More Aislyn

Proof the new plumbing is working!

Aislyn Saying Ma-Ma

Continuted Improvement

Imagine this: Aislyn continues to improve almost everyday! Our big obstacle right now is her diaper rash. Not just a slight rash, but this the mother of all diaper rashes. She absolutely screams bloody murder when we have to change her. Kim and I are now into playing Paper, Rock, Scissors when changing time comes along. But when she's not getting changed, she is about 90% of her old self.

Aislyn has also had a few visitors. Her play pals Luke and Caleb (one of which I am told will be my future son-in-law...) came to play on Wednesday. Then on Thursday Miss Sally, Samantha, and Nathan (& Harley the Bear, too) came and spent the day while Daddy had his nose operated on. She loved seeing them all!

Oh yeah, have fun sending in those checks to Uncle Sam today...

Having Fun at Home

Aislyn continues to improve with each passing day. She's back to playing and laughing with her toys. But it is evident that this new experience she has been given still pains her. She will be fine one minute and then instantly be screaming. So we do our best to comfort her and let things work themselves out. She also is developing quite a diaper rash, which we were told would happen. This also is quite discomforting to her when we change her. So for about 5 minutes 6-7 times a day she is just miserable. But the minutes pass and she is back to normal.

Aislyn discovered french fries yesterday. She holds them like a sucker and will gum them until they are all mushy and then slowly chomp away at them. This is quite entertaining.

She's Home, Update 2

Aislyn seems to be doing well and very happy to be home, and even more excited to see the dogs. She squealed when she saw them. She had another 6oz. of formula and a half jar of bananas (her favorite). After taking her for a walk, playing with her balloons, giving her a bath, finally having a full tummy, and being in her own bed, Aislyn was out like lightning! It has been a long week and we will all get much needed rest tonight. So good night to all and to all a good night!

SHE'S HOME!!!!!!!!!

Well, we got to bring her home at 3:00 this afternoon. She took (and passed) formula just fine this morning in the hospital. That was all they needed to see to release her. She laughed and giggled the whole way home. She is definately glad to be home and so is mommy and daddy. Thanks to everyone for everything you did to support us over the last week. The calls, cards, balloons, food, emails, and visits made the week much more bearable for all of us. Without friends like you all, well, we'd have no friends. Thanks again from the bottom of our hearts.

And yes, we're gonna keep this blog going.

Aislyn with Cammie

Catching some zzzzzz's

Post Surgery, Day 5, Update 2

Kim just called from the hospital. Aislyn's nurse is one her way to get her some formula so she can begin eating. They are going to see how she does with formula today. If she doesn't have any problems, there is a good chance we will get to bring her home yet today! Praise God!

Post Surgery, Day 5, Update 1

Not a whole lot has changed as of Friday night. They were allowing her to take in Pedialite every three hours, which she loved. You can tell she is wanting to eat. Anytime anyone has food in the room or something to drink, she is reaching for and making the saddest face as if to say, "If you really love me, you'll give me a bite." I am getting ready to head back to the hospital and if anything has changed, I'll post another update.

Aislyn taking a wagon ride around the hospital

Post Surgery, Day 4, Update 1

They are beginning to let Aislyn take fluids again, but not very much at first. She has taken in one ounce at two different times today. Last night she developed a rash all over her abdomen, but they were able to treat her with some type of wonder cream, for now the rash is almost completely gone. Kim was finally able to get her to smile a few times today. Kim didn't realize how much she missed her smiling over the last week until she saw a smile this morning. We still don't have an idea of when we will get to bring her home, but we are still holding out for this weekend. I'll get a few more pictures posted for everyone tonight when I get home from the hospital.

Post Surgery, Day 3, Update 3

I know some of you won't be reading this until Friday morning, so my apologies in advance...

Aislyn is having a rough night. She is restless and quite fussy. You could tell something was hurting her tonight. She would be fine and sleeping and then immediately she would wake up and cry. They gave her some Tylenol 3, but that didn't seem to have any effect. So they went ahead and gave her a small dose of morphine to alleviate the pain and allow her (and mommy) to get some much needed rest. But on a good note, they plan on allowing her to begin taking Pedialite tomorrow and if that goes well, maybe some formula tomorrow night. She also loves to take wagon rides now. Mommy, Gramma, Grammy, and Poppy all got to pull her around the hospital today. I think she enjoyed the change of scenery. She also got to see her friend Ava today and that put a big smile on her face. She also got quite a few baloons and cards today. She was having a little trouble sounding out all the words in the cards, but we managed to get through them all.

Post Surgery, Day 3, Update 2

Here's a quick one: Urinary catheter is gone, as well as one of her IV's. Now she only has one tube sticking out of her body. She is also experiencing odoriferous emanations, which they tell us "does her body good." It's kinda funny to see her facial expressions with this new sensation.

Post Surgery, Day 3, Update 1

We just met with the doctors and Aislyn has what is called an Ileus. It is basically where the intestines temporarily paralyze themselves to aid in the healing process. It is nothing major or uncommon for this type of surgery. They will watch her closely over the next day to make sure she doesn't vomit or her belly doesn't swell any more. They said if things go well, she should be able to begin taking liquids again tonight. Thanks for all the prayers!

Immediate prayer needed

I am running right now back to the hospital. Aislyn is beginning to throw up and is off to radiology to have some x-rays done. That's all I know, for Kim wasn't able to talk very much. Thanks in advance.

Leaving Comments

Due the mental defectivness and lack of brain activity of some "anonymous" users, you'll now have to be a registered user to post any comments.

Post Surgery, Day 2, Update 3

Aislyn was taken off of morphine today and put on Tylenol 3. She is also starting to go for longer periods of time without medication. She is becoming more responsive, moving around more, staying awake for longer periods of time, and not appearing to be in as much pain. The catheter is going to be removed sometime tomorrow and if she starts to drink more fluids, they can do away with another one of her IV's. If things progress well tomorrow, we may be able to bring her home this weekend. One more great thing...We are beginning to have to change dirty diapers: Not just diapers with #1, but diapers with #2, if you know what I mean. Almost brings a tear to my eye, in more ways than one.

What pain??

Aislyn on good pain killers

Post Surgery, Day 2, Update 2

First of all, sorry for the delay this morning in posting an update. So for making everyone wait an extra few hours, here is a bonus post for you everyone...

I just got of the phone with Kim and they are letting Aislyn begin to take Pedilite as I type this. Another step on the road to recovery.

Quick prayer request: Aislyn has a bad cough and really sore throat from the combination of lying down for so long, no liquids, and the morphine. You can hear her wheezing when she breathes. She coughs to try and get everything out of her lungs and throat, but the coughing hurts her belly. Then she cries because her belly hurts, and then her throat hurts from crying. It's a vicious cycle

Kim also wanted me to thank everyone for all the cards Aislyn is getting through the hospital website. They have been so touching and encouraging.

Post Surgery, Day 2, Update 1

She had a rough night, but Aislyn continues to improve. She couldn't get to a comfortable position to sleep and was pretty restless. Sleeping with her knees to her stomach was the most comfortable position for her. Kim tried putting Aislyn on her side with her knees up which would work for about 10 minutes. Then her binky would fall out and she was up again trying to get comfortable. But on the positive side, they were able to remove the NG tube from her stomach and her pulse-ox monitor this morning, which was fine with Aislyn. She'll still have the urinary catheter until tomorrow morning though. She actually picked up a few of her toys and started to swing them around. She hasn't smiled since the surgery, but at least she was attempting to play a little.

Special thanks to Josiah Snider and his mom Terri for stopping by yesterday and giving Aislyn a pretty balloon. Josiah picked her out a balloon that has a teddy bear with a band-aid on its stomach, "since baby Aislyn had surgery on her belly." He then prayed for her to "get better real fast." Wow, what a blessing!

Post Surgery, Day 1, Update 2

I just returned home from the hospital. There's not a whole lot different than when I was there this morning. They are allowing us to hold Aislyn now, which is quite comforting for her and for Kim & I, too. She is still in quite a lot of pain when she moves though. They are hoping to remove the tube to her stomach tomorrow as well as her urinary catheter. Once they do that, we can start to give her liquids orally. That will be one step closer to bringing her home.

Post Surgery, Day 1, Update 1

I was at the hospital this morning and Aislyn was starting to come out of it. She was waking more frequently for longer periods of time. When I say longer periods of time, I mean 30-40 seconds rather than the 4-5 seconds last night. She tries to move a little, but you can tell it causes her a lot of pain. Then she starts to cry, but she really can't because her mouth and throat are so dry and rough from not having anything to drink for the last 36 hours. Her surgeon met with us this morning and and reaffirmed how pleased he was with the surgery. He wants Kim to start holding her today rather than just let her lay flat all day. That will help her intestines shift around a bit and start moving again since they have been idle since the surgery. He also said today would probably be the worst for pain since all the anesthesia would be wearing off. To help control the pain, they are pumping morphine into her every 3-4 hours. You can see Aislyn go from all tensed up to limp once the morphine hits her system. Thanks to God for great medication!

Successful Surgery!

Well, Aislyn came through her surgery just fine. Her surgeon was very happy with how smoothly things went. She was in surgery for approximately 5 hours and was still out of it when I left the hospital at 9:30 PM. They have her pretty sedated on morphine right now. She would open her eyes for a few seconds and then go right back to sleep. So hopefully tonight she will get some much needed rest.

Mommy and Aislyn after surgery

Aislyn Pre-Surgery

Surgery Update

Aislyn went into surgery at 1:30 PM and will hopefully be out around 5:30 or so. Her surgeon was happy with all of her tests they've done over the last day and a half so he didn't anticipate any problems. Thanks again for all the prayers, visits, phone calls, and emails. They are a great blessing to the Bennett's.

Surgery Time

By the way, her surgery tomorrow is scheduled for NOON. Our doctor tells us it will be about a 4-5 hour procedure. Please pray that Aislyn will be able to tolerate not eating. She hasn't had anything since 10:30 this morning and was starting to get fussy when I had to leave. They are cutting her fluids of at midnight, so she could be highly irritated by then. She's like her daddy; she likes to eat!

Want to send Aislyn a get well card? Click HERE.

Sunday Evening Update

I just returned home from Children's Hospital a few minutes ago. It has been a long day for Aislyn. Things got started at 11:30 this morning as she was admitted and settled into her room. Shortly thereafter, the fun began. They inserted a tube through her nose to her stomach to start flushing out her digestive system. They also started an IV to give her antibiotics and assorted fluids. Then blood work later in the evening and finished off with a nitecap of various fluids and medicines. Throughout they day, Aislyn was such a trooper, as was Kim. Her system flushed out much sooner than they anticipated so they may be able to remove the tube from her stomach yet tonight. Aislyn has a great group of nurses caring for her, so that helped calm our nerves quite a bit. Thanks to everyone who stopped by today and showered us with love and prayers. It was greatly appreciated!

Back to Children's

Well, as many of you know, Aislyn is due to go into Children's Hospital this morning at 11:00 AM. She'll be having here colostomy reversed and a procedure call a "pull through." Basically, they will be removing the part of her colon that does no function and reattaching the healthy part to her rectal muscles. Sounds lovely, doesn't it? Today they will begin to flush her digestive system and fill her full of antibotics. We'll be using this site as much as possible to give updates on how she is progressing and coming along. We'll update it later this afternoon once we figure out all the specifics of her surgery tomorrow morning. Thanks for visiting and please remember Aislyn in your prayers. Jason & Kim

Aislyn's Dedication

Here's our little girl! Isn't she soooo cute?