Colonoscopy update

Well, today was our big day for Faith's colonoscopy.  We watched as they gave her some happy juice to make her sleep.  It took less than 30 seconds for her to go under with this stuff.  She was already tired and almost fell asleep watching Baby Einstein videos which she seemed to enjoy.  Once under, we were told it would be at least 45 minutes and they would let us know if it was more than an hour as polyps would take about 5 minutes for each one to be removed.  When the doc yelled down the hall to us after maybe 30 minutes, we were quite surprised.  He expected to find polyps and possible many, but found none.  Instead he found a swollen lymph node that was being rubbed across during each bowel movement which would cause it to bleed.  The bleeding had subsided a few days ago so no real problem.  He did take a biopsy to have her tested for any allergies which seemed like a good idea - glad he thought of it.

This is all very good news and Faith seems to be recovering very quickly from the colonoscopy.  We are beginning to wonder if the sickness (possible pneumonia) she had recently is to blame for this and other issues.  As many of you know, we have started using the bipap for sleeping because her apnea seemed to reappear recently.  She had been sweating as she would go to sleep which is a sign of fighting for oxygen.  Well in the past few days, she has stopped sweating as she falls asleep.  This has made us wonder if she was sick longer than we knew and caused signs of apnea.  Not sure, but we are going to watch and see.  As she laid in the hospital today sleeping comfortably without her bipap or any other aid, her O2 levels were consistently at 97% and never dropped below 94%.  Before her jaw distraction, she would quickly drop into the 80s.  So as you can see, we are wondering if she really needs the bipap on a regular basis or just when she is sick.  Now you have experienced my attempt to practice medicine and reason through all of this craziness...thanks for all your prayers!!

Blood Tranfusion and a little fun on Mackinac Island

Faith enjoys the view at Mackinaw Island, MI from our hotel room.

Mackinac Island allows no motorized vehicles on the island.

The Smith girls enjoy the beautiful day and view as Faith hangs onto the railing.

Somehow Daddy always gets a smile out of Faith

If this doesn't make your feel patriotic, you're not a patriot.

Momma gets to enjoy the evening without Faith, and a beautiful view from the Grand Hotel's porch.

This is the Mackinac Bridge to Michigan's Upper Peninsula on our walk back to our hotel.

Faith is hanging with Hope in the hotel room...get off the phone and play with me.

Eli with his Mackinac Island hat as we leave with Mackinac Island in the background.

Blood transfusion...did it catch your attention?  Well, it had nothing to do with our little trip to Mackinac Island, but yes, Faith had a blood transfusion last week.  She has been bleeding in her bowel movements and lost enough that she needed the transfusion.  In fact, tomorrow we are taking her in for a colonoscopy.  Not quite 3 and getting her first colonoscopy...well, here we go.  She is doing well, and the blood transfusion was like giving her an upper.  Doc thinks she might have polyps so we will see.  This should be a fairly short outpatient procedure.  We will let you know how it goes.

If you have never been to Mackinac Island (pronounced Mackinaw), this is one of the more beautiful places on earth.  it is situated at the northern part of Michigan at the mouth of Lake Huron where the water flows from Lake Michigan and Lake Superior.  The waters of Lake Huron are beautifully blue and clear as you get near shore.  The island allows horses and bikes with motorized vehicle use limited mostly to emergency vehicles.  If you ever get the chance, this is one place worth visiting.

Video below...

Faith loves loud noises and we took this video of her laughing to our banging sounds.  The funniest part was after we took the video.  I was laying on the floor across from her watching the video on the camera.  She started laughing hard again because she could hear the banging sounds again through the camera's audio.

Hope you enjoy the video...remember this is a little girl who was not supposed to live, likely interact with us in this way.

Faith laughing