LIFE WITH BLITZEN...: January 2010

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Giggling girls....

Hannah celebrated her 10th brithday in true girlie-girl fashion! She had a roller skating party with 10 friends and family. It was complete with the limbo, hokie pokie, pizza, and of course, cake and ice cream! She really had a fun time. It is so nice to see her laughing and having the time of her life.

Taking a break from skating and having lunch....

Singing Happy Birthday to Hannah....

Once we left the skating rink, 6 girls headed back to our house to spend the night! Whew!! They were all really good girls and we only had a couple "tiffs", so I think we faired well. The girls played games, watched movies, ate more cake, and did LOTS OF GIGGLING!!!! I am not sure how late it was until they actually went to sleep. I fell asleep before they did!

opening presents....(a karioke machine from mom and dad!!)

Look at all those smiles!!!!

Having a blast... and believe it or not, no one got hurt!!!!

how cute are they?????

Thursday, January 21, 2010

10 YEARS OLD!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SWEET GIRL!!!!

I can't believe I have a ten year old child!! The old saying is so true..... Time flies. It seems like she should still be a toddler. Most days I really long to have those days back again. (and some days, ......... I don't!) I am so proud of her and all she has accomplished already in her life. She is a nurturer and always the peace maker amongst her friends. She has to work harder than the average 10 year old, especially in school. Yet, she LOVES school. She is eager to go in the morning and gets her books out as soon as she gets home....I am so, so proud and love her so much.

She is having a roller skating party, with all the fixins, this year. About 11 children are joining in the fun at Skate World. 6 of those girls are coming back to the house for a slumber party!!!!!! And I am bracing myself..... This will be the first sleep over of this magnitude. Pray for me...lol

Next weekend, we are having a family party at my parents house. Always a fun time with all the cousins! I will have lots of pics to share later.....

I am also keeping the Chapman familyin my thoughts and prayers today. They are saying their final good-byes to their sweet girl, Hannah. I can't imagine the pain they are exeriencing. They trust in God and His infinite wisdom and know that Hannah is happy and whole.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

In the arms of Jesus....

The 4 Paws family lost one of their own today. 8 yr old Hannah passed away at 5:15 pm today. Please keep her parents, brothers and loyal service dog Koolio in your prayers. Our hearts go out to the Chapman family tonight.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

prayers for a friend...

A friend of ours, Hannah, is very critically ill. Yesterday she started having a seizure that turned status. She was care flighted and is still intubated today. During her 2 1/2 hour seizure, she aspirated and now has pneumonia. As of about an hour ago, Hannah is still unresponsive. They are hoping this is due to all the medications they gave her to stop the seizure. Please pray for her and her family. They need a miracle. Here is a a link to her blog. She got her service dog, Koolio, in March of last year....

http://www.hannahstory.blogspot.com/

How this journey started....

Hannah was born prematurely at 34 weeks gestation. She was a relatively healthy preemie; initially having difficulty maintaining body temperature and needing to grow. She weighed 4 pounds 9 ounces at birth. When she was four months old she began to drool, non stop. We were told the first year she was "teething." At 18 months old, we really started searching for reasons of why her shirt was always soaking wet. We saw various specialists who always sent us to another specialist, saying "everything looks okay." She spent years in oral motor/feeding therapy to help her not to drool. It wasn't until she was four years old and in preschool that we started to get some answers. Her preschool teacher commented one day that she wasn't reponding when her name was called. I took this information to her pediatrician who then orderd an EEG, "just to rule it out." Much to our shock and amazement, the results showed, she was having seizures. That is the day our journey REALLY began. Once she began taking seizure medication the drooling almost stopped completely. (She will still drool to this day when she is having seizure activity). Since then, it has been a roller coaster; countless medications and medication changes. She has never really reponded well to any medication.

About two years after she was diagnosed with epilepsy, the doctors noticed that her blood pressure was running high. After many tests, she was diagnosed with hypertension. We still are not sure why, but her cardiologist feels her blood vessels are thicker than normal.

About this same time, we also began looking into why Hannah was such a horrible sleeper. She would thrash, talk, move every which way, during her sleep. The sleep studies revealed that she has alveolar hypoventilation sydrome, which means she has too much carbon dioxide in her system when she sleeps. To help this, she wears a BI-PAP at night. This has been monumental in giving her more effective and quality of sleep.

Every day is a challenge for Hannah and our family as a whole. Blitzen has been an absolutely wonderful addition. She calms herself sometimes just by petting and loving on him. He has been trained in behavior disruptions and will sometimes be able to stop a meltdown from getting out of control.
It has been extra hard on the whole family since daddy is deployed to Iraq. He has been gone since January 09 and will gone until Jan 2010. We get to talk with him by phone and on the web cam; which is nice, but not the same!! Blitzen has helped to make his absence go just a little smoother....