I really love Bear Lake

Every summer for the past 9 years, my parents and siblings have been going to Bear Lake. We are so lucky because my dad's friend/boss Mark has a house up there with jet skis and 4 wheelers that he lets us use! One of the other owners of the company, Brian, has a house next door and Mark's dad has a house next door on the other side. So we all fit very comfortably. They are all so kind to let us use their houses and toys! Since those early years of there being just 8 people to this year there was 24 people and 3 dogs- we have made some great memories! We all look forward to being together and enjoying the lake.

Tanner and Cade
Josh and Dawson
JD, Marissa, Josh, Dawson, and Tanner
Edwin and Dawson - sweet castle!
Bobby and Amy - nice hat Bobby! This was Amy's first time with us - they have been dating a couple of months. She is a great person - we all loved her. Bobby left on Friday for most of the day for a golf tournament and Amy hung out with the family. She seemed very comfortable and went on a hike and to the beach and fit right in!
Marissa and Zyon!
Grandma Farrell 91 years oldThe siblings! Tyler - 19, Bobby 26, Me 32, Becky 29, Krista 34. Looking good!
I loved this picture - most of us out there!
Ian, Zyon, and Riss
JD and Dawson
The kids and the nintendo - Abby, Tan, Josh, Cade, Dawson
Playing a silly game and making fools of ourselves and JD sneaking a picture!
Love the big tree and the swing - hours of fun!
4wheeling fun!
The boys love that they can ride by themselves (Dawson and Josh at least)!
Cute girls and Daddy. Marissa loved the water - we were a little worried about her surgery and the water but it was great - the steri strips were still on and protected it from the water.
So CUTE!
Buried alive! We laugh when we see this because we love the movie Madagascar 2 and King Julian saying "Who would leave a perfectly good head just lying around?"
10 mile ride - fun times
Krista and I made a Bear Lake book on her computer this year for Christmas for my parents - it was so fun to see the pictures from the past 9 years and remember the funny things that have happened. Now we will have to update that book again in a few years!

It's Over!

July 27, 2010 - Marissa's surgery - bilateral ureteral reimplant for vesicoureteral reflux. Yeah that's a mouthful! We got the call Monday afternoon with our surgery time - hold on to your seats - 2:15 pm. What? Really that just about put me over the edge. My 2 year old is going to have to fast starting Monday night. She can drink clear liquid till 11:15 am and then nothing! I just thought it was going to be horrible but Marissa amazed us once again. She was extremely pleasant and never asked for anything. It was truly a miracle. We got to Grandma Farrell's house to drop off the rest of the family at about 11:30. As JD and I were trying to sneak some lunch without Marissa seeing - Grandma let Riss try on some of her jewelry. What a cutie!

Here we are - ready to leave for the hospital.
Changing into the hospital jammies and being silly! It really helped her that we went to that class that took us through all the steps of what was going to happen on her surgery day.
Smiling pretty with Daddy! She liked our name tags.
Ok - so 2:15 turned into 3 and 3 turned into 3:30. Waiting and waiting - it was horrible. I felt so bad for her - she must have been so thirsty and hungry. But once again - no complaints. We had fun with the bubbles and toys.
Finally the nurse comes with the medication that is supposed to make her really out of it and relaxed. Well she did not get even half of it - she spit it out. Then the surgeon and the anesthesiologist came to talk to us around 4 - Marissa was a little bit relaxed but nothing like she should have been. And then they were ready to take her! So we walked to the say goodbye spot and Riss was clinging to me like nothing else. And then started crying and screaming and asking where we were going. It was HORRIBLE! This was not supposed to happen - she was not supposed to care. So JD pried her hands off my neck and we were both about to cry as the doctor took her. As soon as they turned the corner we didn't hear anything. (He came and told us later that she calmed right down and did great with the gas mask and everything -WHEW!)
About 6:15 they let us know that they were just about done and they would call one parent to go back when she started waking up. So about 7:30 I finally get to go see my baby. It was not a fun sight. Her scar is about 2 inches long. She was breathing really yucky from the breathing tube and it was hard to see her like that. She did down like 4 oz of apple juice in like 3 seconds when she woke up enough. Finally we got to take her up to her room about 8pm. Here we are in her room trying to help her wake up and comfort her.
The first night was horrible for her. She was VERY uncomfortable. Coming out of the anethesia, the breathing tube had made her throat really sore , and the pain from the surgery all complied into one and it stunk. Her epidural catheter they had left in but it just wasn't cutting it. Finally the nurse decided he would give her some morphine - that was about 11pm. So once that kicked in and I felt like she would be relaxed, I left to go sleep at my parents house. JD stayed the night with her.
Sleeping arrangements! I don't think JD slept much at all the two nights he spent at the hospital with her. But I am grateful he took such good care of our girl.
Wednesday morning - she would have good moments but mostly kind of out of it and not feeling well. Some fever and some itch rashes. She scratched up her torso so much - I should have cut her nails before.

The Torres cousins came to visit minus Jade. Riss was so happy to see them. We even attempted to go to the playroom. I think the walk there really wore her out though because when we got there she just wanted to sit and then her stent tube started leaking. But it was nice to have a break and see cousins! Brinley is a pro at all this hospital stuff - she has been battling leukemia for the past 2 years and is almost done with her treatments! Yeah for Brin.
Just not feeling good! Poor sweet Riss.
The whole family visiting. She was so happy to see her brothers and sister. She didn't like it when Brielle started grabbing her tubes!
Grandma and Riss! I am so lucky to have such a great mom and sisters who took such GREAT care of my boys and my baby. That was one of my biggest worries - leaving Brielle but she did wonderfully because of my good family. Big thank you to mom, Becky, and Krista - I would have been a mess without you guys. LOVE YOU!

Such a sweet picture - I had to put it in!
The Carter cousins visiting. Riss slept right through their visit. We were glad they came though!
Chowing down on nachos and gatorade! I loved their room service. She could order anything she wanted. It was wonderful.
She started feeling good Wednesday afternoon, so we headed to the outside play area. It was overcast so it was nice. She got to ride a bunch of different bikes - she loved it.
Going home - Thursday morning! Marissa was so excited to go home. She loaded up all her gifts and said goodbye! She was such a trooper - I was so proud of her.
All smiles!
Things have gone pretty well. Friday we had to go back up to get her stent out. That was NOT FUN. She had bladder spasms the rest of the day - she cried and cried on our drive home and it was just the two of us. I finally pulled over and got back there and just held her. I felt so bad. Now the only pain that really bothers her is when she goes to the bathroom - it still hurts and I hope that will be passing soon. Way to go Marissa - we love you!

Pork and Beans

Surgery

Well the appointment with the urologist - surgery July 27. She has stage 4 reflux. Her kidney is damaged but nothing they can do about that. She will have to be screened for hypertension every year (high blood pressure). The surgery should fix the problem - 95% success rate. It's quite an invasive surgery. 2 1/2 hours long and probably 2 to 3 days in the hospital. I'm scared and sad and worried - how do you explain this to a 2 year old? She will get to go up to Primary's for a class that helps her get ready for the surgery. They practice putting on the gas mask that will put her to sleep and take her around the hospital to get used to being there. I am very grateful for modern medicine and doctors - that is a true blessing - but I'm still scared.

Marissa Robin

It's been a rough couple of weeks for this sweet little 2 year old! It all started with a really bad virus which I thought was strep throat. So we went to see the doctor - no strep just a bad painful virus in her throat with really high fevers - no fun. Since I was there I wanted to ask a question I've been wondering about for a long while. Ever since she was born she has had really bad smelling pee (I did mention this to her pediatrician at her 2 weeks or 2 month checkup - he said - pee smells bad - not funny now). Seriously at night walking past her room was just nauseating. Anyway - since she's been potty trained for 4 months I have noticed that her pee is really cloudy. Hmmm - so I brought that up to the doctor and she said well let's check it out. Urine sample that evening - bacteria showed up right away - will send sample to be cultured - so antibiotics started. I won't even get into the horrible time we have with Marissa taking medicine - just know that it is totally horrible and totally ridiculous. Allergy to amoxicillin too. URG. Since she didn't have any symptoms of a UTI (urinary tract infection) - doctor wants to make sure her kidneys are ok. Off to ultra sound at Primary Children's Hospital. Ultra sound of kidneys - shouldn't be hard - right? Marissa did not like it one bit and cried almost the whole time while the technician got all the pictures she needed. Poor kid. Bad news - one kidney is 2 cm larger than the other - what's that mean - we aren't sure but could be scarring from a UTI she's probably had her WHOLE life. Talk about a super hero who must not feel pain - I feel so bad. Anyway - next step - sedation and a VCUG at Primary Children's again. The VCUG is a catheter they insert in her and fill her bladder of with fluid and dye and then they x-ray to watch how it flows from the bladder. So the medicine they give her for the sedation doesn't put her all the way out. Totally out of it but not asleep. We had a heck of a time getting her to take the medicine - we finally had to hold her down while the nurse forced it behind her teeth till she swallowed it. That was the worst of it. Poor girl was so funny to watch. She was so loopy and giggly and then totally mellow. Well JD and I had researched online and knew what was bad and what was not so bad. So as we watched the x-rays we knew it wasn't so good. The doctor was there too and just told us she definitely has reflux of the bladder and it's probably a stage 3 or 4 out of 5. So what that means is that instead of the urine flowing out of the bladder it refluxes back up into the kidneys. Next step - we will go see a urologist at Primary Children July 6. For now she is on a maintenance dose of antibiotics to prevent any more UTIs. Some kids have to be on that low dose of antibiotics for years other times they have to do surgery. So I guess we will see what happens.

Here we are before the medicine made her loopy - she got a cool frisbee.
On the x -ray table looking at the cool light toys - distraction techniques!
After it was all done! She loved the jammies and wanted to take them home. She was still so funny - I love this picture.
Oh by the way she had to fast. I couldn't let her eat anything at all in the morning - it was torturous (probably more for me because I was so worried about it). And her appointment wasn't till 12:30pm. We had to do a lot of playing to distract her from the food. But she did great - she really didn't complain too much - what a trooper.
Still pretty wobblely for awhile afterward. We couldn't let her walk alone for a couple of hours. She bounced back pretty quick but was tired and mellow.

So that was on Wednesday the 16th. The next night I was feeding Brielle and Riss was all ready for bed so I said go downstairs and see Daddy. She heads to the stairs and next thing I hear is boom boom boom, and then crying. I'll keep this story short - broken clavical (collar bone)! But let me just say that Marissa really is tough. She has like a 30 degree break but she was using her arm. Certain movements hurt so JD thought it was just a bruise - I am so glad we went to the doctor. All they can do for her is put her in this brace. Not fun. She does have to go get it x-rayed again this Friday to make sure it is healing right since it was such a bad break.
So yeah - it's been a tough few weeks for this cute girl. But you know it isn't slowing her down one bit. I'm so worried about her running around and riding her bike and all the things she does. I'll probably have a nervous breakdown just from worrying!!

Oh how I love this little girl!