Pathology Report Just Came In

Bella's lesion was not cancerous or anything else serious:) Just a benign tumor on a blood vessel like the doctor suspected after the surgery yesterday. Bella and I are having ice cream right now to celebrate. You should have some too. Yes, you.

Post Surgery Update

Bella had her surgery this morning to remove the "thing" on her lip in the corner of her mouth. We couldn't have been happier with the facility that did the procedure and the nurses were excellent. They were all really great with Bella and she responded very well to them.

We check in at 8:30 and had about 45 minutes of waiting in a kid's room. Bella had to change into a little gown and then hung out in bed with warm blankets while they checked her vitals. She had to put a butterfly sticker on her cheek next to the lesion to mark it for surgery which she thought was really funny.

At around 9:30, they wheeled her back to the OR, we walked with her and gave her one last kiss and hug before she went through the double doors. We waited for about 35 minutes before the doctor came out and told us everything went well and she was waking up nicely. He said that after doing the surgery, he's fairly sure it was a benign tumor on a blood vessel but we should know for sure when the biopsy results come back later this week.

I got to go back and be with her while she woke up and Steve entertained Tater in the waiting room. She was definitely out of it but not upset or crying at all like the nurses had told us to expect. I held her in a rocking chair for 20 minutes or so and then we were off to get her some Jamba Juice, medical supplies, and snacks that will be easy for her to eat while her lip is healing.

The surgery site looked worse than I was expecting at first. I think maybe because it was still really swollen, bruised and her lip was partially white. She has just a few stitches that should fall out in a few days.

I told her that today is her princess day so she can lay around and watch tv all day and I'll bring her whatever she needs. I also told her that tomorrow would be my princess day but I don't think that's going to happen.

Some recent pics

Kite Flying

Another Construction Update

That's right, it's still not over. But at least there's an end in sight now. There's someone coming tomorrow to put the bathroom back together so for the first time in almost 5 months, we'll be a two bathroom family again. We knew the tree falling through was bad, but I don't think we ever could have imagined how many little things would have to be done. Here's just a quick run down of the work:

-new roof
-3 new ceiling joists
-all new drywall in bathroom ceiling
-drywall patches in hallway and master bedroom
-painted ceiling in entire house
-painted bedroom, closet, bathroom, hallway, and laundry room
-new door
-adjusted door frame
-new counter tops
-new tile
-vanity cabinet repair
-carpet cleaning

We cannot wait for this to all be over. Besides the strain on our family, all of the work has created a huge mess, both inside and outside of the house.

Another Update

We're finally going home (again) today after spending another week in the hotel. There's still more work to be done next week...tile, carpet cleaning, door replacement, and more painting but I'm really hoping to find a way to stay at home through everything. Our house is a complete mess with furniture and decor thrown everywhere but a guy from the company handling our construction is supposed to meet me at the house this afternoon to help put everything back together. I've missed my sewing (and customers!) and can't wait to get back at it this weekend. Oh, and having that part time income again won't hurt either.

In other news, we've decided to postpone Bella's surgery for a few weeks. Life is kind of turned upside down right now and because Bella's so emotional and sometimes dramatic, we both think it might be better for her to wait until our home life is more stable. On top of that, her surgery was going to cost about $1000 and we're in the process of trying to switch her to a better insurance that would make the surgery virtually free. And on the medical front, Matea has developed a runny nose and junky cough again. Both girls have always been so healthy but this winter and spring has been marked by cold after cold for us. I talked to our pediatrician about it and she said age 4-5 is prime immunity building time and typically it's when kids get the most bugs. She said next year should be a little better for us and the year after that should be much better. I'll keep my fingers crossed.