Soccer!

Sitting Straight and Tall

We've been trying to encourage Anna to sit straight and tall at the table rather than getting off her chair and running around the table. The other night, she finally got it and the expression of pride on her face was priceless . . . and comical. My crazy dinner crew, mostly naked as usual.

This segwayed into the showing of muscles. Anna is convinced that her muscle is the pointy end of her elbow. Amy did exactly the same thing at that age.

Amy loves to show off her pipes.

Just another night in the Kersey hosehold.

Amy's Big, Fat, Pakistani Wedding

For Amy, the best thing about getting home sooner, was that she could get married. One of Amy's wonderful teachers, Ms Asma, wanted to cap off International Week at school by having a Pakistani wedding. Amy and Ms Asma's son were in the same class last year and are good friends, so Ms Asma asked if Amy would like to be the bride and Amn would be the groom.

Ms Asma went to a huge amount of work, including teaching the students a traditional dance and ordering outfits for not only Amy, Anna and myself, but also for many of the children in the class. It was a lot of fun and Amy enjoyed it tremendously. She woke up in the morning saying, "It's June the 10th and I'm getting married today!". Oddly enough, this was also the date of what would have been my parents' 40th wedding anniversary.Here is the wonderful Ms Asma and her handsome son, Amn.

The wedding party.

Last Days in Vancouver

In hindsight, we should have bought the Annual Family Pass. The Aquarium was by far the most exciting place for Amy and she was there a total of three afternoons with various people. And yes, it would have been much cheaper to buy the Annual Family Pass.

On our last morning in Vancouver, Anna was seen by the nurse practitioner who took out the stitch from her drain and went over the cleaning of the wound one more time.Finally, Anna was given the final okay by her wonderful surgeon, Dr. Ghandi. She was in fine spirits until I put her in his lap.

Oh well, she may not like him much, but we do. As parents, we will forever be grateful to him.

We Are Home!

I am not sure where my computer is, so there are no pictures in this post, but the important news is that we are HOME!!!

Anna had an appointment with the cardiologist Wednesday morning and gave her the green light to fly. We packed up and hit the blue sky that night.

We are all happy to be home, but I think Anna is most of all. She has repeated many times yesterday "Anna home?" or "Anna bed?" or "Anna room?". I think she's just checking to make sure we're not going back to the "Doccer".

It's good to be home.

Day 5 - Capilano

Today, we met up with my Dad and his wife and go to the Capilano Suspension Bridge. It was a beautiful sunny day and with it being a Monday and school not being out yet, the crowd seemed rather small. And yes, those are dance shoes on Anna. I agree, these are not the best for hiking on gravel paths, but there are some battles that are best left unfought. Together again.

The girls really enjoyed themselves as the skipped along the bridge, enjoying the sway and constant jiggle of others walking.

Tree huggers.

Anna did a fair bit of walking, given her condition, but we were sure to carry her up all the stairs.

Amy took this picture, and I thought she did very well, until I realized that Robin had been sitting next to me. Oh well. I'm sure her photography will improve Dear.

The girls and Robin took a few seconds out of their jumping to pose for a picture. They seemed to have no idea that they were hanging off a cliff on a piece of glass.

My Dad, Amy and I.

Day 4 - Discharged!!!

The morning began with Anna's wonderful Doctor coming in and declaring that we could be discharged in a few hours! He just had to get some paperwork done for us first and the nurse needed to come in and show me how to wash her wound and change the dressing.

So, Anna proceeded to eat the thing they call "food" in here. I think that would be the biggest complaint about this place; the food is really unrecognizable at times. She hasn't been too interested in eating anyway, so it's not that big of an issue for her. So, we spent the morning driving up and down the halls and visiting all the nurses and other babies . . .

. . . we played in the Playroom for a long time . . .

. . . and we hung out on the deck, enjoying the Vancouver sunshine. Finally, we were able to leave! Daddy and Gee came to get us and help carry the luggage. Anna said goodbye to everyone and we left.

And this was the best moment of all - Amy greeting her little sister at the door.

We just hung out in the hotel room and played. Anna and Mommy had a very long nap while Daddy, Amy and Aunty Carol walked over to the food store. They had the good fortune to run into a new dad who just happened to have a playground app on his phone. Amy and Daddy then took off for the nearest playground and spent a few hours on the swings. For dinner, we walked to a nearby Chinese restaurant where Anna ate the most she has since her operation.

We are all tired, but incredibly happy. It's so good to have the two Littles under one roof again.

Day 3 - Exciting News!

This morning, we got the best news ever . . . we are going home TOMORROW!!!!!!!! Well, not really home, but Anna gets discharged and we have to stay at the hotel for a few days before she can fly home.

The day did not start out great for Anna as her Doctor came in first thing and not only removed the dressing from her wound, but he also removed the drain from her chest. It was done without any anesthetic and was 45 seconds of pure hell. And it was kind of gross.

Our girl, however, screamed for only about 3 minutes before the nurse came in and removed another IV and allowed me to give her a sponge bath and put her in her own jammies. Her last remaining IV was capped and her monitors removed which allowed us to hop in the wheelchair and go in search of coffee, free of tethers. When we returned, Anna was pushing the wheelchair and they have not made us use it since.

Anna had x-rays, an EKG and an echocardiogram, all while screaming her head off. I guess the morning visit from the Doctor tainted how she feels about medical procedures in general as she had all of those tests performed only days ago.

Amy, Daddy and Aunty Carol came for lunch and some play time before Anna went for a long nap. Carol, Amy and I took advantage of this is meet up with Gee and head to the Children's Festival for some face painting and fun. Daddy got to spend some time with Anna hanging out in the playroom and attending the telethon that the Children's Hospital is holding here. I'm not sure how he talked his way into the "Big Money Donations" tent, but he did. Using the "my daughter just had heart surgery" line allowed Anna to cash in with some great balloon creatures and some face painting of her own.

Anna's had a rough day, but she is taking it all in stride. And we are so pleased that we get to leave the hospital tomorrow. Who has open heart surgery and leaves 72 hours later?

Our little spit fire, that's who.

Day 2 - Pictures

7am - Anna is desperate for something to drink and receives a Popsicle. Midway through the Popsicle, the oxygen is taken off and the catheter and one IV come out.

7:30 - One happy camper!

8:00 - Actually playing with her toys.

12 noon - We get moved to a ward and Aunty Carol comes to visit.

It feels good to be with family and in a toasty pair of jammies.

Playing a game with Daddy and Anna's favourite person - Amy.

One very happy Daddy (and Mommy is too!).

Day 2 - Moving up to the Ward

I seem to have forgotten my cord for my camera in ICU, so there are no pictures in this post. I'll post them tomorrow when I retrieve my other cord from the hotel.

Anna slept well last night and woke demanding something to drink. Thankfully, rounds were at 7am and our doctor gave the orders that tubes be removed and she be allowed something to eat and drink. As she sucked back a Popsicle in record speed, the nurse removed her catheter, oxygen and one of her IV's.

After a quick sponge bath and fresh jammies, I was finally allowed to hold my baby. What a relief! I'm not sure who was happier, Anna or myself. She snuggled in and slept for another 2 hours. This gave her plenty of energy. So much so that she became very squirmy and wanted to walk around the ICU. Clearly, she was ready to leave.

At noon, she was moved up to a room on the ward and Amy and Carol came to visit. The first few minutes were so cute as the girls could not stop touching each other. Amy wanted to see all of Anna's wounds and make sure she was okay, but it was soon back to reality as they argued over whose turn it was to roll the dice of a game they began to play. Ahh, sisters.

Amy and Daddy took off to go on the sky train and street car to the Space Museum and Mommy went to the hotel for a nap. Carol and Anna hung out together and eventually got the nurses to put Anna in a wheelchair and take her outside. I returned in the early evening and Anna and I walked to the Playroom and played with Playdough.

Everyone is amazed with this little girl. To see her laughing and playing today brought such a huge smile to my face. Even the nurses are amazed. The nurse at the desk said, "Isn't this the little one that just had heart surgery yesterday?" as Anna walked past her. We had planned to be here in the hospital for at least two weeks, but I really doubt we'll be here even a full week.

Life truly is amazing.

Surgery

This morning Gee picked us up at 6:30 and brought us to the hospital where Anna was admitted for her surgery. Given she had such a good experience yesterday with everyone, she was fine to come in. The admission process was painless and fast. Gee and Daddy provided lots of entertainment while we waited as they acted as models for Anna's budding photography career.

Gee just provided great entertainment period. Paper telescopes are a great invention.

It was soon time for the loopy medicine to ensure she was nice and relaxed.

Clearly, it worked well.

It worked so well that she went to the OR nurse without any difficulty at 7:45. Thank you.

The hospital encourages parents to go out and not wait around the entire time, so we picked up Amy and Carol and went to breakfast. We were on our way back to the hospital when the pager went off, telling us they were finished, well ahead of schedule! Once back at the hospital, we met with the surgeon who informed us that the operation went very well and that less was required than he thought! Thank you again!

We were allowed into the ICU and our poor little baby was quite out of it. When she did wake, however, she was full of angst and would try to get out of bed - not an easy task with tubes and wires. At one point, Gee, Robin, the nurse and I were all holding her down!

As of now, she has settled quite a bit. She is still rousing a few times an hour, but is easy to settle once again. There have been requests for "juice" and "juice (from) home". There have also been declarations of "all done!". I think she's not keen on this place!

We plan to stay with her tonight and have our fingers crossed that we can move up to the ward tomorrow.