D in Dresden

November proved to be a crazy month, too. Unfortunately, it was sickness and health problems that kept us busy. Early in the month, Ashlyn complained of stomach pains. This had happened once before and nothing came of it, but after 12 hours of pain, we thought it best to take her to the ER to get checked out. After 8 hours in the hospital with multiple opinions, a pediatric surgeon decided to operate immediately to remove her appendix. During the surgery, her appendix ruptured. Here she is at the hospital, near the end of her 1 week stay. (more of her story can be read here.

After the appendix problems, 4 out of the 6 of us got what I believe to be the Swine flu. Thankfully, everyone's case was mild. A couple days fever and a cough was all anyone really had. By the end of the month, only I was still feeling a little puny, but we were still able to go to Prague and celebrate Thanksgiving with our friends there. The kids don't have Thanksgiving day off, so we traveled down Friday after school and stayed the weekend. Fun and delicious food was had by all.

Here is a picture of the boys during Ashlyn's hospital stay. Amy took good care of them when Jason and I both needed to be at the hospital. They even had a homemade hamburger picnic in the living room! Thanks Amy!

Here are 2 pics from the hospital. The courtyard:

and here is the sign pointing to Ashlyn's wing. She was in Haus F and the Kinderklinic.