The Harrison Family: July - Surgery and Grandpa and Aunt Donna visit!

We were so excited that Aunt Donna and Grandpa decided to fly to Houston to spend a long weekend with us. Johnny and Rachel were going to visit friends in Dallas and decided to stay the weekend with us too! It was so nice to have out extended Family and cousins to visit and let the kids just play. The kids usually see each other during busy family events but never have time to just sit around and play. The weather was great this weekend so we had the opportunity to let the kids swim a bunch. It was also Grandma Shirleys first heavenly birthday so the kids made her cards, we got a cake and sent balloons to her in heaven! I am pretty sure everyone had a great time and I hope that we get to do this again!

I took the opportunity to capture so pictures with Grandpa and the kids

Aunt Donna and Carter AKA spider man

Ms Anita - after jumping in the pool with her clothes on following the Croatia win during the World Cup

Who has bigger muscles?

Carter and Caroline!

Kids all working on birthday cards

Rileys Card to Grandma - Riley and grandma with matching side pony's

The front of Rileys card... Grandma and Grandpa - like the curls grandpa!

Mags and her card - which she later peed on

Balloons ready to fly!

The big release

Delicious red velvet cake

Singing Happy Birthday

Aunt Donna helped me decorate my patio - the kids helped pot the plants!

The guys playing cards

Riley had surgery in July to remove her right ear tube and to put antibiotic gel in the ear to ensure that the MRSA is gone and stays gone. We had a rough time because our Dr that we love had a family emergency the week of our scheduled surgery and left the country until further notice. First they hospital stated they had another surgeon ready to do the surgery but on the night before the surgery they called and said she would not operate on Riley. After me calling and raising hell we secured another surgeon and she operated 4 days later. While in the right ear the Dr saw the disease Riley has Cholesteatoma. This was not expected and not good news. This is what we thought was removed in December and if its all not removed and any skin cells remain you get regrowth and this happens in about 30% of cases. The surgeon while operating was able to go through the hole in the eardrum from the right tube and remove as much disease as she saw and she decided not to replace the right tube. She felt like the hole was there and she wants the eardrum to repair. She cultured the right ear and found that it sill had some signs of MRSA so she packed it with antibiotics. She said the left ear tube looked a little clogged so she replaced it also with a new one. Surgery was pretty fast and although it was not the news we wanted - we were glad the procedure was a success. The surgeon highly recommended we do another cholesteatoma surgery soon - where they cut the back of her ear open to make sure all disease is gone as she was not confident she got it all from the ear canal.

Riley came home a few hours after surgery and seemed to be feeling alright. That night around 2:00 in the morning - I woke up to Riley screaming my name. Justin and I ran upstairs to see what was going on and she was laying on the floor and told me she got up to go to the bathroom and could not walk and fell down. Justin picked her up and brought her to the bathroom and when he touched her she was burning up... I checked her temp 104 - and she started vomiting. Justin loaded her in the car and sent her to the emergency room at Texas Children's. I was so panicked I did not know what to do with myself. The doctors checked her ears and said all looked good and after watching her for a few hours told us she likely had a virus and sent us home. We were able to manage Riley's fever by rotating Tylenol and Motrin but when it wore off - her temp went right back up. The middle of the nights were the worst. I kept calling the Dr daily because fevers like this and lasting made me super nervous. We did x-rays of her chest to test for pneumonia and other issues and nothing showed any definitive answers. Finally after 4 days her fever broke and she was starting to get back to normal. This was super scary and a tough week but we were so grateful this turned out to be nothing serious.

Me and Riley pre-surgery

This is what they took her back to the OR in - a unicorn carriage

My strong, happy, beautiful girl

Post op - still pretty out of it

Feverish and feeling bad

She got excited by all the thoughtful gifts

When we went and got her an X ray because she had a fever she had to wear a mask. She was so embarrassed so her brother put one on to make her feel better