Home!

Sorry for the silence here in blogland, but we were caught by surprise that the the trip home and the re-entry was the toughest part of the trip! It started one hour into the 11 hour flight from Korea. Dan made a few trips back and forth to the lavatory vomiting. Next thing I knew he was on the floor in the aisle doubled over in pain. We had a stash of meds that we took along 'just in case' and hadn't used them the whole trip. So I said.."Honey..how 'bout I pull out some drugs and you get back in your seat!'. You can imagine the attention we were drawing at this point. He said nope, he needed help. So we called the flight attendant and they soon made an announcement requesting the assistance of any medical professionals on the plane. We ended up with two American EMT's and a Korean Orthopedic Surgeon. They determined that he needed fluids quickly before he dehydrated, as he was now vomiting in the aisle. They suspected food poisoning, and assured me that they would take him upstairs, (yes the Airbus has upstairs) get him on an IV with painkillers and all would be fine. So I remained in my seat trying to keep some peace with the kids and hopeful that people would stop staring at us. About 30 minutes to an hour later they made another announcement that they had a more serious medical emergency and they were looking for an Internal Medicine physician or a General Surgeon on the plane. HELLO? I bolted upstairs after telling Macy to hold on to Ivy and not allow her seat belt to come off. The scene I found was Dan rolling on the floor with four medical people hovering over him. The Korean flight attendant told me that he was much worse, and they didn't know what was wrong with him, but not to worry because they now have found a very competent surgeon! WHAT? I started to fall apart. She said we are now in the middle of the Pacific and we can't land but he is a very good surgeon! I freaked out and asked to use the phone and called home to ask the kids for prayer. When I finally was able to speak to this competent surgeon he explained that he was pretty sure that Dan was passing kidney stones and that there was no medical emergency. He spoke better English than the flight attendant so I was able to calm down. They pumped him full of fluids and pain meds and got him to sleep. They told me an ambulance would be waiting in LA and we would need to go to the hospital. I said, "No Ambulance..we have 7 hours to go, lets wait and see how he is". I was determined to get home and not stay in LA. I called my son again and asked him to fly over to LA and meet us. (can't wait to get the phone bill)  I didn't want to face this alone with the kids and all our luggage we had to pick up in LA. Dan slept the remainder of the trip and was able to handle the next short flight home, with the help of our son.

We were greeted at the airport by our precious family and many dear friends. Their love and support was amazing to us. What a relief to be home. We were all complete zombies as the girls only slept about 1 1/2 hours in the 26 hour journey, and I slept none at all. I can't imagine how tough it was on Ivy not understanding all that was happening, and then dealing with sleep deprivation as well. She really did well all things considered. The older kids had the house spotless and the fridge stocked with food. My sweet neighbor had decorated the front of the house welcoming us home. Our son-in-law spent half the night with Dan at the ER and they confirmed he had passed one stone and another remains. So far he's been ok. The term "Jet Lag" somehow doesn't seem like an adequate way to express the extreme exhaustion. Never in my life have I had this much trouble staying awake even while sitting straight up in a chair. Ivy is overwhelmed by everything in the house that is brand new to her. The first night she woke crying really hard for quite a long time. She let me just hold her in bed. The second night she did the same but not as long. I can't even fathom all the changes she is going through. But each day she gets a little more comfortable. She is bonding to me well as evidenced when I'm out of her sight she gets very nervous.

We made our way out to the backyard early in the evening tonight and the fresh air did wonders for us. Ivy is really enjoying the play set.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all of your prayers and encouragement.

We are so blessed.