Welcome to 2018 with A Cup of Heather! Thankful for starting this blog and getting to share with all of you!

∧ Party on the top ∧                          ∨ Christmas morning on the bottom ∨

Our Christmas was nothing short of magical. All of our people came for our annual party, we attended an awesome Christmas Eve service at the church we’ve been attending since our move, and Christmas was so perfect with our family and watching our two little blessings enjoy the day. Post Christmas I surprised the girls with a going away party with their friends from their old school. Rollerskating, donuts and friends = fun!

We also had a great, chill, and most yummy New Years Eve with some of our besties, who is also a ridiculously kick butt chef, Chef Sam!

So we are post move, mostly settled (some minor things always pop up as it does with all homeowners), post Christmas, post New Years, and pre seven month RV trip. You may ask, what are you doing with your downtime? <Insert evil witch cackling laugh in response to “downtime”> During our time in-between major life events, our eldest daughter, Natalie, had major surgery one week ago today.

Natalie was diagnosed with minor hearing loss by accident while they were trying to see if her speech developmental delay was due to physical issues. Long story short, they’re not related. Her speech therapist at her old school was a blessing to our family in so many ways. She exhausted all of her insane amount of talent and tools and told us to pursue an ENT to scope her, again, to check her soft palate. We did as recommended and following her third and painful, and as Natalie calls them “annoying”, unsuccessful scope later and I dropped Natalie off at school after that appointment and went home and ugly cried for a long time.

I was so frustrated for Natalie and the fact that we live in the New York area and couldn’t find a doctor to give us the answers we needed or, at the very least, not waste our time. After seven years of speech therapy, three speech therapists, 5 ENTs, 4 painful scopes, we decided to go to the best of the best, to the ones with the answers, and went to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. I was done with the nonsense!

After going on the CHOP website I smiled after two minutes because they had a whole clinic devoted to what we thought Natalie might have, Velopharyngeal Dysfunction (VPD). Even the secretary knew what I was saying. It was like angels singing and I was finally feeling like I wasn’t losing my mind. The downside, it took four months to get an appointment because the clinic only meets once a month. When we did go, it was WELL worth it!

They had answers for everything, everyone was friendly and warm which made Natalie feel good, they knew what they were doing, no questions went unanswered or were even met with a pause, and everything they were doing was explained to all of us. Before we left the team met and reconvened with us and we had a plan ahead of us that we felt confident with and made full sense. We were on the road to recovery!

One adenoids surgery (to get them out-of-the-way for last weeks surgery only), one crazy blood work/pre-op appointment where Natalie’s heart rate wouldn’t get to normal from nerves and took two hours, four days of knowing the surgery was not pre-certified by the insurance company until we knew it was (aka the day before scheduled surgery at 1:30pm), one wake up at 3:30am to make our 7:00am arrival time, and a 9:00am, hour and half surgery later and here we are.

Natalie’s VPD surgeon, Dr Oksana Jackson, is so confident and knowledgeable that the moment they wheeled my baby away on the table, I didn’t worry that anything would go wrong but just shed tears wishing I could be with her. The overwhelming amount of joy when Dr Jackson walked into the waiting room a long hour and half later and told us that the surgery went as expected! Post-op Natalie took a bit longer to come too than last time and was in a lot more pain. The days following were much harder than we expected also. Natalie is a big eater and the extreme pain of swallowing was getting in the way. It was sad and exhausting watching her struggle so much. She smiled through it all!

As of yesterday she really made quit a big turn in her recovery and thankfully is down to one pain med, finding eating a bit easier, and smiling even more. The soft food diet for three weeks is getting old quick, especially being a big eater, but she knows as long as she follows it she’ll heal faster. My rule-follower is right on track to recovery and, to her dismay, back to homeschooling. (Check out my new light fixture…love!)

We are keeping busy the past few days getting ready for our seven month road trip! I even cracked the Instant Pot out of the box to get acquainted before the trip. Apparently it is the answer to all RVers prayers.I am also super excited that along our way, we get to celebrate Shaun’s 40th and my BFF, Dani’s, 40th together! Hammans + Pieklos = LOVE!

T-Minus FIVE days until we are on the road!

Are we packed? No

Are we organized? No

Have we started getting ready? Yes

Are we going to have memories to last a lifetime? Yes

Will there be Target and Camping World stores along the way? Yes

Well then, I guess we are ready to go!!!

 

 

 

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. (1 Peter 3:15)