Spring Break

Last week was Spring Break.  Casey wasn't feeling well for most of the week.  We did a more accurate culture on her respiratory issues and started some new medications last week.  She is getting an antibiotic as well as an inhaled antibiotic to try to help get this crud out of her lungs and her lungs back open.  The good news is that the drugs do seem to be helping, the bad news is that in order for them to help she does have a few bad days as she starts to clear the stuff out.  By Friday though she was able to be off of the oxygen some during the day.

Casey's Girl Scout troop went to see the new Cinderella movie Friday morning.  Casey was so excited to go hang out with her friends.  She LOVED the Frozen short, then fell asleep for the first half of Cinderella.  She did wake up in time for the ball though (that is the only part she really cares about anyway since this version didn't have singing).  The battery on her suction machine was not cooperating though so we had to head out as soon as the movie ended.  She wasn't happy about not getting to hang out with her friends like she had planned, so we stopped for ice cream on the way home to make up for it.  Once we got to the car we could plug in for power.  We stopped at Sonic and she and I split a chocolate shake.  She is so much like her daddy- she LOVES ice cream.  In the picture, she is hanging out in the car enjoying her shake (it's hard to tell in the picture so I thought I would explain).

On Saturday she was in a pretty good mood.  One of her nurses was coming over so Tim and I could go out and Casey was very excited about having a fun night with her nurse.  They did some Easter crafts and watched some movies.

Sunday morning Casey was not great, she took a little step back and was needing more respiratory help that the few days before.  We were able to get her off of oxygen around lunch.  A little friend of hers that lives next door invited Casey to get a pedicure with her at a nearby salon.  When I asked Casey if she wanted to go, she gave me a very strong YES!  We met our neighbors at the salon and Casey had a great time.  She got the entire experience with the foot/calf message and all.  Her friend picked a hot pink polish that they both used.  Her friend had actually just gone to the movie that morning with her mom and came very well dressed in her Frozen dress.  She and Casey are both total divas and get along great.

We are starting to plan Casey's birthday.  I still can not believe she is almost 9!!!!  We decided to get another Icing Smiles cake this year.  She had her dream cake a few years ago (the amazing My Little Pony cake).  This year she will get a fun cake.  They just confirmed her baker yesterday.  It's kind of cool how it works.  You put in your child's information on an Icing Smiles form.  Then if you qualify they have regional people that start contacting bakers in your area.  Then a baker will volunteer to provide the cake.  Casey's cake will come from Not Your Ordinary Cakes this year.  I am really excited to see what she comes up with.  This year her theme is Spring.  Lots of flowers, pink, purple, butterflies, all the girly stuff Casey likes.

We are still working out a date to go meet with anesthesia about potentially getting Casey's CT done.  There is not much to update in that area right now though.  When we know more we will share.

Mommy's Day Off

I occasionally take a few hours here and there for myself.  I may grab a long lunch with some girlfriends, catch a movie, get my hair done, I have even been able to join friends for the rare evening out a couple of time.  Usually I am gone for a few hours at the most.  I typically have to get back to relieve the nurse if Tim is working, or relieve Tim if he is on Casey duty.  I decided that Sunday I was going to take more than a few hours and instead I took an entire day for myself.  Granted, it took a lot of planning, but it was a great day and just what I needed. 

Tim and I just have the one car- the wheelchair modified minivan.  Since I was going to be gone all day I didn't want to take our only car (especially if he needed it for Casey while I was gone).  We rented a little car for me to have so he could keep the van.  We scheduled a nurse to come in for most of the day so Tim would still be able to get his stuff done too.  Tim picked up the rental car Saturday (thanks to a friend that was nice enough to take him to the rental office). 

If anyone is looking to rent a car, do NOT use Hertz.  They made a mess of our reservation.  Tim ended up going down the street to Enterprise and we had MUCH better service there.  From now on Enterprise will be our first call when we need to rent a car. 

On Sunday I got up bright and early and hit the road for Dallas around 6:30.  The weather was awful, but luckily the roads were just wet, not frozen.  I went to visit my baby sister and her family first.  She is a surrogate for a family and VERY pregnant with twins right now.  She has been on bed rest for a few weeks now.  I am so proud of her for doing such a wonderful thing and was excited to finally get to see their "new" house.  I say new, but they have been there for over a year now.  Lucky for her, Casey saved a couple boxes of thin mints just to get her over the hump until these babies get here. 

After a short visit with my sister I drove into downtown Dallas to see my sister-in-law and my niece.  It had been around 5 years since I last saw them.  When I found out that Allie would be performing in Dallas for a dance competition I really wanted to find a way to get out there to see them. 

I spent the afternoon watches dance teams compete, and I got to see my niece, Allie, dance.  There was some really great performances.  I felt like I was watching a live taping of America's Got Talent.  Allie's team did great in both of their categories, but nailed their jazz dance.  I really thought they had won that one, but I was still pretty excited when they came in second (they won in my book). 

 Between performances I was able to catch up with Jen, my SIL.  Since the first time I met Jen she and I just clicked.  She's one of those people that I can always count on, and whether it's been 5 days or 5 years, we can just pick up right where we left off.  After all of the performances were completed I stuck around and joined the team for dinner.  I was able to spend a little more time with Allie too.

I considered staying over since I knew Casey was in good hands at home, but if I stayed I would have had to get up really early to get back to Austin in time to return the car.  I am used to staying up when night nurses call out and my wall is 4-4:30.  As long as I left early enough to be home before 4 I knew I would be fine.  Around 11-11:30 I took Jen and Allie back to their hotel and hit the road back to Austin.  I got home around 1:30 and had a really easy drive back. 

I know it will be a while before I take another day for myself, but I really had a great day visiting family yesterday.  The best part was that when I got home, Casey was sound asleep and looked great.  She had a good day.  She and Tim even got to play some guitar.  She loves to rock out with Daddy. 

This morning I took the car back (again, thanks to a wonderful friend that was nice enough to pick me up) and now it's back to my normal routine.  There was a nasty accident on the highway this morning that I totally would have gotten stuck in if I had driven back this morning too.  Casey has a few appointments this week.  I will try to do a medical update post sometime by the weekend.  Until then, we hope everyone has a great week and that the dance team has a safe trip back home to Indiana.