Outpatient Day 6....

We got up early this morning to be to our appt at 8:00 a.m. at the Journey Clinic to have the dressing changed on her Hickman line. The dressing has to be changed 24 hours after surgery. Normally the shuttle runs every 1/2 hour at the RMH. We were outside at 7:30 a.m. and waited and waited. They are never late. Finally at 7:45 I decided I would go back inside and call. Luckily there was another mom in the kitchen so I asked her about it and she informed me on the weekend you have to call to get the shuttle and during the week you have to call before 8 a.m. That would have been nice to know! We quickly called and they sent a shuttle. Well on the weekend it is a private car with one of the hospital security guards that picks you up. What a great service. Ariauna did great for her 1st dressing change. It did hurt a bit this time when they cleaned it because it is still an open wound. It will probably sting the first few times until the skin heals and covers the line. Poor girl. On these next few pictures you can see the Hickman line with the dressing covering it and the last picture is the Hickman line while they did the change without any of the dressing on it. Also if you look close you can see a purplish stuff up by her neck. That is a liquid bandage that is covering another small incision where they went in at the top to place the Hickman line. I find it amazing that they can do these lines now days so they do not have to continue to poke her every time they need to do a blood draw or every time they need to start another IV. The difference in her Hickman line is that it goes into a larger vein in her heart that can hold more and take more. There is also less chance of an infection and it has 2 lines so they can be doing chemo in one and give her morphine or whatever else she might need in the other.

After our appt we went back to the RMH and had breakfast and then Ariauna went down to the Castle to play while I cleaned up the dishes. Suddenly she came running into the room and said Mom, Mom, you have to come here. You won't believe who is downstairs. I grabbed our room key and we went running downstairs and I couldn't believe my eyes. It was Ronald himself....

Ronald came by along with his friends who are helping with the Ronald McDonald Ferrari Fundraiser. They have a Fundraiser going right now with a Ferrari that is traveling all over the world. It is a brand new Ferrari and the owner is letting them drive it all over the world to earn money for the Ronald McDonald Houses. They have already put 180,000 miles on the car before the owner even got a chance to enjoy it. Here is Ari posing with it so she could show it to Daddy, Austin, Grandpa and her Uncles.

Ronald gave Ariauna these stickers and temporary tattoos. She was thinking she was pretty cool.

This afternoon we met some more very special friends. Our Bishop in Salt Lake contacted the Bishop here in Minneapolis and I forgot to mention on the blog that Bishop Chrysler here in Minnesota called me this last Monday and left me a voice message. I called him back and we had a good little visit. He mentioned that they have 5 hospitals in their ward boundaries. Crazy! It was good to visit with him and to have his number if I need it. He told me he would pass our information along and have others get in contact with me. The Primary President in the ward here Sister Gould actually contacted me on email this last week and we have text'd several times since then. Anyway, long story short...Her and her daughters came to visit us today. They came over to the Ronald McDonald House which is not close to them to introduce themselves to us and let us know they care and are here to help in any way they can. Again, I knew this was another one of my Heavenly Father's tender mercies. I need to know a few people here in Minnesota in case I need something. I was so grateful to them for taking time out of their Saturday to spend some time with us. Her daughters are 9 and 11. So one of them is Ariauna's age. Both of the girls were very sweet to Ariauna and she gained some instant friends again. I am so thankful for these sweet angels in Minnesota who are so willing to take us under their wing and help us during this journey. They brought Ariauna this gift bag with a bunch of fun things in it.

Ariauna absolutely loved it as you can tell by the smile on her face. There was treats, pens, paper, markers, stickers, crafts and a really cute owl blanket. They also brought us a really yummy dessert- strawberries with pound cake and whipping cream. It was delicious!  We had a good little visit and we were sad to see them leave. Before they left they offered to pick us up for church in the morning. We were excited to be able to go. I had packed Ariauna a few shirts and skirts, but forgot to throw a skirt in for me. So Ariauna and I had gone to Target this week and picked me up a skirt. We went out to lunch and then had dinner at the Ronald McDonald House. We have started to meet a few of the families at the Ronald McDonald house. There are so many families here and with so many different diseases. Ariauna is starting to meet some friends to play with. We had a pretty quite Saturday. It made for some alone time to worry and miss our family and friends at home. They have so many activities and fun things to do during the week that it makes the time pass quickly, but the weekends are pretty quite and lonely. Missing you all!! Sending love from Minnesota.