Wednesday, December 3, 2008

A belated Thanksgiving post...

I meant to do a post dedicated to our angels and heroes at the Children's Hospital of Illinois(mainly our PICU family) on Thanksgiving, but time just got away from me. Imagine that.

We miss you guys terribly! Don't think that, for any reason, we want to be back there with Olivia as a patient, but we do think and pray for all of you on a daily basis.
I will always appreciate how each of the doctors took my "unprofessional mommy opinion" into consideration, even if it was far-fetched. I will especially remember all of the nurses and doctors reaction when we were told Olivia had Leukemia. We had to comfort you because you all love Olivia so much!

Anyway, this post is specifically dedicated to thanking each of you for everything you have done for us over that past 2 years. Without you, Olivia wouldn't be with us today...and she wouldn't be doing as AWESOME as she is! I know you will appreciate the next few pictures (be sure to show Nana Peg from respiratory - she'll love the breathing treatment picture!)

So, Olivia is crawling on all fours about 90% of the time! She is getting really fast! She plops down into her army crawl when she's in a hurry. Today during therapy, she stood up from a sitting position by just holding on with one hand! All of her therapists think she is getting so strong and can't believe the progress she has made even in just the last month! She has had two pretty nasty "colds" that had me worried that we would be up visiting in the last month, but she got over them all by herself (well, with an antibiotic, breathing treatments, and a little bump up on the O2!)
The things I thought you would get the biggest kick out of show just how much you all taught her! A few weeks ago when she was getting breathing treatments, she grabbed the treatment out of my hand so fast and took over all on her own! It was absolutely hilarious!



The other thing is her new found love for stethoscopes. She went through a phase that if she even saw one of those things, she flipped out! Now, she won't take it off. She has her play stethoscope on all the time. She naps with it on and we have to take it off before bedtime. She searches for the thing when I try to get it off of her. I see her working in the medical field in the future thanks to you guys!
Anyway, enjoy the pictures and enjoy the upcoming holidays! And please know how grateful we are for each of you! Thank you!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Livvy is one of the biggest reasons why we all do our job and love it so much. Some may say we get too close, but I think we have to not only use our medical expertise but our love and compassion as well to truly take care of "our kids" and "our families". I know I am a better nurse just from the MANY times I have gotten to care for Livvy. We consider you all a part of our family and love you all more than you will ever know. Keep up the pics, we love to see Livs progress.

Bethany, RN PICU

Anonymous said...

I couldn't agree more with Bethany. Thank you! Your family is such a blessing. Go Livvy! We are soooooo proud of you!

Love,
Kim, RN PICU