Round 5 of injections & updates...

Here is what we use each time we do injections. Good thing that cutting board (well sanitized) is useful for something, not sure I've every really done much cutting on it.


And here is our little sweetie after her 5th set of injections, still smiling!!!

We have reached the 100cc mark in the neck and will break 100cc's next week in her forehead. With next weeks injections we will also be to the half way mark for her cheek, which is right on track because we are half way through injections after today's.

Big sissy loving little sissy.

So what's been happening around here? Lots! Angel told me last week, for the first time, that she had to go poo, before she poo'd in her pants! YAY!!! Now, she has yet to do it again but it lets me know she knows when she has to, just need to get better at consistently reminding her to tell us. Baby steps, I know.

The older three kiddos have been attending vacation bible school this week and they are loving it. I'm so glad I was finally able to get them enrolled in one at a local church, none of the others worked out for us. Kailey loves coming home and showing us the dances they are doing to the songs they are learning and sometimes, Logan will join in. So fun to watch them be excited.

Angel graduated to a big girl bed last night. I have been keeping my eye on Craig's list over the past few weeks, watching for a nice set of bunk beds at a reasonable price and finally came across one on Sunday so we went and picked it up on Monday evening and got most of it set up. It's not really a bunk bed set, it's more of a loft with a desk and 7 drawers built in under it and then a trundle bed, which is perfect for Angel at this point in time. She slept in it just fine last night, so looks like we'll be deconstructing the crib again. So sad that another baby is done with it, they are growing up way to fast.

I'll post pictures of their new furniture once their new bedding sets are delivered. So excited to see their matching sets, and to finally finish putting things up on the wall since we plan to stick with this furniture for a while. Will be so pretty and bright!

Angel's 4th Injections

Wednesday's injections went well again, here's what her expanders look like now...

3rd injection done, 8 to go...

Another week has passed already, time for another set of injections.

I began in reverse order this week by first doing the one that woke her up from her nap last week. We did this before getting ready for her nap and as soon as she saw all of the medical supplies she began to get upset. The position I laid her in worked again, I was able to restrict her arms, despite how mad and upset she was. Once done, I held gauze on the injection point for the little bit of bleeding that occurs and she kept pushing me away, not a happy camper. I then asked if she wanted to hold it on and that was enough to calm her down. She took the gauze, held it in place and would check it to see if anything was on it, cute. We then changed positions, reapplied the numbing cream to the other two since most of it got wiped off in our little struggle and began to snuggle for nap time. I apologized, kissed her and told her how sorry I was that we had to do this, not that she fully understands but it makes me feel better. 10 minutes later she was asleep. I gave her a bit longer to be sure she was out and proceeded with the other two without a peep out of her – YAY! Took her up to bed once done and she finished out her nap, undisturbed.

I was able to reach the projected goals for all the injections. Here’s what our progress looks like:

Forehead (250 cc capacity) – injected 12 cc’s today, putting us at 55 cc’s total

Neck (250 cc capacity) – injected 15 cc’s today, putting us at 70 cc’s total (this is how full her cheek should get, looks like a lot for her little cheek)

Cheek (70 cc capacity) – injected 5 cc’s today, putting us at 19 cc’s total

Here's how things look after today's injections...

So tomorrow will be 4 months since Angel's Gotcha & Adoption day! We are so thrilled she has adjusted so well to us and we to her for that matter. Our worlds seemed to mesh together much easier than anticipated. She cracks us up daily, is trying to use words more and more, has become even more stubborn and is also beginning to show the signs of the terrible 2's.

Praise Him for leading us down this path!

Thank you all for your continued blessings on her Nevus removal journey.

Angel's 2nd set of injections

I decided today to do her injections, even though we did it on Thursday last week. I was trying to determine what the best day would be once the kids are back in school. I want to be able to call the nurses if I have a questions, so during the day would be best and the kid, once back in school, get out a little earlier on Wednesdays. I figured if I need an extra hand, Michiael will be here to help me. So that's my logic behind it.

So in facing this last minute decision at about noon, I began to get really nervous. The sick to your stomach kind of nervous. I'm not sure I've ever been nervous enough to feel that way. I was not looking forward to doing the injections for the first time. At about twelve thirty, in preparation, I put the numbing cream on each of Angel's three ports and did my best to monitor them every 15 minutes or so. If she rubbed some off, I applied some more. My goal was to do the injections once she fell asleep at nap time, about an hour later.

I then prepared all the supplies we would need and told Michiael how I would need him to help. So for each port I need an alcohol pad, a cleansing swab, a needle a syringe and a gause pad or two.

After 45 minutes of the numbing cream in place, we did our snuggling on the couch and though it seemed to take a while, she finally fell asleep. Michiael and I went into action, he handed me an alcohol swab, I wiped the port clean. He gave me the hand sanitizer to clean my hands and then the additional swab to be sure the port was clean. Then it was time to insert the needle and inject the saline, first one went without a hitch. Second one went as planned too, yay! Then came the third one, the one I was afraid may not work because she had been laying on it and possibly wiped the numbing cream off. I did all the cleaning of the port and when I went to stick in the needle she must have felt enough of something that it woke her up - mission aborted - ugh. Now we'll have to start all over with that one.

Since I figured she must have felt something I went ahead and applied more numbing cream and we altered her napping position on my lap so she wouldn't lay on that port again. During this time I had Michiael get me a clean needle since I couldn't reuse the one I began to prick her with, and additional port cleaning supplies. (He's going to be a pro at this by the time we are finished with all these procedures, what a trooper he is to help out). I had him put the "sanitary surface" (a cutting board I sanitized) next to me on the couch so when she fell asleep I could do it all without interrupting his "computer time" again. Well after a half an hour she still hadn't fallen asleep, I think she was on "alert" so I decided to just do it while she was awake and get it over with. So I proceeded with the cleansing procedures, which didn't bother her, and then stuck the needle in. She then began to cry and try to grab the needle, luckily in the position I had her I could restrict her arms, I'm not sure it hurt but I'm sure she still felt some sort of a sensation. Once the needle was in place she was fine and we got the injection finished and needle out. Then I was able to breath a big sigh of relief that round one, on my own, was complete.

I have decided that next time I will go ahead and do that port before she goes down for a nap and then attempt the other two, that she slept through, once she is sleeping. It's all trial and error at this point. I'm trying to make this easiest on the both of us, just praying it goes better next week.

Here is the progress we made and where we stand:

In her forehead I injected 10 cc’s which puts her at 43 total. (250 cc's is our goal)
In her neck I injected 15 cc’s which puts her at 55 total. (250 cc's is our goal)
In her cheek I injected 4 cc’s which puts her at 14 total. (70 cc's is our goal)

So here is after the first injections last week...




This is after today's injections, not a big difference, so don't feel bad if you don't really notice much change. And this was right after her nap, which is why she looks "not so happy".

Angel's first Zoo visit

We purchased a family pass to the zoo and science center for the summer, so we ventured to the zoo for the first time on Tuesday morning, last week. The temperature and weather were perfect. Angel had a good time, she didn't get quite as excited at things as I thought she might but she is only two. The other kiddos had a good time too. We then enjoyed a picnic lunch before heading back home for Angel's nap time.

Not sure how I managed to get all 4 kids in this shot but it turned out perfect! This duck was quite annoying, it kept flying from this area then over the fence and into the sea lions pool and back. The annoying part is that it flew so close to the top of your head that you could feel the breeze as it went over. Scares ya if you don't know what's happening.

The below are not from our zoo visit, just a few very cute photos I took. Below are Kailey and Angel eating these huge marshmallows I found at the store.

How cute is this?

1st injection

We made to and from Chicago without any problems last week, though spending about 12 hours in a car in a 30 hour time frame is way too long. We were glad to be back on Thursday evening.

Upon arriving at the medical office building, Angel threw a fit as soon as she saw a nurse in the hallway. Then we rode up the elevator with that same nurse and into the same office. She gave Angel a sticker to try and make her happy but really took us moving to the waiting area for her to calm down. The stickers were enough to entertain her and Michiael while we waited a bit. Then as soon as the nurse, Susan, we were there to see walked in, Angel began getting upset again. Susan looked her over quickly and didn't see any concerns. I pointed out to her that Angel had ripped all the stitches out of her cheek incision and that skin was still a little tight so she decided we wouldn't expand that one and just do it next time.

Susan showed me all the supplies I would need each time we do the expansion (about 3 of everything since she has 3 expanders). Honestly I think it will take longer to get all the supplies together and ready that it will to actually do the injections. She then showed me how to prepare it all, hope I remember everything. We then proceeded to doing the injections, she did one and then I did the other. They really have a great system down with this and it is rather easy, the hard part was that Angel had been crying the entire time we were there. She didn't feel the needles (I had put numbing cream on each port an hour before we arrived), she didn't cry or fight any harder than she already was, she was just mad we were messing with her. The injections went well, really didn't inject a whole lot, just enough for me to be familiar with the process and what to look/feel for so I know when enough is enough.

She tolerated the injecting itself pretty well, she felt her forehead when that one was being done so she must feel the sensation of it a little but it didn't seem to hurt. The skin on her cheek and forehead are pretty tight so those may take longer to loosen up. The skin on her neck I noticed dropped/stretched quite a bit and was very loose before we injected and still was afterwards. I think the one in her neck will move a little faster than the other two.

So in her forehead we injected another 8 cc's of saline, putting her at 33 cc's in that one. Then in her neck, which is the one I got to do, we injected another 10 cc's, putting her at 40 cc's. Susan said each week we should be able to fit a little more in each time, I'd hope so or we won't ever make it to the 250 cc goal for each of them. Her cheek one shouldn't take long so about 5 cc's each time is really all we need to get into that one, it's only 70 cc capacity.

I now have enough supplies, two big plastic bags full, to do 15+ sets of injections, though we should only need to do about 10-12.

Here are updated pick of Angel after her first injection, not a big difference since we didn't' add much. We will see how it goes after I do it for the first time later this week.

You'll notice a little bit of a corner in the forehead expander on this one. She said it should smooth and round out as we expand it more but in the mean time we are to massage it a bit a few times a day and she gave us a stretch tape to put over it to help disburse the pressure. Her cheek is a little lumpy too, eventually they will all smooth out into "bubbles". She calls them her "bumps" when she touches them, mainly the forehead she notices.

Two weeks ago she had surgery, it already seems like it's been longer - guess I have tried to block that part from my mind so I don't dread the next round as much. One more week and she can be a little more "free" to do things. Maybe we'll finally get to go swimming!