Our 2nd fill

Well not much has happened since I wrote last week. I started back to work, which was so great. Thanks to the doctor I work for, I was able to order a box of masks to have here at home, so we can still fill even if Dustin or I am sick. It was nice to get back in the swing of things at work. And I think everyone enjoyed having me back! Let's just say there was a lot of laughing & catching up!

Cali enjoyed being with Oma (my mom) while I was at work. Because Brooklyn can't get sick, my mom is being a savior & coming over here to watch the girls while I work. It's only been a week (and I only work part-time) but wow it's SO nice having her come over here, instead of me taking the girls to her! (I wonder what I can do to bribe her to keep this up even after the surgery????) ;o)

Speaking of my mom...her & I get to go to Nashville this coming week!! We are both group leaders with Women of Faith so we get a F-R-E-E trip, courtesy of Women of Faith. We got to go last year as well; we went to Dallas in January. This year it's at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, TN. Airfare, hotel, AND food are all paid for by Women of Faith. I'm sure it'll be a very nice break for me. But please keep Dustin & the girls in your prayers. They'll be on their own from Wed night through later Sat evening.



Cali - happy to be sitting with mom in the chair

On another note: We have another fundraiser going on for us right now! It's from the Tastefully Simple company. Go here to order: www.tastefullysimple.com/web/sruckman All you do is find what you'd like, put it in your cart, then at the checkout you click on Find Host/Event, search by my name (Merilee Vance), and then I'll be listed below. Then just continue the checkout process. This fundraiser is being done by a person here in Lewistown & it's so sweet of her to do this! (If you have any questions about this just let me know.)

And our last news of the week...we did our 2nd fill today! I was going to wait until Dustin got off of work, but my mother-in-law called & said that she'd come over to help. So I quickly got the Emla cream on her & then tried my best to keep her arms away from the dressing on her head. It was a LONG hour! She was cranky cause she was tired, so she kept pulling at the dressing, & taking it off her head. Pretty frustrating!! But she eventually fell asleep. Unfortunately though, she didn't stay asleep. Dona was holding her while I did the scalp expander. She cried, but was alright & eventually settled down. I got 20 cc's in that one. Then I did the forehead expander & unfortunately for all of us, she felt the needle go in on that one. She fussed & cried & squirmed a lot. When she cries, it makes the expanders more red & harder than they really are cause of all the pressure. So I stopped at 17 cc's. After I cleaned up & Dona got her settled down I was toying with the idea of doing that forehead one again, cause it was soft again & I could tell it could have used more in it. But I didn't cause I didn't want her to be in pain again.

So now both expanders are equally filled at 75cc's! Here are a couple pictures taken about an hour after the fill.


Forehead expander



Scalp expander

And here she is directly after the fill...LOL she fell right back asleep!

She was pretty cranky when she got up, so I gave her Tylenol & she's now doing much better. But who can blame her...she just had 37 cc's added to her head weight!

Dustin's 2 aunts & uncle came to town this weekend to see Dustin's dad. It's been great seeing them. Brooklyn actually was taken out of the house for the very first time yesterday after being in the house since we got home from Chicago! Then tonight we went to Dustin's aunt's house...so she go to leave the house again. And tomorrow we're going to church! Out of the house 3 times in 3 days...she's certainly enjoyed it. :)

Next blog post...from Nashville!!