Sunday

Big news from the NICU today...Delaney hit the 3 lb mark and officially weighed in tonight at 3 lbs .05 oz. Three pounds may sound small still (which it is), but she sure has grown since we got here on January 27th (she was 1 lb 14.5 oz). She continues to have A's & B's but the big difference these days is that she seems to be able to work them out faster than she did previously. She remains on the high-flow oxygen system and is now fed 26 ml of milk every three hours with supplements. Her neighbor is transitioning from an isolette to an open crib, and we are eagerly anticipating the day that Delaney gets to move into her own big girl bed.

Delaney's clothes are all ridiculously big for her, but she sure is cute in them.

Saturday

Brandon and Meredith have driven across the entire state over the last several days but finally made it back to Grand Junction. There's always a lot of catching up to do after being gone, but we made it back just in time for Delaney's bath. She's a sight to see in her new little clothes, but we sure do enjoy her bath days.

Brandon enjoyed spending some time outside with his coworkers for their long-awaited pronghorn trap but as always was eager to get back to the girls. He was able to bring back an

antelope horn tip from trapping & Meredith wanted it to stay in Delaney's room with all her other good medicine.

Friends and family continue to rally around us and are helping to make our stay in Grand Junction as stress free as possible. Thanks again, and Meredith asked us to tell everyone that she loves you and that she hopes to see you soon.

Friday

Very little to report today. Delaney had a few more bouts of apnea compared to the past few days. But nothing that wasn't predicted because of the changes in the high flow vs. low flow oxygen debate. She was placed back on the high flow oxygen and this evening already had a bloated belly (in a few days they will change her back to the low flow to give her belly a break). She has not gained as much weight as the doctors would like to see, so they have ordered a sodium supplement to be given several times a day. Mom was also allowed to dress her in some warm and cute pajamas!

Meredith had a wonderful time at grandma's dressing up and playing with her dolls. While mom managed to escape for a few hours (to take advantage of the good weather) and went for a much needed hike with a new dear friend.

Thursday

It was very quiet on the NICU floor today. A small four year old was missing... Only to be found on another adventure with her dad. Leaving Delaney and mom somewhat lonely but looking forward to some much needed rest.

Yesterday, Brandon and Meredith traveled back to Gunnison for the night and then left bright and early this morning for Pueblo. For months now Brandon has been organizing an antelope capture and transplant project near Pueblo. With the help from several co-workers they set the trap today and hopefully tomorrow they will capture several to be released near Gunnison.

Meredith spent the day at Grandma's house in Florance where a special trunk of dress up clothes can be found. Tomorrow, she will reunite with dad so she can watch them release the Antelope. Returning to Grand Junction on Saturday.

No changes today with Delaney's meds or oxygen levels. She spent several hours snuggling mom and hopefully spent the day growing and gaining weight. It truly was a quiet, uneventful day.

Wednesday

Delaney has been in Grand Junction for an entire month now and what an incredible ride it's been. We've had heartbreaking setbacks and seen incredible progress. One thing for sure is that no day or night is the same. Things that are one way before lunch can be entirely different in the afternoon.

Today, Delaney not only got to wear her first "outfit", she also advanced into the next size diaper. The new size is ridiculously huge but we're hoping the larger ones will help alleviate any pressure on her belly. The doctors and nurses are still adjusting her oxygen levels, trying to find the best way to help her lungs. We have said it before and will continue to say it, she just needs to grow!

Tuesday

More of the same today for our Delaney, which we don't mind one bit. She did get another x-ray of her lungs in order for the doctors to evaluate her very large and bloated belly. It appears that her stomach and intestines are quick to fill with air and that causes her great discomfort. It also creates less room for her lungs to expand (causing obvious breathing problems). So, they have decided to reduce her oxygen flow level from 5 liters to 3...we're very curious to see how she'll respond to this change.

We had several more visitors today and appreciate how far everyone is willing to travel to meet Delaney. It adds excitement to our day and we are more than proud to showoff our special little one. Meredith loves the attention as well!

Monday

Delaney gave us another good day today. Lots of kangaroo care for mom and dad, and a few friendly Gunnison visitors to boot. Jennifer and Meredith tried to spend some time at the park today, but Grand Junction's bizarre winter stifled them with bitter cold and wind. Wouldn't it figure that for the first time in several years we are having a mild winter in Gunnison, while Grand Junction is experiencing their worst winter in recent history. It's not so bad though for us Gunnison folk, but the weather gods could grace us with a little more sun and warmth.

We continue to receive cards and packages from friends and family, and hope some day we can pay all of your generosity forward. There are a lot of good people in the world, we can attest to that.

We have learned to take Delaney's weight each day with a grain of salt, but today she had a pretty significant gain. She gained 40 grams from yesterday, which is more than one ounce. Another 75 days and she'll have it licked.

Sunday

Another snowy day in Grand Junction. And a day of improvements, thank goodness. Delaney seemed to respond well to the increased caffeine and medication for her lungs. What a relief it was to find out hat she had a good night. We were rewarded with over five hours of Kangaroo Care between the both of us. Once again we were reminded of how she just needs to continue to grow so that she can overcome her breathing issues. Tonight we finally got a great picture of Delaney with her eyes open as she was sucking on her pacifier before her feeding. She can't see much right now, but she does like to open her eyes and let them wander.

Our Uncle Jesse went home today and we were all very sad to see him go. Words can not express how much we appreciate all of the visitors, phone calls, and emails that we receive on a daily basis. It's a comfort to know that so many family and friends think of us. Jennifer was reminded today of what a special network of girlfriends she has.

Keep your fingers crossed for more good days ahead.

Saturday

Friday night proved to be very difficult for Delaney. We were told that the night nurse had to stay close to her isolette to assist her during her frequent apnea and brady spells. Kangaroo Care was abruptly stopped this morning when she couldn't recover from an apnea spell, and the doctor had to come in and help bag her with the nurses. It was a rough morning.

Based on her behavior over the last 24 hours, the doctors made some modifications to her feedings and provided her with increased caffeine, and some medication that is intended to help clear the fluid that has built up in her lungs (that was detected during a chest x-ray yesterday). This afternoon and evening she seemed to be doing better & we hope she has a better night. Tomorrow she will be having blood work done, so we'll have a better feel for things following that. Tonight she lost a little weight which was expected because of the medication she's on; last night she weighed 2 lbs, 9.4 oz.

Life in the NICU is definitely a roller-coaster ride.

Friday

Another uneventful day in Delaney's NICU pod, although she seemed to have a little more apnea today than the last few days. Maybe she's just tired, or adjusting to her increased feed volume.

We visited with one of the doctors this morning and it sounded like her blood work came back normal today. Good news. We gave her another bath today which was definitely the highlight of the day.

Meredith spent an hour or so today doing an art project and made two clothespin dolls (thanks Ellie and Patty for the kit). Brandon's brother showed up this evening, which caused great excitement in our neck of the woods. He traveled over from Denver and will spend the weekend with us.

Thursday

Delaney's day went pretty well. She had some blood work done this morning which indicated that her sodium levels were somewhat low and also showed that her thyroid stats were out of the norm. The doctors plan to run a few more tests tomorrow to double check these results. They also bumped up her feed rate a little more today, so we'll see how she handles the extra volume. Neonatal medicine is pretty amazing, with so many seemingly small things for parents to learn about.

With a little more time available during the day we've been able to catch some power naps. These come in handy because our upstairs neighbors are apparently vampires and seem to be most active (ie. loud) during all hours of the night. Yesterday Meredith's friend Ellie F. visited for a little while which she really enjoyed and was definitely a special treat.

Thanks for all the cards and treats in Grand Junction. The picture above is by Nurse Meredith and shows the going-ons in the NICU.

Wednesday

It was three weeks ago tonight that Delaney Rose made it to St. Mary's in Grand Junction. We've been looking back at all of the pictures we've taken and can definitely see her progress. The NICU nurses are very encouraged by her trends, and we were happy to see that she gained some weight last night. She had a good day today, with plenty of kangaroo care for dad and mom. There's really not much to report today...which is a good thing.

Tuesday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!

Today we celebrated Brandon's 34th Birthday. Nothing made him happier then to have all three of his girls together. The festivities started last night when we gave Delaney her first official bath. She really seemed to enjoy it, squawking slightly when we dried her off. It took four of us (including her Big Sis) and we managed to complete the entire process in less than 10 minutes. It was fun to see her with all her bells and whistles off (other than the nasal cannula). We had to be quick though, and watch her color and behavior closely. What a special treat, we can't wait for the next bath day.

We had a birthday lunch at the Olive Garden (thanks to a gift card that was given to us). And for dessert the birhday request was Satin's Danish, otherwise known as Golden Grahams S'More Treats. MMMMMM good!

Delaney seems to be maintaining the same trend she's been on over the last several days. She seems to recover better from her A's & B's and hasn't had to be bagged lately. We try to savor her good days, but have to stay guarded. This morning Brandon walked in and she was recovering from a brady spell. She just needs to keep growing.

Monday

Reunited in Grand Junction once again.

Today Meredith and I were both anxious to get back to Jennifer and Delaney. Grandma probably thought I was a mad man running around the house this morning packing up our things. We appreciate Grandma's help over the last week and hope she had a safe trip home.
It was nice to breathe the Gunnison air for a few days but it's nice to be back together again.

We made it to Grand Junction just in time for some of Delaney's 12:00 care and found Jennifer keeping things in order. Although we've only been gone a few days, I noticed that her left eye has finally started to look more normal (it was bruised and swollen for quite a while), and her head seems to be back to a more normal shape after they stopped using the CPAP gear. We couldn't stay in the NICU for long, and hustled to get moved back into our apartment. We are so thankful for our new friends in Grand Junction that let Jennifer stay with them while we were back in Gunnison. Hopefully that will be the last time we have to move out.

Delaney had another ultrasound of her head this morning and the preliminary evaluation from the Doctors was that she did not have any bleeding in her brain. The final report will be out tomorrow morning. For those of you following the blog, you know that this is the second time she's had a head ultrasound and it is one of the most nerve-racking tests we've faced (both times). Hopefully tomorrow's final assessment will corroborate the preliminary evaluation.

We received some great packages in the mail today in Grand Junction, and can't thank you enough for helping keep us sane. Meredith got some great coloring books and we now have Delaney's first little outfit. Even though it's preemie size, Delaney has a ways to go before she'll fit into it. On Sunday she was weighing in at 2 lbs, 4 oz.

Saturday

Had a busy day yesterday. The apartment we are living in is a vacation rental and the owner had already booked this weekend with some other guests. We had to pack up the whole shibang and move out until Monday afternoon. Jennifer stayed in Grand Junction and Meredith and I made the trip back to Gunnison. It was hard leaving- Meredith cried for 15 minutes while we left. She knows we need to be there to take care of her little sister. Jennifer reports that Delaney is doing pretty good. She hasn't gained much weight over the last week and the doctors would like to start working on that. Sounds like that will entail more supplements added to Mom's milk. If any of you happen to talk to her, make sure she is taking good naps while we're away.

We've been busy since we've been back in Gunnison taking care of a few chores around the house and figuring out what we'll need to bring back to Grand Junction on Monday. The timing was very good, however, because Meredith was able to go to her friend Josie's birthday party in Crested Butte this morning. She was just as excited to see her friends as they were to see her. I was able to go for a nice walk with my Annie dog and play ball with her. The first thing we did when we got back to town was go kidnap Annie from the Zadra's. It's going to be hard leaving her again for another undetermined period of time (even though we know she's in good hands). My advice for the day: take a moment to love on your pets; they're some of the best friends you probably have.

It's good to be in Gunnison for a few days, but already seems like we've been gone for years. For all of you that I've talked to since I've been in town- thanks for all the kind words & support.

Thursday

We spent a lot of time over at the NICU today. Delaney was on a pretty good run over the last 24 hours. We try not to get cocky or complacent about her condition because she humbles us in a hurry.

The NICU staff talks a lot about "A's" and "B's". The A refers to apnea of prematurity, which is when she stops breathing. Those bouts are typically more frequent than the B's, which are no fun to watch. The B refers to bradycardia, or "Brady's", which is when her heart rate slows suddenly and significantly. Normally her heart rate is between 140 and 160 beats / minute. When she has a brady her heart rate slows way down, sometimes less than 50 beats / minute. You can see when it happens on her monitor and then time seems to stand still while she (with aid from the nurses sometimes) works to recover. Her color changes from her well oxygenated red/pink to what they call "dusky" (blue/gray). I guarantee you we will never get used to seeing that. I think we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time today, so were present during several of the brady spells. Standing back watching your child struggle is like your worst bad dream.

The doctors have kept her on the nasal cannula, and Delaney seems to like it. We worry about her little nose and face with all the strain that it's been through. So many things to worry about.

Wednesday

Today the NICU staff decided to try a high-flow nasal canula for short periods of time and see how Delaney does. It's a treat to see her without all of her head gear on. During the times we've been in the NICU today she seems to be doing good without the CPAP mask on. She still has her episodes, but our nurses have learned some of her tricks and try to stay right on top of things in case she starts to have issues. They also decided that her newer feeding tube wasn't achieving the desired results, so we are back to her original tube directly into her stomach. For now, they're going to feed her in intervals rather than continuously so that she doesn't get so full, and so that they have an opportunity to pull some of the air out of her belly between feedings.

Meredith has been making friends in the NICU, and may be destined to become a nurse. She's a pretty good helper but it's getting harder to pull her away from her sister when it's time to go.

Tuesday

Slept in a little today. Believe it or not, time has been flying by.

Tomorrow Delaney will have been here for two weeks already. I'm sure that one of these days geologic time will set in and the reality of three months will hit home. I know a lot of you are checking the blog several times a day and we apologize for not posting more often. Our stamina has started to wane, and we are two tired parents. We definitely will keep posting, but it may be only once a day.

Delaney is doing pretty good, but continues to act her age. The nurse pulled the IV out of her head last night which hopefully will be more comfortable for her (but it was hard watching it removed-Delaney was mad). Her feeding rate has continued to increase and this morning she was actually at her "goal". This means that if she can keep it up, they will eventually stop with the other IV supplement and eventually remove the central IV that goes from her right hand to her chest. She gained some weight last night after a few days of no gain and is now over a kilogram.

A big thanks goes out to our friends that have sent us packages in Grand Junction. It's a nice treat to get a package and remember what it's like to be home. Meredith was so excited last night to open the box from Stepping Stones! Thank you so much.

Monday

Grandma came to visit yesterday so Meredith is at the park right now blowing off some steam. We would like to say thanks to those of you that have brought us great food over the last several days- it's very thoughtful.

Delaney continues to have bouts of apnea, some worse than others. It seems the doctors are becoming a little more concerned about the frequency of the bouts and decided this morning to try something new with her feeding. They have inserted a new feeding tube that terminates directly into her intestine rather than into her stomach. They are speculating that she is having reflux issues where milk comes up into her esophagus from her full belly (many term babies have reflux issues also). She doesn't want milk in her lungs so she clamps her trachea shut and subsequently stops breathing. The pressure from the milk can also hit a nerve that can stop her heart. No good comes from either scenario. Hopefully the new feeding effort will help reduce her apnea. The idea is that the milk will be fed slowly into her gut rather than her stomach so she won't be as full and reflux should be reduced. They're going to do this for the next 24 hours or so and see how she does.

Meredith and her mom had a special day yesterday. The plan was always for Jennifer and Meredith to go have a "spa" day just before Delaney's birth. Part of the plan was to get Meredith's ears pierced. The spa day was considerably downgraded, but Meredith was amazingly brave and did get her ears pierced. We are really working hard to make her time here more comfortable (even if her parents are tired and grouchy sometimes).

Sunday

Our day is off to a rough start. You can read about preemies, surf the net about preemies, talk to doctors about preemies, or visit with parents that have had preemies, but I promise you nothing will adequately prepare you for this experience. Our time in the NICU is spent talking with the nurses and doctors (sometimes we know the right questions to ask), watching Delaney, and mostly, watching Delaney's monitor. It's hard not to become obsessed with the monitor, as it provides a constant snap-shot of her vital rates. You immediately begin to recognize when she is in distress, and mentally urge her to work it out. When she can't work it out on her own, she requires intervention from the nurses and it is hard to watch. Last night she had a second blood transfusion because her hematocrit levels were too low. Hopefully over the next few days she'll begin to feel the benefits of a few more red blood cells and more oxygen in her body. Send us your good thoughts because we sure need them.

Saturday

Snow this morning in Grand Junction; feels more like home.

Confirmed that Delaney's ductus is closed now, so that is great news. She still misbehaves on a regular basis and forgets to breathe, and her Mom and Dad are now competing for the most gray hairs discovered on a daily basis. Today we happened to be in the NICU when she had a good (ie. bad) spell of apnea; talk about feeling helpless-but a great nurse makes all the difference. Delaney's now on a continuous feeding regime (Mom's milk) and she is trying to adjust to all that milk in her belly. It's good for her though, and she has gained some weight (measured in grams/day). Last night I think she surpassed her birth weight (she currently gets 9 ml of milk over a three hour period). Keep growing kiddo.

Big news today from the NICU. The ban on kids was lifted yesterday, so guess what? One little girl got to go in today and meet another little girl for the first time. We were all so happy it hurt. It was so good for Meredith to make this connection and it seems like she has a better understanding now of what is happening and actually feels involved. Hopefully they won't put the restriction back in place, but certainly it's there for a reason. If you look at the picture of Delaney, you'll see her holding her sister's hand for the first time. That may have been one of the highlights of Meredith's life.

Friday

Today we had all sorts of visitors, and Delaney got to meet some of her support crew. Our hero Kathleen came up with her husband Paul and their little girl Justine. That made Meredith's day because they're buddies and got to play together for a little while. Stephanie Juneau from Crested Butte visited, and so did our friends Scott Wait, Brad Banulis, and Steph Duckett.

Jennifer was able to do kangaroo care earlier this evening and overall Delaney had a pretty good day. I'm not sure we'll ever get used to her bouts of apnea, but we are coming to expect them during our visits and realize they are normal for preemies her age. We didn't get a chance to visit with any of the doctors today, so hopefully we can catch up with one of them tomorrow.

Brandon made the nurses laugh tonight trying to change a diaper on a little girl that wasn't ready to be changed. With a stack of diapers he made it through, but Delaney did what all good babies do and peed on him and her bed in the process. He thinks she knew what she was doing. Poor little girl has some diaper rash, but that means she's having plenty of dirty diapers which is good.

Friday

We're waiting to hear the results of Delaney's third echocardiogram that they did this morning. Hopefully her ductus is closed now for good. Be strong little girl.

Thursday

We had a discussion with the doctors today about Delaney's head ultrasound. Three doctors evaluated the results; two of the three concluded that they were unremarkable. One of the three thought that a particular region of the brain was slightly enlarged (which may be indicative of some bleeding). I suppose the good news is that there was no blatant areas of concern, however they will plan on doing a second ultrasound in approximately 10-14 days and of course watching her every move. Poor little girl also had a more severe bout of apnea today which required the nurses to remove her CPAP and get her breathing going again with a bag pump (not sure what its actually called). We weren't there at the time, but the news was a little hard on Mom and Dad.

Jennifer is sad today because her baby belly has pretty well disappeared already. It's hard to believe, but if you saw her today you would never know she just had a baby. We miss staring at her belly throughout the day and watching the little girl poke and kick.

News from Gunnison- our wonderful friends have set up an account for us at a local bank so people can donate money to our cause. Have you ever imagined that your family would show up in the newspaper with an ad for help because your life has been turned upside down? It's not a good feeling, and very hard to come to grips with for those of us that aren't used to asking for help.

We have no expectations from anyone, but if you want to contribute:

The Delaney Rose Diamond Fund

Gunnison Savings and Loan

303 N. Main St.

Gunnison, CO 81230

Thursday

For those of you that know Meredith, you know that one of her favorite things in life is her "pink". It's a little pink blanket with a bear on it that she has had forever. It's worn and torn now, but she still carries it around and sleeps with it at night. The other day she was shopping with her Grandparents and found a special gift for her new sister. I asked what it was when she got home and she said "it's a special new pink for my little sister." Delaney's new pink quickly made its way over to the NICU and before we knew it, she was cuddled up with it. Jennifer got a great picture of her with her new pink the other night.

Thursday

Another long day for us so far, but we had a good morning with Delaney. Brandon went in first thing to help with morning care and ended up getting to do kangaroo care for close to 45 minutes. It's very special to be able to hold your little girl for the first time, but also a little scary because she is so small and fragile.

We also had a nice treat today because our good friends the Bishop's stopped by to visit. Meredith got to hang out with Jake, and the bunch went to Chuck-E-Cheese for lunch. Meredith had a great time and it also gave us a chance to help with Delaney's late morning care, which included shampooing her little head of hair. Sometimes we're lucky enough to catch the NICU staff doing their daily rounds together. They are great people who are incredibly knowledgeable and also very personable.

Thank you to everyone that has sent us emails, voicemails, and blog comments over the last several days. We really enjoy hearing from you.

DAY 8

Just got back from the NICU and Delaney seemed to be having a better night tonight. Jennifer ended up doing Kangaroo care this afternoon, which lifted her spirits. Tomorrow is a big day again as Delaney will be getting her third echocardiogram and an ultrasound done of her head. Send us positive thoughts.

A lot of folks have been asking us what our living arrangement is, and we appreciate all the help and wonderful offers. As you can imagine, this was a source of MAJOR distress a few days after Delaney arrived in Grand Junction. We needed a place to cook good meals and provide Meredith with a decent night's sleep. Saturday morning my parents discovered a vacation rental apartment that is a five minute walk from Delaney's room (the picture is from Delaney's bedside). You have no idea what a relief that was in the midst of a terrible storm. Thank you parents. Hopefully we can stay here for the duration, but maintaining two separate households is going to take some getting used to. We miss our Annie dog.

DAY 8

Hard to believe a week has already gone by. Delaney continues to have short bouts of apnea, and is keeping the nurses on their feet. Jennifer had her staples removed this morning, which made her C-section incision feel a lot better. Unfortunately our Nanny Kathy went home this afternoon, so it's back to just the three (four) of us again. Thanks for everything Kathy.

We look forward to having visitors over the coming weeks, but wanted to ask a favor of you all. If you or your children are sick, we ask that you wait to visit until you're feeling better. It is very important that Jennifer and I stay healthy- or else we can't enter the NICU for obvious reasons. I thought I had a cold coming on a few days ago and didn't get to visit Delaney for almost two days, which was hard on me (Brandon). For folks that will be coming to see us, we recommend checking out the hotel options on Horizon Drive on the north end of Grand Junction. Most of the hotels you could want are up there, and it is very close to the hospital.
Just thought that might be helpful for those of you that have never been to Grand Junction. Thanks again to you all. We could not be pulling this off without you.

DAY 8

The honey-moon seemed to be ending yesterday. Delaney's recent challenges are apparently typical for a preemie her age, but it sure brought us down in a hurry. The nurses started another course of medication to help get the valve in her heart to close, increased her caffeine levels slightly to further stimulate breathing, and also had to give her an enema because she was getting behind on her dirty diapers. She seemed to be doing a little better this morning, but Jennifer may opt out of Kangaroo care for today. Delaney is starting to get some sores around her nose and face from the CPAP mask, and the nurses were trying to mitigate for that this morning.

Today is her one week birthday.

DAY 7

Mailing Address:

Out of necessity, we have set up a PO box at a UPS Store here in Grand Junction. Several folks have asked for an address to send us packages, so here goes-

For now, please address packages, mail, etc. to

Brandon Diamond

2536 Rimrock Avenue, Suite 400

PO Box 135

Grand Junction, CO 81505

Thanks everyone.

DAY 7

Meredith told me today that she wished she was a grown-up so she could meet her little sister. She has been so brave so far, but we know she misses all her friends, toys, and pets. She's been having fun with her Nanny from Washington, and her new favorite movie is "Up". We've enjoyed watching all the geese fly through the skies of Grand Junction, and it's a small comfort for us to watch them fly past Delaney's room.

The nurses in the NICU (although the haven't met Meredith yet) have given us some special gifts including preemie diapers and eye protectors like the ones Delaney wears. Meredith's new bear (thanks Rhonda & J) is named Delaney, and she takes care of her like she will some day take care of her little sister.

DAY 7

Today has been a little rough. Our nurse today was concerned that our "honey-moon" period may be coming to an end. Delaney had a lot going on this morning with care periods and a second echocardiogram to check on the progress of her heart. There is a "valve" in her heart that needs to close now that she is post-partum. We have not yet heard the final word, but the valve seems to be in a transitional state- hopefully it will be completely closed soon. More alarms were going off today in her room (which takes a lot of getting used to) and she had several apnea episodes that required some stimulation to get her breathing going again. She gets tired easily, and for a preemie her age, the simple act of breathing takes a lot out of her. Because she was tired today, we agreed to hold off on kangaroo care, which was a bummer. Tomorrow, the staff plans to give her a "day off", so she won't be poked or prodded unless necessary. Our lives remain chaotic, and we are slowly trying to restore some semblance of normalcy.