THURSDAY - JAN 6, 2011

DAY 3  THURSDAY  JAN 6TH, 2011
ALANNAH has had a very exciting day....she urinated on her own (they removed the
foley catheter last evening), she had her first BM....who knew that could bring
on such excitement!  She had a bed bath, the first time she's been washed since
Monday, and feels like a whole new girl!  She also sat up in a chair for an hour,
which everyone says is a pretty long time for this stage in the process.
She is still running a low grade fever, so they are watching her closely, and her
sodium has been dipping down a little bit, which is also being closely monitored.
They say that both of these things are probably just post op norms, not eating
and drinking like usual, so things can be a little off.  We'll keep you posted.
Grandma and grandpa Porco stopped over for lunch today....of course, they brought
the lunch.  They also brought snowflake decorations that Alannah's big sister,
Bella, made.  We also hung up some pictures and decorated with balloons and some
animals to make the hospital room more homey.  All of the doctors and nurses have
been so focused, informative and nice, which makes everything so much easier to
handle.
They are now waiting for the seizures to begin, since they lowered the seizure
meds, so they can "map"  out the focal points from which the seizure activity is
coming from.
Alannah has been catching up on some movie time,since she is pretty much tethered to
the bed.  She is not able to walk around, except around the bed where her cords
will reach.  She doesn't really feel like doing anything anyway, so she's not
missing out on anything yet. Children's hospital has on demand movie selections
for free - nice feature!  We also brought her some activities to do, but she
really hasn't felt up to that yet.
Alannah's eye has also gotten much better.  YOU'LL  be able to tell in today's pics
that she can actually open her eye today, which she was very happy about.  She started
to act a little more like herself this evening...she coerced her nurse into sitting with
her and coloring ( refer to pics) and then proceeded to tell her where to color and what
color to make it and how to hold the crayon and when she could move on to another part
of the picture and how light or dark to make it.....essentially bossed every aspect
of the job.....which I was delighted to see her do, because it was so "her". Marilyn,
the nurse, deserves kudos for actually following every direction very carefully
and for apologizing when accidentally coloring outside the lines...very funny lady.
Which leads me to my next comment....every nurse and doctor that Alannah has come into
contact with has been so attentive and kind and funny....any they really go out of their
way to make Alannah and us very comfortable throughout this process..it makes all the
difference.  Thanks.
Eric and I are actually still sane, which, when I think about it, I realize it's pretty
much a miracle that I haven't lost my mind yet.  It's very hard to think about what
has been done under all the bandages wrapped around her pretty little face, and when I
do, I am in awe.  If someone had told me that Eric and I would be calmly picking up a
bag of wires that are attached to Alannah's brain, and moving it around when Alannah
needs to move, I would have said "yeah right". But my mama once told me, when things happen
and your kid needs you, you have the strength to do anything.  God always
provides the strength you need.  Amen to that.



"My eye feels much better - no more Rocky jokes, Dad!"




The finished product