Friday, May 21, 2010

Abby's IPod

My little nephew, Lukas, was diagnosed with stage 4 Neuroblastoma when he was just 11 months old. "He has since been through 13 surgeries, 13 rounds of high intensity radiation, 8 rounds of chemotherapy, 12 rounds of imunotherapy, numerous blood transfusions, and more arm and finger pokes than we can count. He has also endured numerous MRI, CT and other specialized scans." Because of all this, Lukas is partially blind, and for his 3rd birthday his mom and dad got him an ipod because he's obsessed with Jack Johnson! (He actually got his "Make a Wish" and gets to go meet him!) One day when we were down at my moms for Sunday dinner, Lukas felt on Abby's monitor chords and said "Nanna, is this Abby's IPod?" So ever since, my family called Abby's monitor her IPod. :)


If you look down Abby's shirt (ha), you can see where her band went for her monitor. Inside the band were two little pads that went under her armpits and picked up her heart rate and breath count.



Here's the actual little demon we had to carry around with us for 3 months!


This is Monday, May 17, 2010, the night we found Abby's "IPod" was officially released!!


So of course, we took it off of her as soon as possible!
These are her "battle scars". I hated seeing all these rashes. At one point, her skin was actually rubbed off where the pads where. The red square mark is from the black pad, and the lines on her tummy are from the pesky chords that would constantly be tangled around her. :(

It's been WONDERFUL not having that silly machine to haul around and silence when it goes off for no reason! The o.n.l.y. downside to not having it anymore is now I'm in the "Oh crap, is she still breathing?!" stage when she sleeps or takes a nap. Ugh, I hate it. It's already gotten a little better, but I still worry a little about it. Does that ever go away? I just have to have faith that she will be watched over (as all parents do).

So after a long, LONG fight with Abigail's doctor, she's IPod free! I'm so glad. She's starting to scoot around in her crib and all the chords made me very nervous!

5 comments:

Jennilee said...

haha thats pretty funny man!! im really glad you don't have to have that stupid monitor!! and yes eventually i think you let them be for the entire night without checking on them, but its hard!!

Chelsea said...

Yes it does go away!! you will just sometimes check on them! i still check on my 5 and 3 year old some times!! its just part of being a mom!! and ps. lukas got his ipod for his 3rd bday! he will be 4 this year!!

Danielle said...

checking on their breathing does go away, but i still go check on maddy - just to look at her at the only time she is peaceful. ;)

your girl is so precious! love her cheeks!

Unknown said...

she's such a trooper! congrats on getting rid of the "iPod" lol
Nickolaus (one of the twins) has a breathing problem too. he's mom reminds me to check on him while hes sleeping alllll the time; but now I worry that it's just a habit now. I'm sure it will go away in time :) you just can't help but care!

themacdonnells said...

....and she looks just like your baby pic in this series! :)