Memorial Day BBQ

Cousins came over for a BBQ on Monday. Eliza is sitting by one of her favorite cousins, Isaac. The weather turned out beautiful and we had a wonderful day! (Don't look at the weeds...that was the part of the yard I didn't get to yet.)

Eliza's Visit to the Hospital

Eliza just returned home from the hospital last week after a 12 day stay due to a shunt infection. She had a shunt (a small tube which takes care of excess spinal fluid) put in last year in China and we have been taking her to Primary Children's Hospital to have her evaluated. I went with her for a follow-up appt. just to go over her x-rays with the neurosurgeon. While I was there, I asked why she had a problem with the skin healing at the site of her shunt on her head. They immediately had a test run to check for infection and said it would probably be a few days before we had any results. One hour later we were called to bring her back and admit her to the hospital!
The shunt had to be removed so she had surgery the next morning. It went fine but she had to stay in the hospital a minimum of 10 days while she had the antibiotics and was attached to an external shunt since a new one can't be put in until the infection is gone. Since she was so high functioning, the neurosurgeon decided to test whether she even needed the shunt. Amazingly, she didn't have to have the second operation. As the doctor said, " That's the luckiest shunt infection ever." She seems to be problem free and we are so grateful for how everything turned out.
We managed to be there for her waking hours but it wasn't easy! We also were able to come up as a family on weekends and Mondays. Thank goodness for friends and family who helped out during this time.

Spring Vacation!

Tuzigoot , Montezuma's Well, Waputki Natl. Monuments, Grand Canyon and the Deer Farm

I'm trying to catch up on the last month or so but we had such a great time in Arizona, I didn't want to miss putting in some pictures.