TUESDAY GOODNIGHT UPDATE (11/20, 10:30pm)

Hello Julia’s Army.  Julia had an uneventful evening.  We just switched back to the CPAP breathing mask to help her respiratory.  We knew coming into this surgery that Julia’s respiratory would be one of her biggest hurdles.  She will get there.  She begged for Wendy’s fries tonight (there is a Wendy’s restaurant in the hospital) but told her she cannot have solid food yet.  Still waiting for the digestive system to wake up.  We will work hard tomorrow to make some progress.  Hoping Julia gets a good, long rest tonight.

Dad and John returned from the UNC basketball game after 9:30pm.  The Tarheels blew out an overmatched opponent, SC State.  It was fun to watch.  Dad promised Julia that he will bring her to a game in early 2008.

Tomorrow marks one week ago that Julia had her surgery.  We are all thankful that the past week is behind us.  It has been one of those long roads for Julia this year as we planned and prepared for this surgery and canceled and postponed the surgery in June and September.  We know that the postponements were the right thing to do given the improvement in her health and 20% weight gain.  We would change nothing now looking back.  We will update everyone again tomorrow and let you know how Julia is progressing.  Thanks again for your gifts to Julia, as we said before your gifts of love, prayer and support have been overwhelming and priceless.       Harry & Regina

TUESDAY NIGHT UPDATE – RESTING (11/20, 6:30pm)

Julia is in her step down room on the 7th floor of the Children’s Hospital.  We took a few assisted steps in the room and made it to the restroom.  It will take a few days before Julia gets strength to walk and even then adjusting to the back surgery has its challenges.  She is determined and will get there.  We took a stroll in a wheelchair around the 7th floor and visited the playroom and teen room.  No eating yet, just liquids, mostly Julia’s favorite grape Gatorade.  Respiratory will continue with the nasal cannula during the day and the CPAP machine at night.

Julia has mostly rested and slept since coming to her new room.  She has managed to watch a little television, a few of her favorite shows.  We have quite a few dvd movies to watch, mostly chick flicks.  We do not miss ICU but do miss the nice folks there.

We have not received any new update on Micah and his recovery.  He is still in ICU.  If you did not read the earlier post about Micah Arrants, he is a young man of 17 years from Concord who is struggling with unusual blood clotting in his body, and late last week in his brain, necessitating brain surgery last Saturday.  Please continue to keep Micah and his family in your prayers.

Dad and John are leaving shortly for the UNC men’s basketball game tonight, it is only a few blocks walk to the Dean Dome.  The rest of the crew will stay back in the room watching movies.  Julia has come a long way in 7 days.  Now we rehab and get strong and come home.  We will update again in the morning.  Thank you all for helping Julia.       Harry & Regina

TUESDAY MORNING UPDATE – ICU DISCHARGE THIS AFTERNOON (11/20, 11:30am)

GREAT NEWS, Julia will be moving out of pediatric ICU in a short while and going up to the 7th floor for orthopaedic patients.  This is terrific!  Everyday she is getting a little stronger. She had a decent night’s rest but needed to go back on her CPAP machine for a while to help with her breathing. Now she is back to her nasal cannula. We will continue to work on respiratory therapy.

Dr. Campion, Julia’s surgeon, and this pediatric ICU team are on top of their game and have worked hard to get Julia well. Dr. Mills in ICU (Dr. Lisa as we call her) is a young doctor but knowledgable, understanding and goes the extra mile to make Julia and us feel comfortable. This UNC medical team is right there with the UNC men’s basketball team, #1.

It will be nice to have less wires, tubes and machines, and not worry about the monitors and the readings they give you.  In the early days of ICU recovery, we would worry over the slightest change in a monitor reading or a bell alarm going off but as the days passed we came to better understand the ranges and what was okay, good, not so good, etc.  Having a laptop computer handy to do some research helped also.

Now we will be able to focus on therapy and getting Julia to start taking steps, getting out of bed, going to the restroom, all the things she will need to do when she gets home.  She will get there.  With her past surgeries, she has always surprised us with her ability to overcome and do the unexpected.

Julia wants to eat but her digestive system is not quite there yet.  Nausea and pain will improve each day.  Dad brought her Franklin Street Pizza’s menu this morning to prepare for future orders.  She wants pizza, mashed potatoes and BBQ chips.  Maybe we can get Julia to write on her blog tonight, we will see how she feels.

Thanksgiving is upon us and so we give thanks to all of you for giving Julia your love, prayers and support.  GO JULIA AND GO HEELS!     Regina & Harry