Home again.

Anna was discharged on Saturday about noon.  After the sketchy time during first few hours of her infection on Thursday afternoon, she was perfectly fine.  No fever, no crazy blood pressures, nothing but the Anna who we know and love.  She was able to have all three of her primary nurses during this hospital stay and told me on the way home "Even though I like to see my friends at the hospital, I like my family better."

It turns out Anna had a urinary tract infection, not too terribly uncommon for a 7-year-old who wears diapers and spends a lot of time in her wheelchair.  She never exhibited any symptoms until the fever spiked, but as we well know, any infection during the time without her natural ability to fight it off can make Miss Anna very sick.  Her urine sample from Saturday morning came back free and clear so she doesn't even need to take the whole course of oral antibiotics ... hooray!

As some of you know, Friday was my birthday.  Spending it at the hospital was not exactly in the original plans, but it worked.  Kate, Ethan, and especially Matt, made my brief morning at home special with birthday muffins, cards, a balloon, and hidden 35s ... yep, I'll admit my age.  Since the morning was pretty busy, I didn't get the chance to find all of my numbers; now it's a family event when another one turns up :)

Matt had told me earlier in the week that he was planning on taking me out to dinner on Thursday to celebrate my birthday.  He had contacted two of our good friends to watch all three kids at our house that night.  I lovingly suggested that Friday might be a better date night since it was the first week of school and Thursday was still considered a school night for everyone.  We all adjusted the plans :)

Then Anna was admitted to the hospital.  We went back and forth as to whether or not we were still going to go out to dinner and finally decided that it would probably work better than originally planned. When else would Anna be so well taken care of at the hospital on a Friday night allowing us to stay out just a little bit later (meaning we didn't need to be home in time to get all of Anna's evening medications ready and spend the extra time and energy putting all three kids to bed).  So one friend joined Anna at the hospital for a few hours, the other friend joined Kate and Ethan at our home, and Matt and I met for dinner.  We even had enough time to head to Culver's for dessert before going home to put Kate and Ethan to bed.  (I hadn't seen much of the younger two for most of the week, and we didn't yet know when Anna would be coming home, so we made the choice to be home in time for their bedtime routines.)

Like I said, not necessarily the kind of birthday I would have anticipated, but we made it work.

Since the last update I posted was done at the hospital, I was not able to include our annual first day of school pictures.  Here they are!

Kate's first day of Kindergarten ... we can hardly believe this wonderful girl is old enough for school!

Anna's first day of 2nd grade ... She certainly looks different than she did a year ago, but she is still the same amazing person, maybe even more so.

And here are the customary silly pictures.  Ever since Anna's first day of preschool three years ago, the girls insist on taking some goofy photos.

Friday was supposed to be the first day of our real school schedules, but plans change.  So today, Monday, is that day.  So far so good, but Kate is still in school and the other two are still sleeping.  Now instead of constant crazy busy life, we have crazy busy moments sprinkled with some quality Mommy-Ethan time.  We'll see how we're all doing by the end of the week.

Time for prayers

Thanksgiving
Please give thanks that Anna is healthy (relatively speaking) and home from the hospital.
Please thank God that Anna's white counts bounced back again so effectively.
Please give thanks that we made it through last week.
Please thank God that I am another year older and maybe even another year wiser :)
Please give thanks for all of the people who are working with our family, at the hospital, the home health agency, and now the school.
Please thank God for the continued support (a.k.a. meals delivered!) that we are receiving.
Please give thanks that we were able to anticipate these sudden hospital admissions over the summer and prepare Kate and Ethan for them by allowing them to spend time with our friends prior to this emergency.

Requests
Please continue to pray that Anna's treatments are 100% effective.
Please continue to pray for all those working with our family (hospital, home health, school, etc.).
Please continue to pray for Kate and Anna's teachers and classmates as they all adjust to a full week of school.
Please continue to pray for strength, wisdom, peace, patience, health, etc. for everyone in our family.

As one of the doctors mentioned to me at the hospital on Friday, we're coming down the home stretch now.  But the next two months are still going to be as challenging, if not more challenging, than some of the times leading up to now.