Emma's pneumonia

Well, for Thanksgiving we went o Denver Colorado to spend time with family. My sister and her husband live there. We were so excited to have the kids see snow and play in it for the first time. Emma and I were getting over allergies and thought that by going up there it would clear things out- the dry air and all. She had a slit cough but I didn't think anything of it.
We arrived on Saturday morning and was ready to play. We went shopping and had a great day. That night in the middle of the night Emma woke me up not feeling well. She had a temp but I didn't bring a thermometer with me. I gave her some tynole and told her to go back to sleep. My sister found her thermometer that next morning and she had a temp of 102. I wasn't worried about it she has had a temp that high before and thought it would go away soon.

On day three she still had a temp and she was starting to say that she really didn't feel good. I was starting to think that she had the flu. Again she has has the flu before so I was doing the usual things to keep her healthy but the weird thing was that she wasn't punking and having dierria. She wasn't eating anymore and she just had a really high temp. By day three or four is was getting up the 103 and not going anywhere. I was rotating between mortine and tynole everything 4 hours. She had a cold compress on her head and she was wearing her panties only so I could get her temp down. Nothing was working. Later that day she was starting to pant like a dog like it was hard for her to breath.

I took her to a doctor up there and he said that "she had the 5 day flu. Take her home." The only thing that he did was do a streap test on her and it was negative. Well duh..... I KNOW THAT SHE DOESN'T HAVE STREP!!! He also said that everything was clear. She sounds good. He made me mad.

Five days later....Emma was still sick. Nothing had gotten better. In fact she was getting worse. One day it was 103 all day. The next day she wasn't eating anymore and her temp had gone up to 104. She was pale white with bright red checks. She was panting like a dog still. Garrett and Tony gave her a blessing that she would feel better soon. The blessing that she got was a couple of days ago. Ever since that day that she got her blessing, I kept having the feeling that is was something else. It wasn't the flu that was making her sick. My heart was hurting so bad for her trying to keep her from crying. I was doing what the doctor said. It was the flu and it will pass. On day 5 of being at home with the flu.... her temp. got to 105.9. That is when I rushed her to the ER. I told the ER doctors what had been happening and what the other doctor did. The X-ray above showed that Emma had a very serious cause of pneumonia. She is lucky that her lung didn't collapse. For a normal x-ray of the lung it is suppose to be black. He lungs are full making the x-ray show up all white.

Emma's states were:

temp. - 105.9

pulse oxygen - 80

heart rate- 130 It might have been higher.

I remeber the numbers being really high.

left lung - full of fluid

Right lung -some fluid

flu- possible swine flu

I can't remember anything else.

The ER docs. put her on oxygen right away. I don't have any before pictures of her but she is looking soooooo much better after she was on oxygen for about 45 minutes. Emma did not like the IV but she did well for having on for the first time.

Here we are waiting to be transferred over to the hospital were she would be staying for 5 days. It was Thanksgiving day and Gavin was with my sister at their friends house eating dinner. Garrett went home to take care of Gavin and I went with Emma to the hospital. I followed the ambulance to the other hospital. I felt bad that I wasn't in there with her. She was brave. Lacy brought me Thanksgiving dinner to the hospital.

This is the that next morning. She looked terrible. She was on two different very powerful antibiotics. That morning her new doctor came in and looked over everything. Dr. Gooding saw that she was very sick. She wanted to put a tube in here lung to drain all the fluid out. The pediatric surgeon said he wasn't going to do anything until he got a CT. I really didn't want her to have a tube. I wanted to wait for the antibiotics to start working. The CT showed that she didn't need a tube. Thank goodness!!!!

Here Emma is doing some breathing treatments. The black vest she is wearing had tubes that hook up to it. When the machine on it blows air into the vest and makes her vibrate. It is to vibrate Emma so it will loosen up the fluid in her lungs. At first it was hurting but the more she did it the better it got. She did that three times a day with the mask to breath in medicine too. The therapist rotated between two different ways to break up the fluid. The vest is one and the other is pounding on her back. They would tilt the bed so her head is down and her feet is higher then her head. She would lay on the side and they pound on her back. She would cry when then did that one. The more they did it the better it got.

Here she is doing both. The vest and medicine. I think this might be day 2.

Here she is getting ready to get her CT done. My pictures are out of order. The nurse is trying to transfer all her equipment to her chair. The IV pole and oxygen. Ton of cords!!!!!

This might be day 3 or 4. She was feeling better to get out of bed. The nurses wanted her to walk the halls to get her moving. She needed to get some exercise. One lap made her start coughing so hard, that is all we could do. We couldn't leave the pediatric unit, because the labor and delivery unit was on the other side of the doors. No sick kids are allowed to leave. So we walked from that back wall to the door on the other side of the hall. It might have been 80 feet?? The more she walked the better she got.

My sister came alot to keep us company in the hospital. It got really boring after awhile. She also brought us food. Hospital food. Not the greatest. I'm soooo sick of watch Hanana Montana

Emma has a big thumbs up for feeling better. Still on oxygen on day 3.

Garrett and I rotated with the kids so I could go home and get some sleep. There was a couch that folded out to a bed. NOT the best thing to sleep on. Plus all the nurses coming in the middle of the night. Some night Emma had to do some breathing treatments. Poor thing she slept right through some of them. The vibrating vest, I would think that would be hard to sleep thought but she was so tired.

Garrett and Emma walking that hall. The only annoying thing bout that IV pole it has to go everywhere!!! Even to the bathroom. I swear she was going to the bathroom every hour. I know that she was getting alot to Saline but gezz. I have to unplug everything and take her and then plug her back up. That was even during the nights too. On day 3 she had to get another IV put in. Her old one wasn't working anymore. I swear the whole hospital heard her scream. She remember the first one and did not like it. Me and my sister had to hole her down. Plus she was wrapped in a blanket. That helped alot. Poor girl. I almost lost it myself. Watching her scream and cry. I had to be strong so she wouldn't see my eyes get all teary. We both did good. My hearing came back too.

This is day 4. She is doing alot better. She is smiling know. I haven't seen her smile in a long time. Every morning she was to get x-rays done to check the progress with her lungs. Day three noting had improved. It didn't get better but it didn't get worse. Day 4 was good. The cord on her finger is to check the oxygen in her blood. She was at a 94 so we are trying to see how she does walking around without being on oxygen. So far so good.

We are walking the halls with no pole yeah......

posing for the camera.....

Emma was flashing in the back. It was a bit drafty. She had pantys on.

Here she is doing her lung exercise. She blows into the green tube and it does something. I can't remember.

Here she is getting two things done at once. She is breathing in medicines and blowing out to exercise her lungs. You can see the cord in the picture.

Emma was tired of sitting in her bed.

coughing alot!!!!!

Aunt Lacy visiting us.

Emma feeling better.

This is the morning of day 5. We are getting ready to go home. Here Emma is doing some more breathing treatments. The x-ray that morning showed more improvement but not completely better. The only thing that let us go home was a test that came back was negative. Emma was tested for streptococcus pneumonia. That is very dangerous strand of pneumonia. Look it up.

We are ready to go home. After spending the first part of the week in bed and the last in the hospital, I would say that out Thanksgiving vacation SUCKED!!!!!!! It became a very scary, stressful and expensive vacation. After all that we had to drive back home to Texas. Lucky us.

As soon as we got home I had to find a pediatrician to follow up with the get more x-rays done. Emma wasn't allowed to go to school for a week. I had to do all her breathing treatments and home and get more very expensive antibiotics. Me....Dr. Mom gets to take care of Emma.

All I can say now after being home for two weeks. She is doing soooooo much better. Shes gone to school this week and is doing fine. She isn't coughing anymore and is acting like nothing has happened. It is amazing how fast kids can bounce back. I love her so much and is very gratful that she is doing better.

As for that other doctor that I took her too. Im very upset with him. I told them that she ended up in the ER and amidtted to the hospital for pneumonia. He really didn't resond like he missed anything. This could have been prevented from geting so bad. The other doctor messes up big time. Anyways.....I'll get off my soap box.

So, she was tested for the flu Influenzia A and B that came back negative. But those test are so inconclusive anywasys that the resluts really don't matter. They only show about being 30%- 40% acturate. Emma was suspected to have swime flu that went into pneumonia really fast.

Thank you everyone for all the kind words and prays for her.

My Photo Editing Business

Hi everyone!
It has been a long time since I have posted anything. I have been busy with my new online business. Yes, Im a business women now.

I've always been the creative type. I have a passion for pictures. I love looking at a picture and notice all the details- the light, the color, the composition and the emotion. I've been editing pictures for the last five years. It mostly started out as a hobby then my hobby became a passion. Now I have my business of editing photos. The software I use is Photoshop CS4. I love Photoshop. I have unlimited amount of creativity with it. A blend of creativity, style, and attention to details are words used to describe my work. Details do matter! My main focus is making sure the viewer has know idea changes have been made to a photo. I have been thinking of going back to school as well. I will find out in a couple of days if that is happening. Im keeping my fingers and toes crossed. In the future I am planning on doing the photography side of it too. As for right now photo editing is my main focus. Im so excited about it.

Here is my website so you can see my work. Im still working on it so bare with me. Eventually I will have a actual website instead of a blog. Im working on it.

http://www.wix.com/edmondsonkaty/FIX-PIX

Let me know if you need anything done. Im happy to help.

Katy Edmondson

I can Fly............

Gavin is growing up to be such a boy. He loves to have a cap and jump onto things thinking he can fly.
His latest trick is tucking his blanket into this shirt and having daddy throw him up in the air.

All you can hear is HIGHER......HIGHER.....HIGHER.......

FLY........FLY ................FLY..............

Poor daddy is getting so red in the face and tired of throwing him in the air. Gavin isn't a little boy. Garrett isn't going to be able to do this much longer. Gavin is so cute when is wants to fly. Let hope Gavin doesn't get any wild ideas and break something one day.

On the move again....

Well...here is our big announcement. We are moving to San Antonio next week on the 26th of September. Garrett got a new job with Catapult Systems Inc. He is going to be a Computer Software Engineer. We are really super excited about the move. We are going to be in North San Antonio around the 281 and 1064 area. We are hoping to be there for a long time. We are so sick of moving. With Garrett's last couple of jobs not being very stable with the economy, this company is not going anywhere. The company was rated in the top 25 best companies. That makes us feel better. If you are ever in San Antonio, please hook us up. We will be out of touch for awhile but will be back online soon. Wish us luck.

Life in Saudi Arabia....

Well... Grandpa Edmodson got a new job in Saudi Arabia and left last weekend. Last Saturday was our last visit with him for a long time. Grandma Edmondson will be leaving in January. A one way flight from Houston, Tx to Saudi Arabia is 16 hours on a double decker air bus. I'm sure those plane you fly in style. He is right outside of Aubi.

Here is a letter that we have receive from his first couple of days.
Update:

It is good to have friends and family around the world who will stay in touch! I really appreciate the your note. I have never felt isolated before and I won't here as my LDS manager has taken very good care of me. We will have a team of 6 leadership consultants and when they arrive there will be a good bond.
The people here have been wonderfully kind and accommodating. I run to the beach (about 1.5 miles to the Persian Gulf) and have a swim in a very nice pool every morning before work... it has been great! The air quality is OK and importantly, though there is a big city "feel" (like Long Beach) there is very little traffic on nice freeway systems main roads. However, off the main road, things are a bit more primitive. So my location is great but the accommodations are what you said "manageable" not fashionable (no one in the bureaucracy is trying to impress or show any favors to this American).
I expect that you have seen the work experience many times before. People smile and are gracious. Their heads all nod "yes" and there is no attempt to do anything different (yes we want to hear about improvement but things are working "comfortably" now). Our new High Potential may have an opportunity to move some new people into leadership positions in a couple of years.... but I wouldn't bet on it.


He sounds good and is liking it there so far. We do have more family that has been living over in Saudi for the last 4 years and love it there. They are showing hime the ropes. It is so interesting listening to their stories about how it is over there. I have heard some amazing stories. Life is so different there.

Honestly, I'm not sure if I want to ever live there. I have heard lots of positive things about living in the compounds. Living in the compound is the ONLY way I would go. It is very westernized in the Aramco Compound. Women can't drive ever but I think American women don't have to were the burka. I might be wrong. Definitely outside the compound you do have to were a burka. Live there is so laid back. With the culture, there are so many religious holidays so you get lots of days off work. Really you get ALOT off. You get paid a ton with alot of down time if you are an American. It took my father en-law about 3 months to get a working visa passport to go over there. So once he found out that he got the job, he didn't leave until 3 months. That is very slow to get a visa.

I love there saying,"We have been around for thousands of years, we are not going anywhere any time soon."

Well, grandpa, I wish you the best and be safe!!!! We already miss you. Im loving that we have skype!

First week of school

Well, it has been a long time since my last post. Things have been busy around here. Emma started school last week and Im just now getting around to posting all her cute pictures. She is going to a top rating school. Im really liking to school so far. Emma LOVES her teacher. She thinks the world of her. She is a good lady. Emma has put her on a pretty high list of all the teachers that she has had.

My little Emma is growning up so fast. She is almost as tall as I am. That isn't saying much for me. Anyways......

My Lovely little lady is looking more and more like a little lady everyday. Im so proud to be her mom. I love her so much. Her sense of style it so adorable. It was fun school clothes shopping with her. We agreed on alot of the same clothes. I was happy about that. Oh boy, I can remember school clothes shopping with my mom and that was very hard. Im hoping when Emma gets older it will still be fun and easy.

Big girl as always, she wanted to ride the bus. I took her to school for the first couple of days to make ME feel better. I decided it was ok to let her ride the bus. For one thing, I didn't want to wait in line FOREVER to pick her up. She gets home faster on the bus then me going to the school. This is the 3rd day of school but her first time riding the bus. She loves it.

Gavin loves loves loves his big sister!!! He had a hard time when Emma went to school the first day. He cried for her for hours. It really broke my heart. His playmate was gone. Now that she has been to school for almost 2 weeks, Gavin still asks where she is. He loves going to the bus stop to drop her off and to pick her up. His new favorite word is BUSSSSSSSS. It is so cute.

As you can tell from the pictures, Emma loves to pose for the camera. Oh boy, what have I done with all these pictures I take?

After the first day of school Emma came home and asked if she could go back. She said, "Mommy....I really liked it. It wasn't scary at all and do you know what??? A girl asked me if I could be her friend and I said yes if you be my friend. Can I go tomorrow?"

I guess that is all the matters. She feels confident and comportable to want to go back to school. Now that she has a friend things will be just fine. My worries and concerns are at lease but least for now. I'm so happy that she had a awesome first day of Kindergarten.

I love you Emma.

Time to get up for school...sleepy head

We are counting down to school starts. 5 days left until Emma gets to go to school. My happy and outgoing little girl is going to kindergarten. Where has the last 5 years gone. I can't believe she is old enough now to be going to school. Both of us are so excited. Tonight we meet her teacher, Mrs. Beesman.

We have been prepared for weeks and a little more. School clothes-check, shoes-check, lunch box-check, backpack-check, school supplies- check. Timed out route to school in case we are running late, checked out all the short cuts, bike route-check.

The only thing now that we are working on is getting to bed at a timely manner. The funniest thing that I have noticed within the last week is that Emma is sleeping in longer!!! Wait!!! What?? I don't understand this. For the last 5 years. YES, 5 years Emma is has gotten up at 6:30 AM every single morning. I'm not joking. I have tried everything to get her to sleep in at least one more hour. We have 5 days until school starts and she is finely sleeping longer in the morning. She went from 6:30 AM to at least getting up between 7:30 -8 AM. Now I don't want her to sleep in so we can get ready for school in the mornings. I just think that is really funny that we 5 days to get her back on her old schedule. Should I enjoy the quiet mornings or get her up? I have been waiting it for so long. What to do?

Ohh...Emma I think we can do it.

Gavin's Hair Cut.....

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. Here what has happened recently. I decided to give Gavin a hair cut. I LOVE LOVE LOVE his curly hair but it was getting to the point that I had to start using hair tangler to brush his hair to get some knots out. Right then I decided that a BOY so not need hair tangler to brush his hair.

Here is a happy Gavin before his hair cut.....

What a cute boy ....

A very mad Gavin after his hair cut.....



He is so mad at me......

Trying to be a strong tough little guy.....

All cleaned up....

He looks so much older.........

My happy Gavin again............

In six yo seven months he will have his curls back. Im happy about that!!!

CrawFish Is Whats For Dinner......

We were invited to eat dinner at one of our friends house and we were in for a treat.
Garrett eating CRAWFISH!!! don't worry it was cooked. So that means DEAD!!!!


This was a close that I got to it. The dead ones!


Here is the King of the crabs. He became a pro by the end of dinner. How fast can you oopen up a crab and eat it. "I'm- hungry-I-must-eat-uhg!"

The inside of a crab.

We had a TON of crawfish to eat!!!!! This was a 1/4 of what was cooked.

Garrett opening up the tail to eat.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT OF THE COOKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




THEY ARE ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!

hummm......were is the closest Pizza Hut?

Dress Up

Emma and her friend playing dress up. They are so cute. They love to play together and love love love to dress up. Emma can play dress up all day if I let her. Im glad that she has a friend to play dress up with instead of me and Gavin.