ChloeWatts.com

Sunday, July 13th: One month Post Op!

July 13th, 2008 Posted in Daily News Post

Colin nailed it when he named his YouTube video “A Strong Little Girl”

Chloe showed us all just how strong a little girl she is, with a turnaround from last night of mega proportions. I was accused of doom and gloom after last night’s blog. All I can tell you is that I’ve faced that face before and it scares the bageebies out of me. Chloe was not in good shape last night. After I left she unloaded a Linda Blair that Dana said was the worst she had seen. I can’t please everyone. I’ve heard from so many that love the reality of my messages. So if you weren’t there, don’t judge me. Just read the truth. That’s why my personal company is called “Truth Writer.” That’s all you’ll get out of me. No hype, no sugar coat, just the truth.

Enough about me, here’s Chloe’s story for today.

Dr. Norwood, Swamp Fox, was on today. I really like this guy! He is ‘to the point’ and, what I consider, one of the best doctors around. Remember, I’ve seen more than I ever wanted to see. (We have a very good team in our corner as well.) Maybe they’ll give us a grading form someday…

Chloe tends to agree about Dr. N, as she let him sit on her bed and run his fingers through her hair as he spoke with Mama and her. She also let him look through her new Collide-a-scope that Rev. Barb brought to her. It reminded him of his dad who used to make them himself. He told her “Chloe, you aren’t broken.” He said something like, ‘we just have to tweak a few things to get you better.

Dr. Norwood made some great decisions today, along with the suggestions of Dana. He decided to keep fluids going but to reduce the feeds to a minimal amount. This would keep the nausea down and inspire her to eat. They would bump the feeds only a little when they did raise them. Dana suggested reducing the number of meds Chloe would take and Dr. Norwood agreed to minimal pain and nausea meds, an appetite stimulant and an antibiotic. Let’s see if some of this is about the number of meds this non-medicine type little person has been filled with.

All day the temps were under 101. To top that she had a little energy and, a n d …. Ate a pretty good meal… for her. First Dana and then Grandma were the tray tables. I’m sure that helped. We even had her up for a walk with Mama, Grandma Lee and Ron. She’s wobbly but it was wonderful to see her up! All the nurses were praising her. Made her feel even more special.

Another high point was a visit by Rev. Barb, one of Chloe’s most favorite people in the world. Barb sat with Chloe and read her a wonderful, heartfelt story. She brought some gifts from my favorite state, Vermont. Chloe loved every minute of that visit. They are special together.

Colin, Dave and Ramona were able to make a visit today as well. Colin just hasn’t had enough Chloe time as he was sporting a very bad cough for a month after the surgery. He HAS loved his freedom to go visit friends and do things the Pre Teen years wouldn’t allow. Tonight he is at a sleepover that had him very excited for days now.

Cousin Jeremy wanted a little overview of the past, present and future. I’ll do my best. Especially since he did such a tremendous job on this website!

If you look back to post op, plus a few days, Chloe is so much better. Take a look at the Picture Page that Jeremy put together. You can see some beautiful differences. However, don’t forget that some of the bad pictures were of late. I really wish I could say everything is wonderful, we are out of the woods, and there are no more worries. I’d have to have my head in the sand to say anything close to that.

What I will say is that I think last night was a great corner to turn. There may be others she has to turn, but last night was a big one. Her eyes were back today.

We found out today that the PIC line will be staying in for, at least, a month. “It’s working so let’s keep it. We need it” was the word that came down from Dr. N. Chloe doesn’t like needles anyway so let’s use this if we are sure it’s not a source of any infection. They will monitor it well. Dr. N. intends to keep us through tomorrow night for sure. That is when any cultures they took will come back. The decision to let us go back home will come at that time. With what I’ve seen today I’d say we go home on Tuesday.

Tomorrow we have meetings with Dr. Dorsen, the surgeon and our oncology team. She may need to have the site drained again as it’s a little puffy now. We should get a little better picture of what’s ahead for the near term at that time.

We don’t know the final long term plan other than MRI follow-ups every three months to start. They can go to six months when the tumor proves it is going to behave and, either stay there, or, as I see it, dissolves. As strong as this little girl is I can see her body saying, okay, you’ve had your say, now it’s mine; Bye, Bye.

NEWSFLASH UPDATE: Dana just called. Chloe asked the nurse over and said you know what I really want … 10:50 pm? I want a plate of spaghetti. Nurse Joshua told her he didn’t have that but he did have spaghetti O’s. “That will do.” So, he’s off to cook up some Spaghetti O’s for our beauty. This is big! She’s eating today. Let’s all see that happening on a regular basis.

God is good. Be well all. Ron