Surgery Day

Update 7-

Today is surgery day! Olivia's day started very early with X-rays around 6:30. From there we went straight to the pre-op area where we met her surgeon and anesthesiologists and OR nurses.

We just received the first update that the surgery began about 30 minutes ago and she is stable. The first part of her surgery should be over and the tedious part has begun and will last several hours now.

We ask for prayers for the doctor, nurses and the anesthesiologists who are with her...

 IV TIME

GETTING WARMED UP

Update 8-

Happy Monday Evening! Olivia's surgery went well. The results are nothing short of amazing! Olivia is awake tonight and responding well. Today is the easy day as her pain medicines kick in quickly. Tomorrow she will stand for the first time with a straight upper spine. We've been told it will feel very weird to her. She has already complained of laying crooked when in fact her crooked is straight!!!

Another update tomorrow!

Olivia featured in FSU's High Performance Tennis blog

Update 3-

I've had requests for an update so thought I'd send this out...

This last week, Olivia had 3 MRI's on Monday. She did great, even though the big machine made her nervous. It IS a long time to have to lay still even with ear plugs and music! We have not gotten the results back on this yet, but the indication was that it looked good.

On Tuesday, we met with a pediatric cardiologist who consulted with us about her first EKG results. He decided to do another EKG which was unexpected. He thought maybe the first had been an error but the second one came back exactly the same. She will have to have an echocardiogram on April 23rd.

She continues to have her early morning physical therapy appointments on Mondays and Wednesdays and is progressing the way they want her too.

Thursday afternoon she had her 2nd appointment to help stretch and get her muscles supple and loose for the surgeries. Although some of the exercises are a bit difficult for her, she plugs through and says she feels so much better afterwards.

This week we are just waiting on results of the tests so far and receiving more calls from the surgeon's nurse regarding things upcoming.

On a really note, I had been contacted by the coaches of the FSU Men's tennis team who wanted to do a blog article about Olivia. It was sent to me to read after it was written, and really just made me cry. Olivia beamed when she read it. If you care to read the article, you can go to http://www.spearheadtennis.blogspot.com/   Go to the blog post titled Olive from April 2014.

Olivia's first surgery is five weeks from today. We are counting down.

Thank you to all who continue to pray and support us. And thanks to all those who continue to ask about Olivia and how she is doing. I will post another update as I get more info.

Things I Will Do in 2013

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2013

1.       I will read 20 books (I WILL read 20 books)

In 2012, I read a total of 15 books. However, 5 of them were books my children had to read for school. Some of my favorites from 2012 were Cutting for Stone, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, and Extremely Loud, Incredibly Close.

 

2.       I will get more sleep

 

I believe this was accomplished but will continue to get even more in 2013!

3.       I will exercise at least 4 times a week and work up to running at least 30 miles a week this year. My goal is to run 1200 miles, an increase of 450 miles over the 2012 total!!

 



4.       I will lose keep off the 15 pounds I lost!!!

 

5. I will find ways to spend more time with my husband- This is an ongoing need and wish. Balancing children, work and family is a lot harder than it seems.

 

6.     I will enjoy my children more- this was also almost impossible with the schedule we kept. We all ran in so many directions that finding the time for the little things (girl time, movies, shopping together, lunch dates etc.) didn't happen often enough.

7.     I will CONTINUE to write more letters, on stationery! This was actually fun and I do think people enjoy getting handwritten notes.

8.     I will engage a more grateful existence- I did somewhat better at this but there is a lot of room for improvement. I am constantly aware of the blessings I have been given but I would like to have more opportunities to help those in need as a way to show my gratitude to God.




9.    I will see more than one THREE movies- I saw some great movies this year including War Horse, Skyfall, Les Miserables amongst several others. Movies transport you to places that tap into your imagination and intellect. Go see some movies this year!!

10. And perhaps the most important of all, I will spend more time in prayer with GOD...

I really want to increase this more and more. One can NEVER pray enough.



 

Another New Year

happy new year!

photo credit

the holidays

were a bit strange

this past

year.

ongoing

issues

kept us flying

by the seat

of our pants.

buying gifts

was out

of the question.

cards

were mailed

but only

because they

had been purchased

previously.

christmas day

was actually stress-free.

this was nice.

and the compassion and love from

others was overwhelming.

G R A T E F U L

is how we saw things

G  R  A  T  E  F  U  L

is how we will remember

C H R I S T M A S

and

N E W  Y E A R S

of

2011!!