The beginning of a peaceful night

Today has been a roller coaster ride filled with a great deal of pain, tears, and challenging things for Ricki.  But, we are finishing off the night on a peaceful note.  Tonight I noticed something that Is a small thing but big thing at the same time. As I looked at Ricki sleeping peacefully I realized this is the first time since her surgery that she has been able to wrap her arms around and snuggle up with her stuffed animal. Yes, we are so grateful for the small and simple things.

A Snoopy Day

The bright spot of Ricki's day was when Snoopy the therapy dog came by. It was fun that Ricki had brought a stuffed Snoopy with her to the hospital. Ricki has been thinking she would like to train a therapy dog to help others.. As we were visiting with the owner we learned about the Charles Schultz foundation where they help train service dogs. They also told Ricki that Intermountain Health has a program for training Therapy dogs. Ricki was excited to have something to dream about doing some day.

 It is a sweet thing to see how Heavenly Father is involved  in the small details of our life -even about having a Therapy Dog with the same name as your stuffed animal...

Restful evening

Friday started out a little rough. This has been a little different from her brain surgeries in that we have a doctor that specifically works with Ricki for her pain management.  She was in a lot if pain until later this afternoon.  They seemed to find the right combination of pain management and Ricki was able to have a peaceful nap later this afternoon.  The rest of the evening she has been in pain but it has been a little more manageable.  She has even had a sense of humor...her heart monitor was showing a pretty fast heart rate and I asked her if her heart was racing. ...Without even missing a beat she said yes, and it is going to win the Indi 500!  it made us all laugh - mostly because her response was so unexpected. 

 She has enjoyed a few visits  from family and one from a sweet worker here at Primays that holds a special place in our heart.  She took such good care of us almost a year ago when Ricki was life flighted here to Primary Children's.  Bailey went above and beyond in helping us through a tough time. 

The evening was peaceful and she slept peacefully until about 2:00 which is an improvement from the night before. Each day continues to get a little better.  Tomorrow should be an eventful and good day.

Miracles that are easy to see

Some miracles are very evident and easy to see.  Other miracles require time, patience, and a humble heart to be seen.  Over the past 11 months we have been blessed with both types of miracles. Today has been a sweet experience to watch some of those miracles in the life of Ricki unfold.  Yesterday we came down to Salt Lake and had an enjoyable afternoon but after finishing up her lab work for her surgery she just came unglued. She began crying and couldn't stop.  We texted one of our sons to see if he was available to help Rick give her a priesthood blessing.  He came right away and helped give Ricki a blessing. A sweet peace came over her and she has remained peaceful and calm ever since.  Even when the nurse called to update us from the surgery room she mentioned how calm and peaceful Ricki was this time.  She had been Ricki's nurse two other times and recognized a difference in Ricki.  The surgery went perfect and she responded well to the doctors care.  In post op when we first arrived she was in a lot of pain but once the pain medicine kicked in she was alert,smiling, talking and even wiggling her toes and feet. She has never been like this so quickly after any of the surgeries she has had.  She was moved to her room and was doing well but was getting progressively worse. Her pain was increasing, her face became pale and swollen, and she was sweating and cold to the touch. Ricki's Dr came about that time and was instrumental in getting things turned around. There has been a sweet spirit in her room and she continued to handle the hard things with patience and grace. There have been many praying for her today and we received a day of miracles that were evident and easy to see. I also witnessed a small miracle that has required time,  patience and a humble heart.  The grace Ricki has displayed today was a miracle that has been made manifest over a period of time as she has learned patience and an inner strength to face the challenges placed before her in her life. Today we have felt so blessed and are grateful for the many miracles and tender mercies in our life. 

Upcoming surgery

It is quiet in our home tonight and no one is packing for tomorrow.  None of us really want to face the reality of another surgery. This will be Ricki's 4th surgery in 11 months.  We will be going to do

her pre-op stuff at the hospital tomorrow afternoon and then surgery Thursday morning to remove the 2 tumors inside her spinal cord.

  Instead ...we are enjoying looking at pictures of the past few weeks and enjoying the fun memories.  Feeling blessed.

Spring Update

We are all enjoying the sunshine again! It has been so good for Ricki'spirits!  It has been a tougher winter than we had anticipated.  When we discovered that she had lost all of her hearing in her right ear it broke all our hearts. To top things off she has  had a lot of pain and just not felt well. She has had some sweet acts of kindness that have been a welcome diversion for her.  In March our Ashley (Jason's sweet wife) helped Ricki participate in the miss cache valley teen pageant.  She had fun practicing her drawing skills for her talent.  But I think her favorite thing was dressing up and feeling like a princess.  Another fun diversion for her was just last week.  She loves the show "Downton Abby". Her youth leaders and friends put an amazing party together.  She had a beautiful dress to wear with gloves and everything.  It was like she was living  one of the parts in the show.  It has been fun to see a little more life in her again lately.

Today we are at primary children's hospital getting her dental work done.. She has struggled with letting them work in her mouth. Our Stevens wife Abby, works for a wonderful dentist that does some work at the hospital and was willing to work on her teeth.  So today we find ourselves at the hospital today but just for a short visit. 

Ricki's next surgery will be April 10. This one will be to remove a couple of tumors that are putting pressure from inside her spinal cord. Our surgeon was hoping they would give the ok to remove the tumor in her chest at the same time but the board of pediatric surgeons didn't feel it was prudent at this time.  So they will keep an eye on it will keep doing her MRI's every 3 months.  

Today it was a beautiful day in Salt Lake and we were able to enjoy the sunshine and the beautiful flowers. We are so grateful for the beautiful world that we live in especially in the springtime it makes each day a little sweeter! 

  

No more headbands!

This past week a sweet hairstylist Julie, from Serendipity Salon in Logan offered to do Ricki's hair.  Ricki has sported hats and hair bands to cover up where she has had surgery.  Her first surgery required them to shave  a 2 inch wide band of her hair from ear to ear.  Her 2nd surgery required a wider band of hair to be shaved on the right side of her head from her ear all the way up the side of her head. As a determined teenager Ricki has done a great job with her hair using headbands so it was not obvious. As her hair has grown out she has tried several things but her hair would just lay funny because of all the different lengths and thicknesses she had going on and would go back to a headband.

After getting her hair done she was so excited! No hair bands and her hair looked beautiful! I stopped counting the times she said that it was nice to feel "normal" again.  The smile on her face is worth a thousand words!  Thank you Julie for helping my daughter feel normal after some pretty crazy months in her life!