Good Luck Kendall and Candice!

[jessbee78]

Wishing you all the best for Kendall's surgery Candice and hubby.

Have been thinking of you heaps and know that you are in the best of hands and it will be so much better very soon.

Good Luck and big hugs for you all.
:hugg

[mayashekhina]

Yes we are thinking of you guys this week too, didnt that come around fast?

[jenniferh]

Oh yes, best of luck! We will be thinking and praying for you :)

[charliesmummy]

Good luck Kendall will be thinking of you all......please update us as soon as you get a chance. Big hugs to you all XXX

[jenniferann75]

I'm praying for you guys. Please update us as soon as you can. (((HUGS)))

[vancesmommy]

Good luck! We will be praying for you! She will amaze you!! Can't wait to hear an update.

[Janet]

Best of luck!!! My thoughts and prayers are with you!!! :hugg

[KALEMSMOM]

Good luck and can't wait to get an update!!!

[Candice]

Hey Everyone!

Thanks so much for all of your well wishes. Today was a rough day. We went down for Kendall's preop bloodwork. For starters, they forgot to send the order down to the lab, so we had to wait for them to straighten that out. Oh we were also supposed to receive presurgery instructions and stuff in the mail LAST week and we never received it. Luckily since her surgery was rescheduled, I had her feeding instructions from the last time, I just have to bump everything up an hour. Alright so back to today. She had a different plebomotomist, the one we had last time was so awesome. The one today was nice enough, but didn't seem to know what she was doing. I know I should have went with my gut, and asked to see the other guy, even if we had to wait. Anyway the thing that hooked up to the needle was broken because blood was leaking out of it and the little bit of blood going into the vile was full of air bubbles. So they pull out this syringe to try and get the blood out more quickly well that was working and by that point K is HYSTERICAL. So they pulled out the needle and we had to try the other arm. So I had to try and console my sweet baby while they got all the stuff ready to try it all over again. So we lay her down to go through it again. Luckily, they found a vein right away but there was something wrong again, and the blood wasn't coming out fast enough. Well Kendall got VERY upset enough to make me start crying and walk out of the room (DH was still in there with her) I left because I didn't want to make her worse with my crying and anxiety. I felt pretty dumb standing in the hallway crying. The guy who drew her blood last time walked by and asked if I was okay. I said yes, but I should have told him to get his a$$ in there and get the blood from my baby before she had an coronary! Well enough of that. It sucked but they finally got the blood they needed. After that DH and I kind of gave ourselves a self guided tour of the hospital. I hope today isn't foreshadowing of what's to come, but I just need to remember to listen to the voice in my head, and everything will be o.k. I'll be on tomorrow when she goes into surgery. We'll be taking our final "before" pics tonight and I'll get them posted on her website tomorrow. Hugs to all of you and thanks again, your support means so much to me, and I would be much worse off without you!!:hugg

[mayashekhina]

:hugg Oh you poor thing, that sounds horrible, heres hoping tomorrow turns out alot better for you and that was the worst of it.:hugg

[jessbee78]

Things will only get better Candice, we had the same thing happen the day before - they stuffed Logies first bloods up and they tried 4 more times before they finally got them again. In the end they were still one short, so they did it in surgery while he was under. He was hysterical and I was so upset, but it does get better. You're doing a great job here's a hug!!

[charliesmummy]

BIG BIG BIG Hugs for today......I will be thinking of Kendall all day, please update as soon as you can. Lots of love and hugs xxx

[Lori]

Oh sweetie I hate hearing about bad phlebotomists. I feel your anger! We can ring him later... for now, all our prayers today are with you guys.
Lots of love to Kendall.

[charliesmummy]

I cant bear the waiting, keep checking for new's. Thinking of little Kendall. xx

[Janet]

The worst thing in the world to see is your baby in any type of pain!!! Everyone is here for you!!!! :hugg
It'll be over soon!!!!

[jenniferh]

:hugg I'm thinking and praying for you guys. I'm sorry you had such a rough day. Looking forward to hearing a great update soon

[jenniferann75]

I'm so sorry you (and Kendall) had to go through all of that during the blood draw. My heart goes out to you, knowing what you are going through now and in the next few days.

[Candice]

Well they took our little peanut back at 2:00, it is now 3:00 and we got a call about 5 minutes ago saying they were 10 minutes into the surgery and she is doing wonderfully. Letting them take her was as hard as I expected. She was sleeping and woke up right when we handed her to the nurse. I had a total meltdown for about 5 minutes, DH, Grandma and Grandpa were crying too. We put ourselves together and went down to the caf to get some drinks. I have some pics we took before that I will try to get uploaded to her website. I just tried to post a blog there, but something is wrong with their server...grrr. I want to thank all of you again, my wonderful Cranio Family! I'll post again when I get the pics up, and when we get another update. Love you all!

[charliesmummy]

Thanks for the update Candice im so glad everything's going as planned. I keep forgetting we are about 6hrs ahead here in the UK. Big hugs to you all xxx

[Candice]

The surgeons just came out about 10 minutes ago and the surgery went perfectly. She did need a transfusion but that was to be expected as she is such a peanut. We are now waiting for the nurse to come get us as she is in recovery. I have about 20 minutes and I get to see my precious baby. I can't even explain the relief I just felt.

[jessbee78]

That's wonderful news Candice - What a brave little one your Kendall is. That's the toughest part done!! You're doing a wonderful job - thanks so much for keeping us informed. I was so happy to be read that her surgery went well - HUGS!!!

[Candice]

Hey everyone. I got some photos uploaded to the website. I tried to write a blog entry but it is having some issues. She is doing okay, uncomfortable but okay. They gave her some morphine about 20 minutes ago because she was inconsolable. She has taken 6 oz of 5% Glucose Water and 3 oz of half Glucose Water half formula, and has been able to keep it down, so that makes me feel better. I cannot BELIEVE the difference in her head shape, the biggest difference being her forehead. I am just blown away with what these surgeons can do. I will try and update tomorrow and post some pics, as I'm sure she will look quite different with the swelling that is to come.

[KALEMSMOM]

WOOHOO!!!!!!!! Awesome news, I am sure you are relieved. Glad to hear everything went so well. Can't wait to see pics.

[jenniferann75]

Yay Kendall! I'm so glad everything went well. Still thinking about you guys during recovery....(((hugs)))

[charliesmummy]

Oh that's fantastic news im so glad it's all over for you. What a brave little girl Kendall is. Big hugs to you all xxx

[jessbee78]

Just saw some of Kendall's pics and she looks amazing. What a brave bubby she is. Hope you and your family are doing well. So glad you are past that first stage!

[charliesmummy]

Just looked at Kendalls piccy's, she looks brilliant. Hope she's doing well and will be home soon. What a beautiful family you are x

[Jennifer]

I'm so happy that surgery is over. Sorry I was away and didn't get a chance to post earlier. I'm so sorry about the pre-op appointment. That sounded horrible. I welled up on your post about when they came to tell you surgery was over. I remember that moment so well. The complete relief. Thank you so much for keeping us posted. I hope all is going well. Get some rest as you can. Give Kendall a soft :hugg from us! (and one for you too!)

I'm off to look at your site!

[Jennifer]

Just went and looked. She looks awesome! I swear I've looked at your site before, but it all looked new to me...so I looked around. OMG- love your music choices. What is the title of the song on your pictures page (really, not the most important thing right now, I'll bug you later for it :giggle)?

Look forward to more updates. Again, I'm glad the surgery is over! :hugg

[jenniferh]

OH Candice, thanks so much for the update. I have been thinking and praying for you guys! What troopers you all are! I'm so glad Kendall's surgery went so well. I'm going to look at her pics now! YEA! So happy for you guys :)

[Lori]

Way to go Kendall!!! I thought about her all weekend. I ran to my computer and I am so touched to hear all went well.

[mayashekhina]

Great news about Kendall, Way to go guys- Jennifer the song is Israel Kamakawiwo'ole - Somewhere over the rainbow-what a wonderful world, we heard it first at the end of "finding forester" when they were roling the credits and have loved it ever since Mark learned it on guitar and now the whole family sing it together- I too love your choice in music Candice!

[Candice]

Hey everyone! I've been MIA for a few days, it's been busy. Kendall was discharged from Children's on Sunday at 4 p.m. Yay! We drove up to my Mom's for the night and left for home the next day. IT FEELS SOOOOOO GOOD TO BE HOME! I was gone for almost a month, ugh. My dogs FREAKED out when they saw me, the little (well, big) loves. Kendall is doing amazingly well. The hole where her drainage tube was is finally done seeping, no more goobers! She is eating very well, and hasn't thrown up since Saturday. Her swelling is gone, and with that I noticed two little bumps on her forehead, and after feeling them I think they are screws...but at our pre-op appt they told me they wouldn't be using any plates or screws...I have a call into the Neurosurgery dept and hopefully I can get an answer. I don't mind if they had to use the screws, I understand that things can change once the surgeons are in there and have a better look at her anatomy, but it would be nice to know if there are any foreign objects in my daughters skull! :crazy Anywho she's doing great. Thanks again to my Cranio Family for all of your support. Oh, there were two other Sagittal babies who had their surgeries the day after Kendall. One little boy, his name was Silas is 4 days younger than Kendall, and the nurses were arranging their marriage! It was too cute. I wanted to get a pic of them together but we never got around to it. I attached a pic of K on the 2nd Day after surgery which was Saturday. Her eyes never completely swelled shut, and I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that we kept her in her car seat to keep her head elevated. The doctors were so pleased with the swelling. I'm going to try and update her website today with the rest of the pics...we took SO many. I'm also going to try and get some good shots of her head today so I can put them side by side with her before pics.

[Jennifer]

She's looking good! Thanks again for keeping us updated!

[charliesmummy]

Oh my she look's amazing bless her. Been thinking of you all today as we hadnt heard from you for a few days. Glad Kendall's doing well Candice, im gonna check out your site now. Big hugs x

[Candice]

Just got done posting the pics from the last 2 days in the hospital, I also put a new video on there. I've been meaning to ask you Jacqui, have you gotten used to little Charlie's hair being shorter, or have you decided to grow it back out? Either way he is such a handsome little devil!

[jessbee78]

Kendall looks fantastic Candice, thanks so much for the photos. So glad it is behind you now.
In relation to the bumps on her forehead, I was worried about those too. Logie had two bumps above his eyebrows (towards the end of the eyebrow). They are his screws that attach his forehead back to his skull after they cut it and took it out. Kendall probably has those too, they may have used them with her. My doctors said they dissolve and there is nothing to worry about. It is hard not to worry about everything - I was worrying last night that his head was closing over too quickly - but then I felt his softy spots and I was happy again! Good luck with everything at home!

[charliesmummy]

Hey Candice just checked out the new video and piccys. Kendall looks amazing, i love the black & white pictures and the one in her wagon. Im so pleased she is doing so well i bet your glad it's all over with now.
Ive kinda got used to Charlies hair now although i still think i'll let it grow out a bit cos i like the shaggy rock star look!! x

[Janet]

She looks great!!!! Way to go big girl!!!! :hugg

[jenniferann75]

Kendall looks beautiful! I am amazed by how little she swelled. That is just wonderful!