My Mom, Maegan, Em and I took a VERY last minute trip to Utah. My little brother's lung collapsed for the 2nd time so he went to the ER. They did a CT scan and found one or more "bleb" on his lung. I know... super medical sounding term there. I had to google it. Haha. They decided to do lung surgery to remove the bleb(s) and then use "sterile sand paper" (as they put it) and scrub the lung so that it creates scar tissue that will heal and stick the lung to the rib. It's supposed to prevent future collapses. All of this stuff CAN be fatal so we jumped in the car and headed up to be with him.
Kevin and his wife had just had a baby a week before this so it was hard for Kristal (his wife) to be at the hospital with him and we were so glad we went because Mom was able to stay with Kevin so Kristal could be with baby Sammy (who we got to me... since we were there. heehee). It was a crazy busy trip of back and forth to the hospital, Kevin's house and my sisters house (she let us stay with her). Em stayed with Maegan for most of it and I was grateful that she was able to help out.
Through the whole drive, surgery and recovery when we were there I felt pretty at peace about everything. I wasn't freaking out. I knew everything would be ok. The surgery went great! The dr said his lungs and heart look amazing and healthy. He stayed in the hospital for a week with some crazy chest tubes and an epidural but his recovery went well and the nurses were all amazed by his willingness to walk when asked (apparently most people cry and beg not to be moved because it's one of the most painful surgeries). As of yesterday (Jan 28th) he's out of the hospital and home resting. I'm so grateful that everything went so well and that he's here and healthy. I don't know if he realizes how much his family loves him. He's still our baby... even at 24. Haha.
While I was there I got some pictures of all the good, bad and totally adorable (aka Sammy)....
Each time we stopped for gas, food or treats we let Em get out and stretch her legs. She was such a great traveler but she loved to get out...
On Monday morning we headed over to the hospital to spend time with Kev before his surgery. They gave him some compression socks and we had a good laugh over how silly they looked...
They rolled Kev into surgery so we headed over to meet Sammy (Samuel Craig Harmon). He was the perfect thing to distract us from being stressed about Kev. He is adorable and so sweet! I took a million pictures of him!
We headed stopped at the hospital just in time for the doctor to come out and tell us that the surgery went really well. He was in recovery for a while so we went home to spend some time with Em. I got her all bundled and took her out into the front yard to play with snow. She loved it but didn't like how cold it was. Haha.
We headed back to the hospital and they had just brought Kev back to his room. You could tell that he was still really out of it but very uncomfortable. Luckily he had an epidural in his upper back that kept him pretty pain free so once all that kicked in he was just fine. We are so grateful that everything went well and that he had such a great recovery... considering. :)
Em had fun playing with her cousins while we were there. I didn't get many pictures because it was a crazy few days but I did get this one of her in their Minnie costume (just like hers) watching Ariel...
I took Maegan and Em to Denny's for some breakfast and Em was a big fan of the sausage. She totally stole mine and ate the whole thing...
Tammy made us some spaghetti for dinner and Em's cousin Lily fed her which was great because she had so much fun she ate her whole plate! She is a pretty good eater but for some reason wasn't that night until Lily came over. Whew!
Before we left we brought Em by to say hi. She had fun peeking at Kev...
Then we went to say goodbye to Sammy. Em got to meet him finally and she was a little fascinated by the "baby!". She peeked and pointed and kept saying "baby! baby!"
We weren't on the road very long before both girls were OUT!
We stopped in St. George for lunch and some ice cream. Em walked all over and had fun trying to reach into the fountain there.
We got some Cold Stone which was delicious! Em was a fan...
Later we stopped for dinner and I had her come in with me so she could walk around. She insisted on bringing BOTH of her blankets with her and carrying them. She sat and waited for our food while snuggling them...
