Ever since Abby was taken to the hospital, I have been contemplating the virtues of patience, long suffering, and endurance. In the last week, I have heard these words several times as we have all talked about the long road that Abby has ahead of her. I know that whatever Abby has ahead of her, her mother also has ahead of her. After my trip to the grocery store today, I just had to come home and write a little note to my sister who I miss terribly! It has been rough not being able to call you whenever I want and ask your opinion about every little thing. I have had to make all my own decisions this week and it was terrible. I did survive somehow though :) So Abby I hope you will forgive me for taking up space on your blog while I attempt to cheer up your mom.
I went to the grocery store right by my house today that I have been to many times. It is just a little Walmart Marketside store. There are usually only 1 or 2 cashiers that check people out and there is usually a pretty good line at them. I always debate on using the self checkout or taking my chance in line. It is quite the toss-up. Do I fight the stupid self checkout computers that tell me I didn't bag my item 500 times, bag all my own groceries, and try to entertain my 8 month old all at the same time or do I wait in a pretty good sized line and stare in amazement at how slow the cashier is and wait for them to check a price on an item or look up every singe produce item code in a super long list? Well, today they had 3 lanes open and there was only two people in each of the three lines so I decided to pick a line. I got in the line closest to me and realized it was the sweet little old lady I took a chance with the last time I was there and it cost me at least 20 minutes! She was about as slow as a cashier could be and took at least 2 minutes to look up every single produce item I had. Well, as looked in my cart and saw a whole pile of produce items, I decided to get the heck out of that line and go to the next one with a much younger cashier probably in her 20's that looked like she could handle my produce. I was so proud that I took the time to check and get in the right line. So as I relish in my good move, I look up to notice that in the front of the line being helped was a very old little lady, at least in her 90's. Of course, this little old lady is writing out a good old fashioned check for her groceries which takes time, lots of time. When it is finally finished and I think I am in the clear, to my great surprise (I don't know why I am still always surprised), she has a whole other set of groceries that she is paying for on the conveyor belt with yet another check. Until this point, I am thinking that the reason the line is moving so slowly is because of this little old lady and her checks but then I begin to watch the cashier. Wow, is the only word I can think to describe her. This cashier proceeds to check out the little old lady, her daughter, and then me all while pausing a million times to have a conversation with the cashier in the next line, to watch every single customer walk in and out of the door, and pick up each item and examine it over before scanning it. She did however know all of the produce items by heart. It took me 22 minutes to get through the line. Of course, I had to look and see how I would have done in the first line I got in with the old lady cashier. She helped 4 customers in the time the girl I went to helped 3. I would have saved about 8 minutes.
While sitting through this little lesson on patience, my thoughts were turned to you and the much greater lesson you are getting right now while you wait for your daughter to heal. I though about how we are constantly handed lessons in life. I have decided that most of these lessons are to teach us patience, long-suffering, and endurance. These are virtues that are so foreign to the natural man that it takes SEVERAL (millions even) to help us learn our reliance on Him and to wait on His timing. I know that this trial you and Abby are going through right now will bring both of you closer to the Savior and make you even stronger than before. I have watched you struggle daily with numerous trials my whole life Jeni. Even before this I prayed daily for you and some relief of pain you have every day with your back and knee. My first thought when this happened was, "Why are you sending her more? She already has enough!" Then, probably because I have been reading The History of Joseph Smith by his mother, Lucy Mack Smith, I thought of the trials that Joseph, Emma, and the early Saints endured. There was one after another and most of the time there were several at the same time. They were plagued with sicknesses over and over and even lost several family members. They were constantly tried and look at who they became and what they accomplished. I guess what I wanted to tell you is that I think you are given such great trials because He has a great future in store for you that He wants to prepare you for and He knows how amazing you are and that you will handle it all with a cheerful heart. I love you Jeni and I hope you will allow myself and all those around you who love you to serve and support you like you have done for each of us so many times. Brett had some quotes he shared with me that his mom sent him when she was fighting her illness. I wanted to share them with you and then I promise I will stop typing...
"Being human, we would expel from our lives physical pain and mental anguish and assure ourselves of continual ease and comfort, but if we were to close the doors upon sorrow and distress, we might be excluding our greatest friends and benefactors. Suffering can make saints of people as they learn patience, long-suffering, and self-mastery. The sufferings of our Savior were part of his education."
- Spencer W. Kimball
"No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude, and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God... and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire and which will make us more like our Father and Mother in heaven.
- Orson F. Whitney
Friday, February 18, 2011
Quick Update
I wanted to let everyone know that Abby is off of dialysis now! They took her off at around 10:30am this morning and she is doing great. They will continue to monitor her and make sure she is removing fluid on her own so keep praying that she will be able to stay off of that machine! The physical therapist saw Abby again today and said she is still doing just awesome as far as her muscles go.
The ventilator is now on support mode and is there if she needs it but Abby is now breathing on her own again! Yay! They are slowing weaning her off of the sedation medications and are planning on removing the ventilator tomorrow morning if all goes well! So many prayers are continually being answered! One more huge mountain to climb tomorrow and then she will be well on her way out of the ICU!
Keep up the amazing progress Abby! We can't wait to visit and talk to you!
The ventilator is now on support mode and is there if she needs it but Abby is now breathing on her own again! Yay! They are slowing weaning her off of the sedation medications and are planning on removing the ventilator tomorrow morning if all goes well! So many prayers are continually being answered! One more huge mountain to climb tomorrow and then she will be well on her way out of the ICU!
Keep up the amazing progress Abby! We can't wait to visit and talk to you!
Thursday, February 17, 2011
More Good News!
Abby had a great day today! She is continuing to improve at rates that keep the doctors shaking their heads in disbelief. They are surprised at how well her breathing is improving. The physical therapist that saw her today was also surprised at how strong Abby still is. She is a fighter! Abby remained on the ventilator and dialysis today. They finally got her sedation medications balanced better today and kept her nice and comfortable. She had a breathing treatment today and did really well with that. They are also encouraging her to cough to help remove the build-up in her lungs.
Abby is doing so well that they are going to try to get her off of dialysis tomorrow. If she does well with that, they will try to get her off of the ventilator on Saturday! Say lots of prayers for her and her parents tonight for these big steps she will be taking the next few days. Once she gets off of these machines and is able to breathe well on her own they will wake her from sedation and move her out of the ICU. They are hoping to get her off of these machines and even out of the ICU by the beginning of next week.
I can't imagine waking up and facing what this 11 year old girl is going to be confronted with. I am so grateful she has so many people who love her and will help her through this. I know she will just love all of the cards and gifts she has received. If anyone can make it through this it is definitely Abby. We are all here for you Abby!
Abby is doing so well that they are going to try to get her off of dialysis tomorrow. If she does well with that, they will try to get her off of the ventilator on Saturday! Say lots of prayers for her and her parents tonight for these big steps she will be taking the next few days. Once she gets off of these machines and is able to breathe well on her own they will wake her from sedation and move her out of the ICU. They are hoping to get her off of these machines and even out of the ICU by the beginning of next week.
I can't imagine waking up and facing what this 11 year old girl is going to be confronted with. I am so grateful she has so many people who love her and will help her through this. I know she will just love all of the cards and gifts she has received. If anyone can make it through this it is definitely Abby. We are all here for you Abby!
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
One Rough Week!
It's been one rough week for the Tanner family. Ms. Abigail Rose got sick with the fever and bad cough that we were all getting about 2 1/2 weeks ago. Then last Tuesday she came home sick from school with another fever. It turns out she got another flu (the stomach flu) on top of the one she had just had. Over the next few days she just got progressively worse because she didn't feel like eating or drinking. She got really dehydrated, weak, and couldn't sleep because of her horrible cough. It turned into pneumonia and got so bad that she couldn't even walk and started turning blue. Jeni and Mike took her to the emergency room on Saturday morning at Gilbert Mercy Hospital. They did a chest x-ray and because the pneumonia was so bad and her entire body was going into septic shock they decided to air vack her to Phoenix Children's Hospital where she would have a whole team of specialists working on her and a special machine called an oscilator to help her lungs pump oxygen to her body. Because of the septic shock she was going into renal failure and her kidneys were barely functioning.
Abby has been in ICU at the Phoenix Children's Hospital ever since this time. Every day she is getting a little bit better but it is a very slow and trying process. Saturday they hooked her up to the oscilator to get oxygen circulating in her blood. It was a balancing act to keep her heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen levels, and blood toxicity levels at their proper place. They also had to put a tube in her chest to help drain excess fluid. They put several IV's with fluid, pain meds, sedation meds, and antibiotics going in her to try and fight off the secondary infection that she has. The doctors explained that she had a secondary infection on top of the pneumonia that was attacking and filling up her lungs with fluid. Both lungs were completely filled with bacteria and fluid. My mom counted 22 tubes going in and out of her on Sunday morning.
On Monday her chest x-ray really didn't look any better and they were concerned that her kidneys were still not functioning as they should and removing enough fluid from her body so they tried giving her a diuretic. Because the diuretic wasn't working well enough they decided they would put her on dialysis. So a few more tubes later they had the dialysis working well.
Tuesday came and her chest x-ray still showed little improvement. They also had a hard time figuring out how to keep her sedated. Because of the dialysis, the sedation meds were being eliminated from her body too quickly. They finally got that balance out pretty good Tuesday night. That night one of her doctors came in and said she was surprised that Abby's chest x-ray didn't look better and that she had an impression that she needed to check Abby's chest tube and make sure it wasn't blocked. So they checked and sure enough it was blocked and once cleaned and replaced drained a bunch of fluid.
This morning (Wednesday) they were concerned about the gases building up in Abby's body and thought the oscilator tube might be blocked too. They removed the tube for cleaning and put Abby on a machine called a ventilator that is one step in the right direction from the oscilator. It doesn't put quite as much stress on the lungs and work quite so hard. Abby can breathe on her own a little bit better on the ventilator. So far, Abby has been doing so well on the ventilator that they think they will just keep her on that for now. Yay! One more step in the right direction!
This is a very brief overview of the events this last week but I wanted to get things going so we can keep all of you updated. Thank you so much to all of you for your prayers, thoughts, phone calls, concerns, support, food, and help you have all been endlessly giving!! Thank you also for all of your sweet cards and gifts. Abby's room looks amazing and I'm sure she will feel so loved when she wakes up. Jeni, Kim, Mike, and myself will try to keep posting updates and much as we can!
We miss you Abby and hope you get better soon!
Abby has been in ICU at the Phoenix Children's Hospital ever since this time. Every day she is getting a little bit better but it is a very slow and trying process. Saturday they hooked her up to the oscilator to get oxygen circulating in her blood. It was a balancing act to keep her heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen levels, and blood toxicity levels at their proper place. They also had to put a tube in her chest to help drain excess fluid. They put several IV's with fluid, pain meds, sedation meds, and antibiotics going in her to try and fight off the secondary infection that she has. The doctors explained that she had a secondary infection on top of the pneumonia that was attacking and filling up her lungs with fluid. Both lungs were completely filled with bacteria and fluid. My mom counted 22 tubes going in and out of her on Sunday morning.
On Monday her chest x-ray really didn't look any better and they were concerned that her kidneys were still not functioning as they should and removing enough fluid from her body so they tried giving her a diuretic. Because the diuretic wasn't working well enough they decided they would put her on dialysis. So a few more tubes later they had the dialysis working well.
Tuesday came and her chest x-ray still showed little improvement. They also had a hard time figuring out how to keep her sedated. Because of the dialysis, the sedation meds were being eliminated from her body too quickly. They finally got that balance out pretty good Tuesday night. That night one of her doctors came in and said she was surprised that Abby's chest x-ray didn't look better and that she had an impression that she needed to check Abby's chest tube and make sure it wasn't blocked. So they checked and sure enough it was blocked and once cleaned and replaced drained a bunch of fluid.
This morning (Wednesday) they were concerned about the gases building up in Abby's body and thought the oscilator tube might be blocked too. They removed the tube for cleaning and put Abby on a machine called a ventilator that is one step in the right direction from the oscilator. It doesn't put quite as much stress on the lungs and work quite so hard. Abby can breathe on her own a little bit better on the ventilator. So far, Abby has been doing so well on the ventilator that they think they will just keep her on that for now. Yay! One more step in the right direction!
This is a very brief overview of the events this last week but I wanted to get things going so we can keep all of you updated. Thank you so much to all of you for your prayers, thoughts, phone calls, concerns, support, food, and help you have all been endlessly giving!! Thank you also for all of your sweet cards and gifts. Abby's room looks amazing and I'm sure she will feel so loved when she wakes up. Jeni, Kim, Mike, and myself will try to keep posting updates and much as we can!
We miss you Abby and hope you get better soon!
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