It's that time of year AGAIN!!

Yep... the doctors are back!! after enjoying a blissful year of having NO doctors and hospitals, we have a VERY full calendar of them this month... between the doctors, dentist, and the hospital we have 6 appointments in the month of September... don't ask me HOW they all got into the same month... it's the craziest schedule... but we sure enjoy the rest of the year once it is all done!!

Mikayla was in the hospital on Thursday for her yearly MRI. She had to BE THERE at 6:30 am, (CRAZY!) so I went and took the kids and we slept at my brothers house in Centerville the night before. (we all assumed that it would be more convenient that way, because I was planning to leave the boys with her the next day) Unfortunately, their baby cried most of the night because he wanted to be in his crib, and Jax cried the other part of the night because he wanted me to stand up and hold him!! so neither mom got ANY sleep... I finally got Jax to stay asleep by putting him down on the floor... he would NOT get back in that crib! (so my sister-in-law had a big surprise when she went in to get him up... she thought he fell out of the crib!!) As a result, I started off a very stressful day with only about 2 hours of sleep...

As usual, getting the IV placed was fairly traumatic for Kayla. The nurses were great, though and got her IV in on the very first try!! she is getting SO tall, it is hard for me to keep her on my lap anymore!! we had 2 RN's and 2 nurses and me trying to get her IV in and hold her still!! TAG TEAM!! when I went in to the recovery room after her test was finished, the nurse said that she had cried and whimpered through the whole test... poor little darlin'! I was soo tired that as I was sitting next to her bed, I fell asleep and slept the whole time til the nurse came over to help me wake her up!! it was a good thing I got that nap, too... because they ousted us from the recovery room at 9:30 AM and the neurosurgeon doesn't come in to clinic until 11 AM. We had a very miserable time walking up and down the halls of the hospital with Kayla screaming and shouting and choking on crackers... it was delightful! by the time we got in to see the doctor to have her MRI read and get the results, I had been kicked and slapped and spit on and screamed at so much I was about one second away from tears!! but we survived (without the tears and an emotional breakdown from Mom...)

The test results were not as good as we had hoped for... she has a bleed on the left side of her brain (remember all her issues have been on her right side, and we did brain surgery on the right side of her brain last time...) well this bleed on her left has doubled in size since we moved back from Washington (almost 4 years). So, it is not crucial yet... but he said that we WILL have to go in and take it out sooner or later, because it is getting too big again and putting too much pressure on her brain. The good news is, that we are not doing it any time soon... he says that we should come back in another year for another MRI, and we will see what he thinks at that point. Unfortunately, I am now on what I call stroke watch... with the hemorrhage getting so big, I have to watch for stroke-like symptoms (loss of motor control on her right side, loosing speaking abilities and increased seizure activity) Don't get me wrong... we are always watching for these symptoms, (the symptoms mean she has had a major brain hemorrhage, not a stroke, but the symptoms are very similar...) but now it is more likely that she would have them, because the pressure on her brain is increased...

So keep her in your prayers... think good thoughts for her. She is really a very special little angel, and is such a little fighter!! she always just pushes and fights her way through all these obstacles in her life... we love her very much!!! and we love our family and friends very much also for always being there for us to support us and love us through our trials... we have the best family and friends in the world!!!