Life is hard sometimes.....

Today has been an okay day. Lauren ate some cheerios this morning and had a popsicle but her stomach pain has continued to persist. They took her off the tpn this evening with the understanding that she needs to eat more in order to stay off of it. She has only her d10 running which keeps her blood sugar up. She is getting frustrated and tired of being in the hospital. She and I talked tonight and she told me some of how she is feeling inside. It is hard to keep being upbeat when you aren't feeling good. She wants some answers and I told her that she needs to have a good long talk with Dr. Muenzer tomorrow. I know that will help her to feel better. As far as my prediction that we could go home Wednesday....86 that! Her doctor said that it won't be this Wednesday...oh well! We are looking at things like, okay, we are gonna be here until your stomach pain isn't so bad or either gone. We just keep trying to find our silver linings when days like this are here. Lauren got a beautiful stuffed animal cat and a puzzle from Bishop Tiek and Robin today. That made her smile and she has the cat on the bed with her. Thank you so much. She loves it and it brightened her up. Sister Judd also came to visit us today and we had such a nice visit. I really appreciate her taking the time to come and visit with us. It meant a lot! We have great nurses up here and we are always thankful for that. Stephanie (a new friend we made up here..her daughter went home on Friday) called up here today to check on Lauren. I thought that was so kind. I am grateful for good people. Lauren and I both are grateful for prayers and love being sent our way. Thank you all. We will get thru this...one day at a time.

I want to go Home.....!!!!!!

We are so ready to go home! All of the little girls that Lauren made friends with up here are home. The last two left today....and here we still are! She is making progress even if it is slower than I would like for it to be. Today she ate 3 graham crackers, drank some skim milk and is going to have her jello for dinner along with a popsicle later tonight. She is still having some stomach pain but Dr. Muge told me this morning that they can send her home on some pain meds and nausea medicine so I am glad about that. I am going to ask them in the morning to stop her tpn and just let her regular iv fluids run so it will be easier to transition her back to eating. I am also going to make them order her a regular tray for eating so we can choose foods that she likes. Dr. Muge told her she would go to the store and get whatever she wants...we are all anxious to get her back to a regular diet. The surgeon will probably come by tomorrow and talk with me about the nissen wrap they want to do on Lauren but I do not want to have that done for a few months. We need a break from the hospital. I just hope this doesn't come back. I will be glad to be back home with all my family, sit in my own living room, and sleep in my own bed. Lauren and I have been sorting thru her stuff this afternoon to decide what to leave here when we go and what to take with us. We always seem to leave with more stuff than we came in with. We are shooting for Wednesday to get out of here. Michael has an appt. with Dr. Muenzer on Wednesday so we want to be able to go home when that is done. Lauren had one scheduled also but since they have seen her everyday since she has been here I think that will count...hahaha! Anyway....Lauren's pancreatic enzymes are still elevated but I am hoping they will return to normal in the next few days. That's about it for today.

Diagnosis, Anyone????????

Well, today is defintely better than yesterday was. Jeff and I met with Lauren's doctors yesterday afternoon and we went over all the test results they had thus far. Everything is coming back negative or a little off center but not enough to raise a red flag. Lauren's "sed rate" is still elevated which indicates that there is inflammation somewhere but they just don't know where. Not to go into a lot of detail and to cut to the point...they know the pain she is feeling is coming from something but it isn't clear what. They told us that she did have pancreatitis but that seemed to be resolving and Lauren is still having pain when she eats and drinks. I was extremely out of sorts last night, partly because I am way tired and partly because I hate not having a definitive answer. It drives me crazy and I HATE, HATE, HATE GSD!!!!!! This is always the case...we never can really pinpoint what causes things to happen and it always comes back to, "Well, it's just the way GSD goes sometimes"....not an answer!!!!!! Anyway, on the better side, Lauren is doing better today. She ate a spoonful of jello and a popsicle. Dr. Muenzer and Dr. Muge told her to take small steps and ease back into eating. We were so happy that she didn't throw up what she took in today....this is the first time that has happened...yeah! She is still having stomach pain when she eats (which this afternoon her doctors said was probably due to the pancreatitis) and they are giving her pain medication for that. She will have to be eating normally and able to take cornstarch and maintain her blood sugars before she can come home but we are thrilled that she is beginning to make progress. It will be a slow uphill road but we can finally see the light at the end of the road and that brings Jeff and I and Lauren good news. I had lunch with Dr. Muge today and we went over everything again. I was struggling last night to find my balance but I do have it back today. I know that Lauren's doctors love our family and put Lauren's wellbeing at the top of their list. Dr. Muenzer came by this morning on his way out of town to make sure that we were okay and to let me know again that even though we are all frustrated and still searching...we will figure this out eventually. Dr. Muge spent her lunchtime with me to help us think thru more things. I cannot ask for more than that. I think we are all happy that Lauren is showing improvement today and I have been able to breathe a sigh of relief. As Jeff so eloquently says all the time..."It is what it is and we deal the hand that has been given us." That's the best we can do! Thanks for all the prayers...Lauren knows the Lord is watching over her and that gives her great comfort. With that in mind, we can overcome every challenge.

Tagged (I got tagged from Lauren!!!)

A - ADVOCATE FOR: Finding a cure for Glycogen Storage Disease
B - BEST FEATURE: My personality...I think! I was going to say my curvaceous body but I knew everyone would laugh; however, if I had been born back in the 1600s I would have been considered a goddess...ever seen all those statues..look at those big butted women...man, I was born in the wrong time...hahaha!
C- COLOR PREFERENCE- Red but sometimes purple
D - DREAMS & DESIRES: I always wanted to be able to play the piano
E- ESSENTIAL ITEMS: Always having a blood sugar machine and cornstarch on hand
F- FAVORITE FRUIT- Banana
G- GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT- My four beautiful children!
H - HAVE NEVER TRIED: Brussel Sprouts...they just look disgusting...little green balls of gross!
I - IF I HAD A MILLION DOLLARS: I would pay off all our debt and add on to our house
J - JUNKIE FOR: Any kind of junkfood!
K- KINDRED SPIRIT: I think both of my sisters...we have this incredible bond that we even can be thinking of each other and the phone will ring and it will be one of us calling the other...hard to explain but I am grateful for it.
L - LITTLE KNOWN FACT: I am like an open book so I don't have many facts that people don't already know about...hahaha! I am scared of heights though and scary movies.
M - MEMORABLE MOMENT: I guess I have several..my wedding day to my sweetheart, the births of my children, and not the best memorable moment but holding my baby for the very last time on this earth..I can still feel him in my arms sometimes and the tears begin to well up...I will treasure that last moment with him.
N - NEVER AGAIN WILL I: say "I can't handle that" because I end up always having to.
O - OCCASIONAL INDULGENCE: BBQ ribs...yummm!
P - PROFESSION: mother, mother, and oh yeah, mother!
Q - QUOTE: "It is what it is"...that's is what Jeff says all the time!
R - REASON TO SMILE: I have an eternal family...nothing better!
S- SILLIEST MOMENT- I guess I would agree with Aunt Libbi on hers but also at christmas time when we would put on Ninna's old record and perform "How Much is that Doggie in the Window" for everyone...remember that Libbi and Kim?
T - TAG SOME FRIENDS: Okay..I'm tagging Kim because she STILL hasn't done it..you too Beth!
U - UNINTERESTED IN: Medicine...I know, I know...sounds crazy doesn't it but I really don't like it!
V - VERY SCARED OF: I already have experienced what I am most afraid of but that still tops the list...losing one of my children.
W - WORST HABIT: Talking way too much and not shutting up when I really should have long ago...also being way too bossy and controlling...well, my goodness, I have a lot of bad habits and everyone sees them all the time!
X - X MARKS MY IDEAL VACATION SPOT: The beach, the beach, the beach! I love the ocean and the smell and all of it..can't wait until June!
Z - ZODIAC SIGN: Libra..you know we are balanced people...hahaha..stop laughing everyone!!!!!

Okay...that was my A to Z all about me...anyone who wants to do one and send it to me, feel free! It was fun. Below this post is another one about our day today!

Having Some Lighthearted Moments

Today we decided that we needed some lightheartedness as these last 2 weeks have been very tiring. Brother and Sister James came up last night to see Lauren and they brought her this totally cool purple guitar clock that you can hang on the wall and it lights up purple. She wanted to have it working right away so two of Lauren's nurses figured out a way to rig it up in her room (thanks Amy and Suzanne!). It is kinda "illegal" and we made it where if we had to cut it down really fast we could but I was grateful for our wonderful nurses who saw that we needed to have something good today so they took it upon themselves to find a way. Another silver lining...like I said, we can find them if we look for them. Then tonight Karen, Jessica and Gramby came up to see Lauren. Lauren was thrilled and she is "perfecting" her rainbow manicure so Jess let her do one on her. We took a picture to show everyone Lauren's handywork...(and you never thought you could be a model, Jess...here is your moment to shine..hahaha!) It has been a better evening for sure. Lauren had somewhat of a meltdown this morning so we needed a better day. Nothing has really changed...thanks for all the prayers and for putting her name in the temple. It sure feels good to know that so many people are praying for her all at once. Below we have posted two pictures...one of the nurses with the guitar they rigged up and the other of Jess showing off her "rainbow manicure". Thanks Jess...you are wonderful! We love having visitors...it makes things brighten up!

AAARRRRGGGG!

Have you ever heard that saying, I am so mad I could scream? Well, that was my we are so tired and frustrated and wondering what is coming up next scream! Did you like that...now everyone when you see the title I want you all to yell that for me..hahaha! Last night after I posted they came and got Lauren for a CT Scan at 10 pm..a little late. They also had to put an IV in her arm which she was not prepared for and she was very unhappy about it. She doesn't have good veins and so it took them a couple of times to get the IV in her. After a lot of tears, consoling, calling her daddy and talking her thru it we got that done. The CT scan went okay other than Lauren tearing up and her lip quivering...she hates being put in the tube. This morning at 8 am Lauren woke up to go to the bathroom and she was told that she would have to have another test done which consisted of her drinking this really nasty bottle of stuff and then for the next three hours she would have to blow in these little bags every 15 minutes (it was a test to check her breaths for any overgrowth of bacteria in her stomach...yeah, I have no idea...), anyway when we were halfway thru the test they figured out that it was being done wrong and told me that they were going to have to repeat the test again...that is when I lost my composure and told them in no uncertain terms that they were not repeating the test. Lauren got very sick during the test and threw up twice while being doubled over with pain. Lauren's doctors assured me that they would not repeat the test. Dr. Muenzer told me later this afternoon that he wouldn't have made her drink it all in the first place...I'm like, well now you tell me. Anyway...she has not been feeling well at all today and they are now giving her morphine every 4 hours around the clock (and for those of you who are wondering...no, she cannot get hooked on it...we have been assured of that)! Dr. Muenzer came and talked again with Lauren this afternoon to check on her and he and I talked about the CT Scan results. Lauren is having some inflammation around her colon and she has some swollen lymph nodes. They are beginning to think now that she may have an overwhelming infection that is causing all this pain. We will be having more tests run to figure it out. She may also have to have a colonoscopy as well. They don't want to leave any stone unturned which is a good thing. In the meantime we will continue to monitor her and give her medications needed for pain and nausea. Dr. Muenzer said he doesn't know when she will be able to go home but it doesn't look like it will be anytime soon. We will continue to keep you posted. Jeff and the kids came up this evening and Jeff gave Lauren a blessing which we were very grateful for and it gave us all some much needed peace. Aren't priesthood blessings wonderful? We continue to be grateful for the outpouring of love we are receiving...thank you everyone!

Our Greatest Champions!!!!!!!

Lauren & Dr. Muge

Lauren & Dr. Muenzer

Today has been an up and down day. This morning was kinda crazy. Lauren fell asleep last night about 7 pm and slept all night and until about 11 am today. Dr. Muge came in and examined her but she was in quite a bit of pain. Dr. Muenzer then came in and examined her and she was having a lot of pain. The nurse came in and gave her some morphine and about 30 minutes later she was feeling much better. Sisters Alvarez and Cunningham came to see her today and that lifted her spirits. Dr. Muenzer came in this afternoon and talked to Lauren a long time. He told her that she was like a big 1000 piece puzzle and that even though they didn't have all the pieces put together that they would get them put together. He told her that many of the pieces look alike when you are putting pieces of a puzzle together and sometimes it takes time to sort thru them, eventually they will get sorted out and put in the right places but it doesn't happen quickly. He told her that her mother grabbed pieces from other puzzles and tried to throw them in with theirs but he had to catch them and throw them out. He assured her that even though she might not see him every minute of the day that he was overlooking everything that was going on with her and he was organizing what was going on with her. She listened carefully to everything he said and she told him that she was patient and she knows he will figure it all out. Dr. Muge will be on call all this week which Lauren was thrilled about. She knows Dr. Muge is one of her biggest champions and she told her that she and Dr. Muenzer together would get to the bottom of her pain. It is so great to see the love and faith that she places in them and I know that with their wonderful care, Lauren will continue to improve. We love her doctors and have complete trust in their ability to "fix" Lauren. They are running many tests and drawing her blood (Dr. Muenzer told her that he thought she had enough to continue giving them some..hahaha). In a few days if things are still up in the air, they will have a meeting with all the doctors to talk about where they want to go next. She seems much more relaxed tonight and feels confident about getting past all of this. You gotta love these wonderful, miraculous doctors of hers who love her and take her well being very personally! We are more than blessed...my prayers are being answered everyday. To everyone who is praying for us...we love you and feel overwhelmed by your love and concern. Thank you...you all are the silver linings that we so desperately need during these times!

Another day.....

Today was a pretty good day. Lauren woke up this morning with her stomach hurting and they wanted to do an ultrasound first thing. She cried as she did not want to have to go thru it again because it hurts her stomach so they gave her some pain medication and we went and had it done. She was good thru the whole thing. The doctor came in today and said that tomorrow they want to do a CT scan of her abdomen so they can get a clearer picture. In order to do that however, they will have to have her drink some isotope stuff in something like sprite. He told her that they would give her pain medication and nausea medication before they got her to drink it and to do her best to hold it down. If she can't, she can't but it is worth a try. She has more color in her cheeks which is good...I think it is because of the tpn that she is on. They increased her lipids today to give her even more calories. She has episodes of severe pain and she says her stomach hurts her all the time but she is a real trooper and goes with the flow. Her enzymes were up just a little bit today so they consider that practically the same. They haven't moved much since last Tuesday. She has made friends with two other girls up here her age and they have all decorated their doors. One of the mothers made the letters for the doors and Lauren added her drawings. She has also gone around and painted everyone's fingernails for them including her nurses. We always try to find good in trying times. She is sleeping now as she didn't feel well earlier this evening and was given some pain and nausea medicine. More later.

Picture of Lauren's Door after it was decorated~

A family day

It was so good to have Jeff, Emily and Michael come up and spend the day with us. We were anxiously awaiting their arrival and when they came it was good to have a day with all my family together, even if it had to be in the hospital. Lauren was really happy to see her sister and brother. Emily was glad they came today because Carrie Underwood came to see the kids today and both she and Lauren got a signed autograph from her. It was cool for them. When she was up in the playroom though visiting all the patients, Lauren was too sick to go up and see her. I thought it was great of her to take the time to sign a picture for Lauren and tell her she hoped she gets better soon. She did one for Emily as well, which thrilled Emily beyond words. Lauren did not have a great night last night as she was in pain during the night. She slept a long time today which is what Lauren does when she is in pain. This evening the pain returned and she was given another round of pain medication. The doctor increased it today as he was in her room this afternoon when she was having severe stomach pains. They are going to run some extra blood tests tomorrow to check more things and he told me that this is something that takes a long time sometimes to resolve. We are getting thru the hard moments and are happy when the pain subsides for a time and have good moments. Jeff brought Lauren all of her nail polish from home as she requested so she wants to give me a manicure and "rainbow" polish...not sure how that is going to turn out but she and I will have a good time in the process I am sure! I hope everyone has a happy Sunday!

Frustration.....

Well, today has been one of those days when you just have to lay everything out on the table, look at it and go from there. This morning the surgical team came by and said that they have taken a different thought process..that Dr. Phillips (the surgeon) has decided that he doesn't want to do the surgery on Lauren on this visit because they want her to be completely healed from the pancreatitis. They worry that they could reinflame it if they do it now. So, okay, we were fine with that. Then I spent a long while talking to her other two metabolic doctors...her pancreatic enzymes have not gone down since Tuesday, and have even gone up some. The doctors told us that unless they jump up 200 or 300 points they consider that staying the same..okay, so now what?? They said that they will repeat the labs tomorrow to check and see where they are. In the meantime, Lauren is still not able to eat OR drink anything without severe pain and nausea. They said that they think they are going to put her on a scheduled dose of morphine and phenergan so she can be out of pain and then tomorrow try and get her to suck on a FEW icechips. We talked in great detail about pancreatitis, my concerns and theirs. One of the things that has them thinking and looking is the amount of nutrition Lauren is getting. She came into the hospital with pancreatitis already in a deficit because she had been sick with migraines and in the hospital only a week before, not to mention she hadn't eaten really well once she came home. So..they have her on tpn for nutrition but the lipids that are the fat and boost the caloric intake they are having to monitor closely because giving too many of them can throw her back into pancreatitis....ARE YA'LL CONFUSED YET???? Okay...so then there is the reflux issue which can be a whole another problem that we are dealing with...is the throwing up from that,...how much more serious is that getting and how long can we wait to have that surgery done???? Then there is the GSD itself which plays in the background all the time and comlicates everything! Now I can take a deep breath and just say we are going to be here until Lauren can eat, maintain her bloodsugar and get the pain under control...we don't have any idea how long that will take so we are not trying to even figure out dates..we are just taking it one day, one test, one lab result at a time. Dr. Muenzer returns on Monday, we will be looking forward to seeing his face I can tell you. Dr. Muge said this morning that when Dr. Muenzer returns he is going to look at them like they are a bunch of dodo heads. We all laughed. Her doctors are great and we know they are looking out for her. We are tired and trying to keep humor around as we look for our silver linings. They are always there. We love you all for your prayers and all the outpouring of love you are showing us...well, look, I just found a silver lining..that would have to be it! Thank you so much!

Crafts, Crafts, and more Crafts....

The last few days have been up and down for Lauren. As long as she is on the pain medication and nausea medicine then she feels okay. She has been sleeping a lot which is her way of dealing with pain and when she is awake she has tons of craft projects to work on thanks to everyone who brought her such cool things. She loves to do craft things and it keeps her mind diverted when the pain level goes down. The nurses love to come in and see what project she has going. We really appreciate them. This morning one of Lauren's doctors came in and told us they wanted to get her to try and drink or eat clear liquids today to see how she would handle them. They gave her pain medication before they got her to drink and then we let her drink water. Within 10 minutes, she was curled up on her bed in pain. She cried and cried and said she wanted to go home and she was really trying. I told her that we knew she was but that she just wasn't ready yet. Because of that, we are now going to wait a few more days before we try again. They are going to change her TPN (the nutrients going thru her IV) a little bit to give her more lipids because she needs the nutrition. They don't want her to go into surgery being nutrient depleted. Her surgical team came by this morning and after examining her said that she isn't ready for the surgery yet. We aren't sure when that will take place. She also had a bone denisty test done today to check on her bones. We don't have those results back yet. They will just continue doing what they have been doing and we are hoping that she will feel better soon. We do have doctors that listen to Jeff and I and we can sit down and work together to come up with a plan for Lauren. I will say though that Jeff and I are very glad that Dr. Muenzer will be back on Monday. We will all be glad to sit and go over things with him. For now...we are just taking things one day at a time. Thanks to everyone for the phone calls, e-mails and visits. We love you for it and it is making our time here easier to deal with. We will keep you all posted.

So how is today going?????

Lauren had her endoscopy today. The procedure went well. They didn't see any ulcers or damage to her esophogus or stomach. It looks like her sphincter (sp?) muscle that goes from the esophogus to the stomach is loose so we are again talking about doing the nissan wrap. Jeff and I will talk with surgeons about that though. She had a really rough night last night. She tried to drink some water and about 15 minutes later threw up. She threw up again later that night and was in severe pain with her stomach. They gave her nausea and pain medication thru her IV and she was finally able to get some relief and go to sleep. Today they told us that they would be putting her on TPN (which is nutrition that she gets thru the IV...Libbi can tell everyone all about it :)! (Libbi has been a great source of help for me to understand a lot of things that I am not clear on....thanks, Libbi, I love you!) She is really knocked out this afternoon, which is a good thing. Sleep is good for her these days. I took a picture of her because she looks so sweet sleeping in her bed. We don't know how long we will be here, as her doctor told us today, she will be here until she gets well! We are taking things one day at a time and Lauren is a real trooper. She handles things very well and we are proud of her. We will let people know as we get more info! Thanks to everyone for you love, support, and prayers. They mean the world to us!

The Ultimate Be All End All Greatest Doctor of All Time...

According to Lauren, he is about as close to walking on water as you can get. He does have the great ability to calm our concerns and patiently answers all my bizarre questions and sometimes irrational worries. He told me this morning that I abuse the word worry..hahaha! What can I say, it is something I do best. It probably drives him crazy though. As you can see from the above picture, when Dr. Muenzer enters the room, Lauren lights up and feels better. He stopped by this morning before he left for his medical conference in Paris to talk with her and let her know what tests she will be having and how things are going at this point. He also told her he would be sending her two postcards from France. She was trilled about that. She is feeling some better today. Her pancreatic enzymes are lower today so we are definitely going in the right direction. Dr. Kepke (sp?) came by this morning and said that he really wanted Lauren to eat little bits today because she needs the nutrition. He said to try and get her to eat saltines and drink some water and see how she does. They are worried that she isn't getting enough protien...she has lost 6 pounds. She is back to under 100 pounds again. We also talked again about doing the nissen wrap on her. They won't do that on this visit though..we will have to come back in a couple of weeks. Another surgery!!!! She will be having the endoscopy tomorrow and we will go from there. Dr. Muenzer said that he wanted them to also do a complete work up for Inflammed Bowel Disease as that is associated with GSD. So I am not sure what tests that would involve. Dr. Kepke also told me today that he told them to go back and look at her ultrasound to make sure there aren't any adenomas on the liver. They start looking for those now. Her ultrasound was good though. We have complete confidence in our doctors over here and Lauren surely feels a lot more secure. We are happy to be in good hands.

We have part of our answer...

After speaking with both Dr. Muenzer and Dr. Muge at length today, we have a part of the picture...Lauren does have pancreatitis and the treatment for that is having nothing to eat or drink until the pancreas can heal. Her pancreatic enzymes are already down today though and they were happy about that. The doctors still feel that there is more going on with Lauren (as they like to say...the problem is always multilayered) and will be doing more tests in the coming days. They aren't sure what caused the pancreatitis or if they will figure that out but they are still planning on doing an endoscopy on Lauren probably on Tuesday (they will have to wait to do it until her pancreatic enzymes return to normal) so that is the day they are shooting for. Lauren had an abdominable ultrasound done today and we will know more about that tomorrow so as Jeff says...our answers are never that easy but at least we have a starting place and we can go from there. Lauren is being very stoic!

A possible answer?????

Well, one of the doctors came into the room a little bit ago and they think they may have figured out what is going on with Lauren. It looks like she has pancreatitis. He said that the treatment for that is no eating or drinking anything for a few days. He also said that it can be a problem in GSD kids. Since he is a resident and we haven't spoken to Lauren's metabolic doctors, Jeff feels like he wants to consult with them and get the facts. It has been our experience that most times when a treatment seems that easy, we get thrown a curve ball. We will definitely be talking to them tomorrow and find out if there are more tests that need to be done, will this come back, how long will it last???? I did do some research on it after the doctor came in but I did so with some reservations as the internet is not her doctor...anyway, we will let you know more after we talk to Dr. Muenzer and Dr. Muge tomorrow.

We are here!!!

We came over to Chapel Hill this morning so I wanted to give everyone our phone number and room number. Our Room number is 6C09 and our phone number over here is (919)966-1729. She is settling in. We have spoken to the doctors and they are going to be doing tests and will probably do an endoscopy either Monday or Tuesday. We'll let you know how things are going. Jeff and I appreciate all the prayers...thanks, Teri, for putting Lauren's name on the temple prayer roll. We are grateful to have such a fabulous group of doctors to see after her. The nurses told us when we came up here this morning that Lauren's doctors sure do fuss over her. We don't know what we would do without them. They keep us steady and assured!

Chapel Hill, here we come!!!!!

Well...we thought we might be able to stay here at Wakemed and be here for only a few days but we always do a lot of consulting with our doctors at Chapel Hill and after talking with them this evening we made the decision to transfer Lauren to Chapel Hill. It is far from our house and hard to be that far away but we have to do what we feel is best for Lauren. She is still having a lot of stomach pain and everytime she eats it gets worse so Jeff and I discussed it afte talking to her doctors and decided to go ahead and get her settled at Chapel Hill so next week they can do a GI work up on her. She wants to be where her doctors are (and we can't blame her for that) so we will be transporting Lauren over there tomorrow morning sometime. We know this is the best decision we can make right now. Please send good vibes our way and call and e-mail us. We will be too far from home for me to leave very often so it will be nice to hear from everyone. We will be trying to keep everyone informed on our blog. I'll let you know when we get there and get settled....!

NOT AGAIN!!!!!!!

Believe it or not, we are back in the hospital! I am sitting up here at Wakemed typing this and thinking...when are things going to get better??? Lauren has not been feeling well since Sunday night but we continued to try and deal with her stomach ache and overall not feeling well as best we could at home. By today it became apparent that she was getting worse instead of better and she couldn't eat anything. Her pulse rate was soaring and after speaking with her doctors at Chapel Hill they made the decision to put her back in the hospital. Needless to say that she cried and cried...didn't want to come back in (neither did her mother) but we explained to her that she had to have some fluids and perhaps we would only have to be here for a couple of days. Please pray that we can figure out what the problem is and get her better and home as quickly as possible. We'll keep you updated!

General Conference

Wow...general conference was so good. I came away feeling more determined than ever to be a better and more dedicated follower of Christ. I loved all the talks...they were so inspiring and I was so excited to hear from President Monson. The mantle has surely passed from President Hinckley to him. The kids loved participating in the solemn assembly....Michael said he would be glad when he was 12 so he could stand up twice. The girls were thrilled when they asked the young women to stand and their faces beamed as they raised their hand in support of President Monson and the general authorities. It made Jeff and I so happy to see their understanding growing. We are now determined as a family to be a little better and try harder each day to, as President Monson asked us, be kinder to one another. I love, love, love General Conference. It helps me so much! We had a great week-end together as a family and actually enjoyed staying in our pj's all day on Sunday while we enjoyed conference together! I hope everyone else found the time to watch it as well! It was a week-end full of being edified!

UPDATE!!!!!

We are home from the hospital! We came home tonight (Thursday) and are so happy that Lauren is now feeling much better. We thought we were going to have to stay until tomorrow but after Lauren woke up this morning with no headache and ate her breakfast, took cornstarch, and ate a good lunch I convinced the doctors to let us go. She is still doing great and I cannot even begin to tell you how great it is to be home again. I am typing this while I am sitting in my comfortable chair at home! Anyway...thanks to everyone for the phone calls each day and for sending Lauren lots of love and prayers. We really do appreciate them!