfast at Crystal Palace so we will try to get them to sign it!! I told my son Myles about Becca and he is really excited about getting her postcard and sending it from Disney. (Make sure you send me a PM please!!) I will be keeping Becca in my prayers and hoping for a better tomorrow for her.

 

[The3rdDisneyBoy]

Awww, you made me cry thank you so much for your words of support, they mean a great deal, even more so coming from a "lurker' and a husband of a poster, I am honored

I finally got around to answering your wife in requesting a postcard for Becca, I just have to remember to PM her my mailing address now

Thank you so much, God Bless you and your lovely family

Love
Mandy

Oh...well, sorry for making you cry. I do the same to my Mom when I write her holiday cards. Its a talent of mine.

But the words were from the heart. And I am glad you are sending the address.

 

[llurgy]

Day 63 - All Alone (April 9, 2009)

Today, neither of us were at the hospital until around 6pm. David went to work and Mandy went home to try and sort out/research what we were going to get Becca for her Birthday at the end of April. Becca wasn't very happy to be left alone all day but she knew that if she didn't allow Mandy to go home then she would not get anything for her Birthday.

When we arrived at the hospital this evening Becca burst into tears! Nothing bad had happened it was that she was just so happy to see us again.

From what Becca's nurse told us, Becca had thrown up as soon as she woke this morning - Becca stated that it was due to "gunk" at the back of her throat rather than a queasy belly. She struggled through her therapies this morning, she felt a Little nauseous around 11am but some nausea medicine worked to settle her stomach. She had a rest at lunchtime and miraculously recovered 100% to do all her therapies at full speed ahead this afternoon. As well as therapies she also painted Easter Eggs and went on an Easter Egg hunt in the play room with some of the other kids on Re-Hab. When we arrived, except for the "so pleased to see us" crying she was in fine spirits and in a really pleasant mood.

 

[The3rdDisneyBoy]

Sounds like a pretty good day then. Tears are ok, so long as they are happy ones, eh?

I am glad to hear that Becca has had some activities to keep her mind off things. How did she do in the hunt?

 

[llurgy]

Sounds like a pretty good day then. Tears are ok, so long as they are happy ones, eh?

I am glad to hear that Becca has had some activities to keep her mind off things. How did she do in the hunt?

She made out well in the egg hunt, she scored five eggs after searching throughout the unit. She really enjoyed herself finding the eggs, but also enjoyed painting eggs too.

Today she has had another good day so we are all happy today and looking forward to the weekend when she gets a little bit of a reprieve from therapies on Saturday afternoon and all day on Sunday.

I am about 1/2 way through reading your families trip report, love the Disney nights yoiu have, such a neat thing to do.

Love
Mandy

 

[llurgy]

Day 64 - Good Day (April 10, 2009)

Arrived at the hospital today to find Becca in a really good mood, except for the fact that it was time to get up.

She dressed, had two slices of apple and half a cup of ice for her breakfast and them brushed her teeth whilst doing her vest treatment. We were all ready to get her into her chair and down for her group meeting when the doctor came in to do morning rounds so we didnt make it to group until 9.15am.

After group we went into the gym to do her PT. She stood out of her chair with Maria her therapist holding only onto her belt and she played ring toss stood up. She sat back down again to rest and then stood again to play catch with a beach ball, she threw and caught 10 times and then sat down again. The therapy session finished with another round of standing up ring toss. She got a bit of an headache after PT, all that standing.

After ring toss she had occupational therapy with Suellen, she played Jenga which utilized stretching and manipulation and of course the steadiness of her hands.

Speech was next, she only did half a session before having to retire to her room because her head was pounding and she felt nauseous.

At around 11am she was given Zofran for her nausea and some Tylenol for her worsening headache before they whisked her off again to play Yahtzee in the activity room in the hopes that the Zofran would kick in to stop her feeling bad.

By 11.15am she was in good spirits again and playing Yahtzee.....some of the time sat at the table but some of the time stood up. She did well and won the game.

At 11.30am through until 1.30pm she had a long break due to some clinic meetings the therapists had to attend. She ate some lunch consisting of 3 bites of Spaghetti Alfredo before Mandy went down for lunch.

When Mandy came back on unit Becca was having a little snooze before her therapies started again at 1.30pm. OT consisted of threading beads and arm stretching exercises and was followed by speech where she played a game of respond. Last but not least she went into the Activity room for recreational therapy to play the Wii. She beat her therapist at every game they played bar one game so she was happy at that.

At around 5.15pm Becca ate dinner, she had quite a bit of Ravioli in comparison to what she has eaten previously, added to the slices of apple she had eaten mid afternoon she is doing really well with food today. She vowed to David last night that she would eat at least two bites from every meal that was put in front of her. She has excelled herself as she has done what she promised plus eating from the snacks that were ordered also.

Becca evening went along as smoothly as her day, we watched a movie and had a lovely evening (barring the vest treatment and the Lovonox shot in her belly). Hopefully tomorrow will be a "wash, rinse and repeat" day, but if not we are grateful to have had today as a really pleasant and enjoyable day.

Love Mandy

 

[maroo]

Fabulous!

Sounds like she is doing so GREAT! Eating like a horse, I tell you!

Way to go, Becca!!!!

 

[Khalana]

I'm so happy that she had such a good day! She really is a trooper. And good for her beating her therapist at the wii.

Happy Easter to all of you!!

 

[jenb1023]

Glad to hear Becca had a good day!

 

[kimmylaj]

i'm so glad to hear that becca had a good day. go becca for winning at wii. i never beat my family. lol

 

[llurgy]

Sorry, yesterdays update a bit late

Day 65 - Fifty Four Feet (April 11, 2009)

Bic greeted us in fine spirit this morning. Just like yesterday, she was feeling good and wore a big smile.

The morning began at 8am prompt with a vest treatment. She still doesn't particularly care for these, but she is so much more tolerant these days. We are not sure they are absolutely necessary, but since they aren't doing any harm, why not. The respiratory therapist always seem to be telling us that her lungs sound better than the last time they listened to her lungs...

Immediately after it was time for OT. She got into her wheelchair and went to the gym. She was given the task of sliding rings on a hoop in the shape of an arc from one side to the other. She did that with the greatest of ease, so the therapist decided to make it a bit more challenging and attached a one pound weight to her right wrist and asked her to repeat it. That didn't work too well! She could hardly pick her arm up with the weight attached and the exercise was terminated immediately!

We then went to group therapy for half an hour, which Bic found fun because she was able to fully participate in the questions and answers.

On returning to her room, Bic was able to make a trip to the bathroom in her wheelchair, which is a goal for us to complete with Bic at least once a day.

Back in bed, we decided it was a good time to wash Bic's hair. Bic likes the feeling of warm water on her head, but she still imagines her hair very long and is always scared of water dripping from her hair hours after it has got wet.

PT was at 11am and the therapist wanted to see Bic do a big walk. Her goal was to walk from her bed into the recreation room twenty seven feet away! She was given a walker and David followed with a chair for when she needed to take a break. The longest walk was 15 feet before she needed to sit down. There was another ten feet to walk before reaching her destination in front of a Wii video game. Bic then played a couple of games on the Wii with David before walking back to her room. By the end of it, Bic was very tired, breathing heavily and her heart was pounding, but she did it without a complaint!

Bic then got back into bed and had a well deserved rest.

There was a nice surprise for Bic after lunch when she had a visit from one of her church friends and grand parents. They spent quite a while playing "Guess Who", then when it was time for them to leave, Bic got into her chair and we went a walk with them to the other end of the hospital. After saying goodbye, we walked back, which took us past the gift shop - guess where she wanted to go?

Back up in her room, Bic was ready for a nice rest! Bic didn't really do much more all day. She had a sleep, then when she woke, did a 100 piece jig-saw with a little help. She is still having problems with her sight and lining up jig-saw pieces is quite difficult. Even so, she managed to complete it in a relatively short time.

Bic did okay eating today. For lunch she had a few (five?) forks full of pasta. For dinner she had a similar amount of ravioli. Ice is still a big favorite - that is eaten a cup at a time!

Love
Mandy

 

[jmskinner]

Go Bic, Go!

Thank you for continuing your updates, you are all in my prayers!

 

[llurgy]

Day 66 - Bunny (April 12, 2009)

On the way out of the Ronald McDonald house this morning, everyone was being given an Easter package to give to their kids in hospital. Besides a bag full of goodies and a medium sized Easter bunny, we got a very large Polar Bear wearing a rabbit suit!

The large bear was what Bic fist saw when she woke up and was a big surprise.

Bic was in demand first thing. At 8am, the respiratory therapist was ready to give her a vest treatment, she needed her teeth brushed and the PCA was after her vitals. This is quite common now and the price of giving Bic a good nights sleep.

Something that we didn't mention yesterday was that going a full day without feeling nauseous was a first and another milestone.

Bic was eager to meet her goals as early as she could in order to have a clear day of relaxation. She went to the bathroom using her walker and really knocked the breath out of her. She returned to her bed by way of a chair and when she was able to lay back, her heart was pounding and she was quite breathless.

She was given training pants (pull-ups) as encouragement to make a return trip to the bathroom later. The one thing about cutting back on her tube & TPN feeds plus the elimination of major antibiotic doses is that she isn't going as frequently now, so it could be a long wait.

About mid-morning, Bic received a visit from the Easter Bunny doing his rounds at the hospital. Yet another bag of goodies to savor!

After all of this, Bic was in need of a long rest, so she lay back and closed her eyes for nearly a couple of hours to recover.

Yesterday, Bic expressed a wish to play on the Wii today, but it seems the hospital's console is locked up. A kind nurse surprised us this morning by bringing her Wii in for Bic to play this afternoon! We connected it to the TV and away Bic went with some practice games.

Then came in lunch. Bic hadn't done too well with breakfast, just a couple slices of apple. She made up for it with about 8 forks full of Alfredo.

This afternoon, Bic chose to play MarioParty 8 on the Wii, which she really enjoyed. There was just one event that caused a bit of concern. She was swinging the controller as though to hit a baseball, when she complained of feeling dizzy. She couldn't hold her eyes on a subject and they were flicking from side to side. It was as though she had been spun at high speed, then stopped suddenly. It only lasted a few minutes before returning to normal. The nurse reported it to the doctor, who said to keep an eye on it (pun?).

Ravioli was for dinner, but Bic wasn't in the mood for food this time around and only managed one piece.

Bic is scared about one of the plans for tomorrow. The medical team want Mandy to begin giving Bic her blood thinner shots to her belly. Mandy has practiced on an orange and managed to do it without the orange screaming too loudly. Even so, Bic is concerned that it won't be the same as when the nurses do it.

This evening, Bic was troubled by a pain in her belly. She thought that it might have something to with wanting to go to the bathroom, but she didn't feel up to walking there. Instead, she got into a chair that we slid into the bathroom and back. The trip was unsuccessful, but a good exercise!

Overall, today hasn't been the most spectacular - good or bad, but it is Easter Sunday, so we think she deserved a day off! Bic's demeanor has been up and down all day, but there have been no extremes!

This evening, Bic was interested to hear stories about how she was when she first came into hospital and how things developed over the following days. Some things she remembered, such as getting frustrated about not being understood and writing the word "pillow" to indicate she wanted a pillow moving. Most of what happened though, she had no memory of. Probably for the best!

Love Mandy

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Easter prayers coming your way

 

[blairbear]

I just wanted to stop in and say hello.

I have been reading though your PTR, I just like most other poster just adore Becca. I will be keeping Becca and your family in my prayers and thoughts.

(A little pixie dust your way can never hurt either )

 

[jenb1023]

Thanks for the updates Mandy! Glad to hear Becca had a relatively uneventful weekend and is doing well with all of her therapies!

 

[Britgirlus]

HI !! I started out this morning finishing reading your pretrip report, and seeing Becca opening all her gifts was a blast !! Then to read about her in the hospital and all that has happened since - talk about being on a roller coaster !! SO glad to hear she is doing better now - tell her HI from South Dakota !!!!

 

[eyor44]

Sounds like Becca has had a wonderful couple of days.

Happy Belated Easter to you all!

 

[3princesses+aprince]

I havn't checked in in a while, but i'm so glad to hear Becca's doing well. That's great that she's playing the Wii!!!!