I was beginning to wonder if we would get to say those words again!! LOL Its amazing… the last two times we left the hospital I had that nagging feeling of “something” being wrong. Remember I kept posting and telling everyone that I just knew something wasn’t right about Ky. Today Kyleigh is a completely different child. All the nurses have said for the past day what a difference they see in her! Its amazing what a little nutrition can do for someone! I am happy to report that as of last night Ky was 21 lb!!!!!!!!!!!! That is up almost 2 lb since we went into the hospital!!

This afternoon I managed to have a bit of quiet time while Troy was picking up the boys and Ky was peacefully sleeping her own bed. I was alone with my thoughts and while that can be a dangerous thing today was more peaceful than anything else…

I have prayed for peace and God has given me the opportunity to experience true peace. The kind that you have no idea how or where it came from but instantly you feel like the world is right and like you might never need another Xanax.

I have prayed for strength and God has given me the opportunity to learn to be strong. Over and over he has allowed me to experience life in ways that has solidified my faith in myself, my husband, my family and in people in general.

I have prayed for compassion and God has opened the door to allow me to become truly compassionate and empathetic. Empathy is something that can only be learned through adversity.. you cannot understand someone’s situation until you have been there.

I have prayed for a guardian angel to watch over my Kyleigh and we have truly been sent one.

We can never say thank you enough to the staff at UK Children’s Hospital. For the past month they have been our family, our protectors, our caregivers, and each and every person there has made a horrible month more bearable.

So.. to our amazing nurses: Michael Ann, Karen, David, Helen, Shawna, Cari, Jessica, Keli, Sally, Victoria, Brian, Emily, Elizabeth, Stacie, Debbie, Meghan, Velya (I probably butchered your name but you know who I am talking about!!), Latifah, Rachel, …. and to the at least 5 others whom I cannot remember your names but I will never forget your faces! Some of you have been caring for our baby since she was a very sick, very alien like teeny tiny heart baby… you mean the world to us!! We hope that the next time we see each of you it will be on much better terms! If I have forgotten someone’s name… I am so sorry! I know there are some girls in outpatient who we love too!! So this is my shout out to the girls on 4 outpatient!

To our fabulous doctors, Dr. Deb Flomenhoft, Dr. Bob Owen, Dr. Brown and Dr. Reddy in anesthesia, Dr. Kriss in radiology… thank you for everything you do for our baby and for all the others that you so lovingly care for everyday.

And to our dear Dr. Joe (Dr. Joseph Iocono- so that google can pick that up;))…. it brings tears to my eyes to even begin a post about you. What is there to say about the man who has quite literally saved our baby’s life? How do you thank someone who continues to bless our family over and over again with his compassion and knowledge? I have raved so much about Joe for so long that I feel I have run out of words. The past two weeks have left me completely speechless… and for anyone who has met me for even two seconds… you understand what a huge feat it is to render me speechless. There is nothing to say but Thank You… for everything.

What for?
For the 9 pm phone call on a Friday night to a very doped up post c-section mom who was freakin out trying to understand what was happening to her baby…. we should have known right then that you were different……
For telling me not to come to the hospital on that Saturday morning and promising to take care of my baby and for realizing that I was going to come anyhow….
For comforting two very scared and naive parents in the NICU…
For not being offended when we NEEDED a second opinion…
For not being snotty when we came hauling ourselves back home….
For being willing to take on the task of collaborating with docs in three states to care for Ky….
For the hours spent to get your Ohio license….
For the many Fedex overnight packages that it took to get it done in time for the surgery….
Then FOR the day spent in the OR at Cincy, the time spent driving back there at the butt crack of dawn and the time you missed at UK and at home with your amazing family….
For laughing AT me and with me when I felt like a 10 year old ……..
For the MRI that never happened but could have because of you…..
For 4 hour conversations in Starbucks……
For Starbucks gift cards that you refuse to use on yourself….
For being completely stubborn we always eventually realize you are right… (except about exlax) ……
For 5 pages of questions that you were drilled with patiently explaining everything in detail….
For TWO screws and for hair brained ideas of how to get them out…..
For checking up on us or for the emails just to say hi….
For comforting two broken hearted parents again when they had their hopes crushed in Chicago….
For reminding us that the yellow brick road leads to OZ and that coming home is a good thing…..
For realizing that being “10,000 question” parents is not always a bad thing….
For answering those 10,000 questions (sometimes multiple times) with a smile on your face…..
For 4:45 am phone calls and 2 am emails….
For missing dinners and afternoons and various other times with your family to be at the hospital making our life bearable…..
For it being OK with the fact that your cell phone is not only in our speed dial but that it has its OWN RINGTONE……..
For making our hospital stays always full of laughter….
For reading our blog and stepping up when we felt lost even though it was probably not “your job”……..
For answering your phone only to find a hysterical mom who was about crazy with fatigue….
For dealing with our crisis when the heat was out at your own home and it was your one day off for weeks………….
For meeting us on the floor on your day off again… and again… and again… ( I think need to repeat that about 20 times)…..
For hundreds of emails and the fact that you have your own FOLDER in our inbox……
For the Mt Dew Cake and for the subsequent 3 lb that I gained from that single slice…..
For telling me its OK and to STOP when I am being paranoid…..
For babysitting us high maintenance parents……..
For understanding my only STIPULATION… and for making good on that…
For being able to decipher my paranoia and see the real problem…….
For being able to tell me to shut up and get away with it………..
For joining my husband’s cause more often than I would like ( yeah yeah… men have to stick together… WHATEVER) ………..
For taking endless amounts of razzing and bantering and for dishing it right back out….
For calling Marc & Dr. Eghtesady & Dr. Frim & Dr. Alam …..
For humoring me when you already knew the answer….
For 7 am KUB’s and not 3 am ones……
For never thinking we are crazy when the only explanation we can give is “something is wrong with our child”……
For 10 pm phone calls to the nurses station…..
For NOT telling me that I need a psychiatric evaluation….
For humoring my OCD need to always have a plan….
For always respecting us as parents and as intelligent human beings….
For LISTENING and not being too proud to involve others……
For not allowing me to give you your Christmas present … god knows WHAT would have happened if we had given it to you!……….
For sending poor Cara over multiple times a day when you were busy…….
For never leaving us hanging….
For always coming by our room on your way home to say good evening……
For sharing your drink with my slobbering baby who would (of course) never want a drink until you walk in the room…..
For standing by my daughter’s bed for nearly 3 hours and for making sure that you helped us keep our PROMISE to her….
For understanding and accounting for the Kyleigh factor and realizing that it is a VERY real thing……
For letting Ky steal your favorite pen when she is completely loopy….
For offering to bring Starbucks on Sunday mornings ……….
For telling us to call or page if we needed you and for truly NOT being upset when we did…….
For actually TAKING the cookies I brought… for once!
For repeating things you said in the early am hours because you knew we were only half awake…
For being a voice for Kyleigh when we could not be with her….
For protecting her when we couldn’t…
For “fixing” her and doing a brilliant job at it…
For all the million other things that you have done and that we have not even seen….
For all the special moments when I just knew that there was no other doctor in the world who could ever care about her and FOR her the way that you do….
For never making us once feel like a burden … ever.
For hands down being the BEST doctor we have ever had the privilege of working with….
For being so much more than just a doctor…
For being a friend to us and for caring about us as a family….
For making our perfectly imperfect daughter… perfect.

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