Bathtub Hilarity

Oh my goodness...
This is possibly one of the funniest and most precious things...
You tell me what makes you laugh more, Bubby or Daddy.

When searching for the video, I found this one of Emily from way back.
STILL makes me laugh.

Cousins!

Saturday, we drove out to Milsap to visit with Aunt Susan, Megan and the boys.
It was a very special visit because we got to meet Camden!

Precious little Camden, born 12/20/12 <3 br="br">

Emmy was so excited to see him!
Such a proud big cousin!

This cracks me up.
Looks like she's been up with baby Camden all night long!

 Yes, this was a very special treat for Emily, since we are all about babies right now.
She is so precious and innocent.
It's hard not to have the "parent" reactions to when she says that she is going to have a baby when she's 16. After all, she thinks 16 is all grown up. And, from a 4 year old point of view, I guess that makes sense.
It gave me a case of anginal pain, however.

Aaaaaand then there comes the questions on how did that baby get in the tummy and how does it get out?
Must me magic.
YES. 

Let's go with that, for now. 

At least until you're old enough for me to scare the bejesus out of you with obstetrical diagrams and pictures!
Being a Nurse Mommy has its perks, ya know.

 Maybe I'll pull some strings and park her front and center at an au natural birth...
Don't even get me started on sterile swab volunteer at the STD clinic.

Sweet cousins enjoying ice cream cones!

 Jayden is as cute as ever.
I was over the moon when he gave me a hug, and I stole a kiss, when we were leaving.
<3 br="br">Makes me happy that they can play together!

Merry Christmas 2012

It was a Merry Christmas at our house!

Santa, Mommy and DaddyDaddy, and grandparents were VERY good to our little monkeys.

Here's my attempt at making a picture collage with iPhoto, since there were SO MANY pictures to share.

All the pictures may not show up on the collage, but you should have the ability to play a slide show and see all the pictures that way...that is, if you are so inclined. I'm not pressuring you.

Let's see...
Weston, true to Bubby form was not the least bit interested in Christmas and opening presents.
He was pretty pissed to be awake, it seemed like.

I think Emily and I unwrapped most of his presents...

Emily was in Heaven.
Santa brought her Princess and the "Hopstar" singing barbie dolls and a microphone.
She tells me that her favorite presents were her new baby and the baby stroller.
Yes, we have entered the insane world of American Girl Doll with a "Bitty Baby".
Bitty Baby's name is undetermined, but has been all of the following:
Rapunzel, Kaley (cal-e), Molly, Haley (hal-e) and a few other things that I can barely pronounce correctly, much less spell.

I'm hoping she settles on Molly.

Bubby got a Lightening McQueen scooter from Santa.
After he had his second cup of coffee chocolate milk, he was more impressed.
Seems that his favorite presents is a giant roaring/talking dinosaur and Emily's doll stroller.

My TWO awesome gifts were my iPad and a new sewing machine!
Everything came in by Friday, and I've already started my first quilt!

I could not WAIT to take down the tree and utilize the space for craftiness.

Strips of the above fabric with lavender chenille back, rag quilt style

December?

1. Christmas Cards
Your Christmas card is going to be late...and, no offense, you might not get one.
First time ordering cards via Internet and they got our order wrong.
So, just in case, Merry Christmas!

2. Jack

Don't feel sorry for him, he totally deserves it

Ok, so the new puppy smell has worn off and now Jack is an accident having, biting and terrorizing little fuzzy demon.
Alright, he's not that bad. But, the honeymoon is definitely over.
Emily is still in love.
So, that's good.

3.Emily
She's been on a roll lately.
"I can't go to sleep; I'm allergic"
I wish I would write her words of wisdom down when she says them...I can't remember the rest, but trust me, they make you shake your head.

She had her Christmas Party at school yesterday.

"I had too much hot chocolate."

She's precious as ever and looking forward to Christmas.
She has asked Santa for a microphone so she can be the "hopstar" of Princess and the "Hopstar".
She is quite the performer.
We get multiple choreographed renditions of "Here I Am" from the Princess and the Hopstar, and "Extravaganzalorious" from Elf on a Shelf.

4. Bubby
Bubby and DaddyDaddy are both sick with icky colds.
They're so sad.
:-(

On the liver front, he remains a weirdo. While his enzymes have all improved (including his GGT by 1000 points), his bili level is up above 7.
What the heck, man?

He's almost as yellow as he was for his first Christmas.
:'-(
We're just going to watch him and see where it goes.

He crashed Emmy's party yesterday and discovered Doritos.
I guess it was the first time ever to have the evil cheesy chips and he couldn't get enough.

Check out those Doritos stains on his sleeves!

Poor little guy.

5. Me

I turned 30 last week.
I guess I am officially an adult now.
:-/
The DaddyDaddy was wonderful and surprised me with a dinner Saturday night with friends and family...even though I had to wear a sombrero and be the target of loud singing.
As a present to myself, I went and had a physical.
I mean,  guess that's what old people do?
Along with the realization that I am an adult, I guess I need to really start taking care of myself.
So, had to get all the baselines checked.
Blood pressure was good, blood sugar was certainly in range, cholesterol and LDL were NORMAL (shock) and even my HDL was in range.
Triglycerides were the only area I need to work on...and as I incorporate more fruits, vegetables and flax seed (like old people should), that should come down.

So, that's what we've been up to.

Can't wait to see what Santa has in store for us!

An Early Christmas Present

Purging of the phone:

Our little guido

Bubba Teeth!
Thanks GD!

Precious Sleeping Angels

The sunset that I shared with my Emmy <3 br="br">She pointed it out and wanted to watch it.

Alright...
I woke up yesterday, took Wes to get labs done (which are par for the recent course, btw) and came back to do some stuff around the house.
NO INTENTIONS of what occurred after this point.

A friend of mine recently had to put her beloved dog to sleep and she was searching for a new puppy.
Somehow, "Hey, you wanna ride with me?" turned into this:

Meet Jack.

DaddyDaddy and I had been talking about a puppy for the kids for a while.
There was the former weenie dog that now lives with Nana...custody surrendered when Emmy was 6 months old because of multiple bad behaviors that I couldn't deal with with a little bebe.
Then you will remember bunny-sitting over Thanksgiving break and the heartache that came when Loki went home.
Well...maybe we'll get a bunny for Christmas.
DaddyDaddy was on the fence about the bunny.
Other suggestions included a dwarf hamster and a guinea pig.

No.

So, back to Wednesday afternoon.

Mini schnauzers.

It also happens that as I become an old woman, I am developing allergies to animals. Especially dogs.
Just so happens that schnauzers are on the hypoallergenic list.

One thing led to the next, and I am in TRACTOR SUPPLY (YES, you read that correctly) getting a crate and dog food.
I use to think that I never fit the "personality traits" for a Sagittarius.

Mostly because it says that Sag's are impulsive.

pssh

I'm not impulsive.

Hey! I'm gonna be a nurse! Lets buy a house! Get a Lexus! Get a puppy!
oh...
Well then.

Emily is his mommy.
I am his cousin.

Sometimes his aunt.

But, she is always his mommy.

Emily spoon-feeding her baby

So cute!!

Other Golden Family reactions:
Weston: Meh. Don't let him touch me. It's ok if I chase him. Don't let him touch me!!

DaddyDaddy: Schnauzers are stupid. **pet,pet,pet**who's a good boy?** ;-p

Max: Pissed off! I was getting dressed in the bathroom this morning, and he jumped up on the counter and one by one, knocked all of my toiletries off onto the floor.

Out cold on the DaddyDaddy's lap

So far, so good.

He's a good little guy.
Very little whining.

Sleeps in his kennel.
Goes outside without much of an issue.

And now to end with some gratuitous Bubby sweetness:
Bubby eats a Drumstick (ice cream)
Actually, Bubby straight up snatched it out of Daddy's hands and ran off with it...

You can't really be that upset with such a cute little ice cream thief.

Christmas Parade!!!

December 1st! 24 days till Christmas.

We had plans to go out of town and visit family this weekend, but with the long week away at TCH, we decided to stay close by. But, still visit some family and have some Christmas fun.

We packed up this morning and met Aunt Susan, Megan and Jayden in Weatherford for the Christmas parade.




Beautiful girl!




Emily and her cousin Jayden
(he's not even 2! We grow 'em tall in the Golden family)




Pretty much the entire day. Sleeeeeepy!








Waving to the motorcycle gang



<3 look at that belly






Couple of the classic cars from the parade. DaddyDaddy was drooling over the General Lee.



Speaking of General Lee...



This is a first for me and I'm from Louisiana!

We went back to the farm for a bit to let the kids run around and work up an appetite. A rancher has a few llamas out on the property, complete with a new fuzzy baby.



Bubbly had enough of the llama drama and took off. Zoom in...that's him allll way down down the road. Don't discount him, just because he's solid doesn't mean he's not fast.

We FINALLY got to eat at On the Border (I've only been craving it since we moved up here...) and some Stinky McStinkerson ruined it and threw tantrums and had to be removed. :-( anyone want to babysit so we can enjoy a meal out without naughty children??

And just of bit of silly random...Emmy having fun with Mommy's new toy:

Location:Weatherford

Pleased

This IS my happy face.

Actually, I'm over the moon!

So, the attending this week is the new Chief of Staff for the Liver Center and is the Biliary Atresia guru.

And the fellow is someone who has been with us through this whole fiasco starting in September.
Awesome team this week.

YAY!

So, Dr. S says that the biopsied tissue looks really good!

-Little to no inflammation

-BILE DUCTS ARE REGENERATING

CAN I GET AN AMEN??
TESTIFY!!

-"If a pathologist was just looking at random samples, he'd think this was a pretty normal finding."

OH EM GEE!!

BUT.

-No, Doc. No buts. Let's end it there and Bubby and I will ride off back to Stephenville.

I would say off into the sunset; but, you know, its after 5pm.

Its stupid dark so early!!

...

BUT..."we have no idea what has caused all of this. It's an anomaly."

There's that word again.

When they do the biopsy, they go into the right lobe of the liver. You are assuming that the left lobe is behaving the same way. You know what they say about assuming...

I guess they have a good reason why they don't biopsy from the left lobe. 

Needless to say, they don't.

The LIVER looks amazing in the biopsy. The labs, especially the GGT (bile duct) is still crazy high.

Weird.

Three hypotheses:

1. Chronic Rejection: Maybe he was starting an episode of chronic rejection and the steroids and extra immunosuppresant are starting to work at turning the situation around. Labs are just going to be the last thing to reflect that.

2. Medication Related: Medication theory that something he was taking was destroying the bile ducts. *Pretty much ruled out, because everything potentially hazardous has been stopped for quite some time and the GGT is still abnormal*

3. Hepar Sinister: (I totally made that up just now. Look at the big brain on me)-It is possible that there is a piece of liver in the left lobe causing all these problems and while the majority of the liver is functioning normally, that is the part being reflected in the labs. Which may explain the intermittent weird poo and the bile related itching.

One more test...

A MR Cholangiogram. 

I'm not going to even pretend to know why and how this is different from the cholangiogram they did during the biopsy yesterday. Suffice it to say, it is and it's what might be able to tell if the left side is running-a-muck.

Fine.

Whatever.

The important part of my story is
WESTON'S LIVER IS DOING WELL AND THE BILE DUCTS ARE COMING BACK!!!

He is scheduled as the first case of the day at 0730 (meaning 10am) and then after he recovers from the sedation, we can go!!

Waiting For White Coats

It's almost 5pm and we're still here...

This is how my nightmare starts...I go in for something simple, say "How to Rid Oneself of OCD Tendencies." They find out I'm bat sh*t crazy, commit me. The next thing I know, I'm having a lobotomy and drinking mashed potatoes through a straw. 

Ok. That was extreme.
But, its almost 5pm AND WE'RE STILL HERE!?

WHY?!

They came by earlier this morning to say that they are waiting for the biopsy results, but in the meantime, lets do an ultrasound.

Sure, why not?

And that, friends, is where we are.

It's almost 5pm and we're still here.

"They looked ok, I'm not messing with it"

That's what the Interventional Radiologist said about Weston's bile ducts, when I ran into him, wild-eyed and crazed for information. So, to me, that means he got in there and was able to shoot the cholangeogram
and everything looked "post liver transplant fine". Haven't talked to any other the liver doctors, so I don't know if this is actually true or not. No drain necessary. Yay!
I was really sweating that one...can't lie. What if he pulled it out??? What of the bag leaked at school, spilling bile all over?? Gross.

Of course, my pessimistic nurse brain is now wondering, if the plumbing is working, why is the GGT still high and why are there intermittent acholic stools?

BTW, as I write this, the CA just rolled in to do vitals on my JUST now asleep child...**primal scream!!!!!**




Waiting for the fun to start, watching Octonauts.

Now we wait for tomorrow afternoon when the biopsy results are in.




10 minutes ago...


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Bates St,Houston,United States

Secret Basement Lab

I've been keeping this under my hat for a week or so now. Quite frankly, I've been trying to weasel our way out of it since the day the decision was made.

We are in Houston for yet another liver biopsy. Weston's labs haven't really changed. And now he's having intermittent acholic stools (pale, no color=no bile). There were not only pictures of said stools, but actual electronic transmission of the pictures. You gotta hope THAT was the email Big Brother decided to audit ^..^
Dr. F was concerned and after consulting with the new Liver Center Captain, they wanted to biopsy to see if any of the bile ducts have started to regenerate; why the acholic stool; possibly place a drain to help pull bile off.
Like I said, I've come up with all these fantastic scenarios NOT to have this done just now...included but not limited to bribing and promising our next pet will be named after Dr. F
They are immune to my shenanigans.



We got to Houston a little after 8 and went straight to the hospital's mysterious basement lab for pre-procedure blood work. His biopsy, etc is scheduled for noon tomorrow.
I know we will stay at least tomorrow night...I hope that's all.

On the home front:
Emmy and Daddy are adjusting to life without Baby Bunny. It was a little touch and go for a while, but the ever so resourceful Daddy made it all better with pickles...




Keep Bubby in your prayers tomorrow. He could be in the procedure room for up to 3 hours depending on what they do.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Dryden Rd,Houston,United States

Thanksgiving's Over??

You have got to be kidding me?
Christmas is 30 days from TODAY.
I don't know how the time gets away from me, but it sure does.

We has a lovely Thanksgiving and long holiday weekend.
Nana came in to celebrate with us and help decorate for Christmas.
Admittedly, I don't care for decorating...especially Christmas.
I'm a Scrooge.

What?!

Billy fried the turkey this year and it was amazing.

AMAZING.
Way to go B!
I totally forgot to make the gravy...no one even noticed.

Our Little Turkey.
Don't worry, we didn't fry him

Wants to be just like Daddy

 In all seriousness...not sure if it's one of the medications or he inherited my silver back gorilla genes, but this child is suddenly sporting a uni-brow and back fuzz!!

Yes, this precious baby is a hairy beast!

 Speaking of hairy beasts...
This is Loki, aka Baby Bunny:

 We are Bunny-Sitting while his family is out of town.
EMILY. LOVES. BABY. BUNNY.

 I was a little surprised because I always thought, up to this point, Bubby was the animal lover.
She has declared herself Baby Bunny's mother, including stationing herself outside his cage to hover. Just in case. ;-p

Feeding Loki ranch dressing carrots and showing him some toys

 Don't be fooled by his pagan name, Loki has recently been introduced to Baby Jesus via the Nativity Scene.

Loki seems to love The Daddy the most. He's the only one he sat in their lap for.
I don't think The Daddy minded.

 Emily has enjoyed loving on, feeding tator tots to and sharing The Good News with Baby Bunny.
She realized that Baby Bunny is going home tomorrow to his family and we hit DEFCON Level 1 tonight.

Me: "Emily...BB already has a family and a little girl that loves him. How do you think she'd feel if he didn't come home to her?"

Emily(sobbing): "Sad."

Me: "You don't want her to be sad, too."

Emily: "SHE CAN GET ANOTHER PET!!"

o-O

Changing gears...

Me: "If you were BB's Mommy, you'd have to change his litter box everyday."
Emily: "You can do it."
Me: "No. If you're his Mommy, you've got to take care of him. Clean his litter box everyday. He needs food and water everyday. It is a lot of work being some one's Mommy." (thinking the responsibilities would be unsavory)
Emily: "I WOULD DO ANYTHING FOR HIM!!!"

Good grief.
Santa may have an unexpected request this year.

Speaking of Santa!

The tree is up, thanks to my mom.
Along with a new chic ruffled burlap tree skirt, also compliments of mom's craftiness.

 And with the end of Thanksgiving comes perhaps the best time of the year for parents...
ELF ON THE SHELF!!
YES!
Take that defiant behavior!!
Sparky made his grand entrance Friday and I guess his trip was more taxing than he expected as his first order of business was to sink into a nice marshmallow bath.

 Day 2, Sparky decided to show off his newly acquired ranch hand skills.
Who knew dinosaurs migrated up to the North Pole.
You'd think it'd be too cold...