Thank you all again for the well wishes and prayers for Abby.
Tom and I went down to Davenport on Monday night when I got off work. We left Mason City around 11PM, and arrived in Iowa City around 2AM. We were able to see Abby for few minutes, but poor girl was so tired she couldn't even open her eyes long enough to see who was talking to her. She was laying on her side, snuggling her Lamb :)
We picked her Dad up (he was at the hospital) and went down to Davenport, arrived around 4AM. Was able to borrow a trailer from one of his Dad's friends and that helped a lot with the demo of the bedroom. They have been in the middle of remodeling and have been stretching every penny for bills and such, so the remodel has been put on hold most of the summer. However, in order for Abby to be able to return home, she needs her own bed and a safe place to sleep. Currently she has been sharing with a sister, but there's just too much things to worry about with 2 in a bed.
Anyways, Tom, Mark (her dad), and one of her dad's friends and I worked hard at it from 6am after getting the trailer till 7pm (yes, after working 8 hours in Mason, driving 4 and all the time in between... I was exhausted!) We took down 4 walls of Lathe, old blown in insulation and got it all cleaned up. They had a friend there the night before and he removed all the plaster and took everything off the ceilings (plaster, lathe and insulation) but unfortunetly he left it all for us to clean up, since there was no where to go with it. (we just tossed it out of the window on and onto the trailer)
Picture below is the room almost cleaned...
Meanwhile, we left the 3 girls at home. Our cousin April stayed the night.
Sarah and Ashley knew that Tom was going down, but they had no idea that I was down there too.. and had no idea that April was there since she came over after they fell asleep... she woke up with them so they wouldn't get on the bus, told them that I was called into work and so she came over. Then said that instead of going to school, they were going to go somewhere. (c'mon.. lets "skip" school, your dad will never know ;) and just a note, we don't do that often, this was a special trip!) The girls were all up for it and thought they were being "sneaky" and getting a way with something... April even gave my phone a jingle pretending to be calling the school to say they were sick. After being in the car for 3 hours, they still didn't have any clue where they were about to be at... even with all the Iowa City signs. It wasn't until they pulled in the hospital parking lot, Ashley screamed "We're going to see ABBY!!" Which of course woke up Bianca.
Abby's sister have been there to visit, just that time is limited when Abby is actually up, school for the others and money for gas to keep driving back and forth. I was told by April that they walked in the room and said hi... no response from Abby. However, they set Bianca next to her, and Bianca started blowing her Raspberries, which made Abby smile and giggle! Then she realized who was all there and was very happy to see her cousins. They sat and colored, something her mom has been trying to get to her to do the last few days. I think a visit with her cousins is just what she needed to perk up!
I took a break and spent a little time with Violet. (Vivi for short) She's 3 and missing her sister a lot, since when the older kids are at school, they played together and kept eachother company. I sent this picture to April since the girls didn't know that I was down there and they were really surprised to find out that I was down there too and not really at work.
Vi started posing for me... and then she had to see the picture.. and then she'd pose again.. I kid you not, I have a good 20 pictures of these cute poses on my phone. I'm not sure what's with the hand signs, she'd do different combinations of fingers lol and a few she'd lift her leg up or swing her hips.
Here is Kaylee, she is 8. She wanted to help us upstairs and was kinda disappointed when we told her she still had to go to school. After school tho, she came right upstairs and helped by picking up nails off the floor.
And here is a picture of the the group (minus a few - Kai was still at school and Tom's son Jordan didn't want to come with, and well Abby is still in ICU)
There's Kenzie (12) Vi (3) Ashley (14) Ashley's holding Marky (17 months) Sarah (9) Kaylee (8) and Kaylee's holding Bianca (7 months)
And here's one of Bianca and Marky
And this is how far we got after 12 hours of cleaning. We got 2 walls wired and 3 pieces of sheetrock up.
We are hoping to be able to go back down on next week Wednesday, but funds have been tight for money for gas. We have all the supplies to get the walls insulated and sheetrocked. We still need to get carpet. We also still need to get beds and bedding for the girls. Neither of the parents have been able to go back to work, as they want at least one parent with Abby and the other at home with their other kids. We're hoping that things keep going good with Abby, but she can not go home until the room is completed and safe for her to sleep in as she'll probably spend a good amount of time in her room while she recovers and gets stronger. The doctors are not even starting to predict when she'll be home, they are still draining fluid from her head and hopefully by Friday they will have the results back on what the tumor was and what the next step will be. At this point in time tho, it sounds like she may be in the hospital still for Christmas.
AS OF 12-5-12 ANY DONATIONS WILL GO TO HELP REMODEL ABBY'S ROOM. We still need to get Carpet, beds, bedding, dressers and everything else to make it a safe, clean and comfortable place for her to rest while she is recovering. There is a button on the side of my blog.
