Well its now Christmas eve I had ran out to do a few erans and Mark (the best dad in the world) had given all the kiddos bath and they were waiting on me to get home to get dressed. Anna had put on her sweats and said Im staying here Im not feeling well. I talked her into going to Christmas Eve service with some pain med's. Then we returned home she yet once again had a fever of a 101' we gave her tylenol and a bath and broke it for a little bit. WE made it thru Christmas with lots of Prayer and tylenol. Then saturday night she went to bed again not feeling great and woke up @ 430 and said mom I have a h/a im nasueated and my eyes are burning. Well thats all I needed to hear and off to CHOA again. Except this time I was leaving till we got answers. And after several test and scans they diagnosed her with Mastoiditis. And attmitted into Scottish Rite, now the fun begins they inform me we will be here 14-21 days. Wow I thought thats a long time so I started talking to all the doctors on anna's team and told them she would do better at home so they are looking into the possibilities of letting us come home and me take care of her 24/7 the next 3 wks. Sorry back to monday I had asked for them to do a LP - Lumbar Puncture - under floroscopy to make sure the infection had not gotten into her CSF and caused menigitis. PRaise the Lord it hadn't. So the rest of the day anna just hung out on her back b/c after an LP you have to lay flat. Mrs Ann Sims from church came and sat with Anna so I could run home and deal with a house issue, love on my babies, take a shower and get a kiss from the hubby. Then back up here I came. WE meet with most of the dr's on Anna's team they have put together up here. Most of her culturals are back and are negative YEA!! They have diagnosed her with Chronis Sinutis (sp) and mastoiditis. Its wednesday now and annas had a couple of headaches that are pretty bad but with the help of tylenol 3 w/codine and Toredol coctailed together we having a smiling girl now.

I am so sorry I haven't been more diligent and keeping this updated. WE haven't had a great month. It started out on Dec. 8th Anna woke up and couldn't move her neck well her neurosurgeon and pediatrician both had a cow and we were brought to CHOA by ambulance. After several hours they said it was a neck spasm. Then the next day we went to see Dr Ashley and she said I think its a neck spasm. Well we went home and doctored this "neck spasm" which to this day I don't think was a neck spasm. And on the 12th we went back to see Ashely to get Anna's stitches out which was an ordeal. Then we came home and that night really late anna spiked a fever of a 102' we doctored till the next afternoon and it came back so we took her to the urgent care center which then they said she has an ear infection. Sent us home on antibioitics. Then on the 18th we ended back ath CHOA b/c her fever had spiked yet once again on med's. This time they diagnised her with a really bad sinus infection and sent us back home on the smae med's. Well anna really never got feeling great and well I start a new blog now.

Anna Marie had a pretty good day yesterday. Her MiMi flew in to be with her so I could go to the hotel and sleep. She had a blast with her and I slept for 12hrs. When I returned this morning she was feelling better and they started her discharge papers. I took Mary Anne back to the airport and when I returned they were ready to take off her bandages and her stitches that were in her stomache. This was a very painful ordeal and it caused Anna to cry for along time. Then to top it all of she went and looked in the mirror and said mommy im ugly now and cried more. Her pain med's had kicked in and started working so we talked her into taking a nap and that worked very well she slept for 2hrs woke up and was feeling much better. We were discharged and came to the hotel and it was time for pain med's again so we took those and watch some tv. Anna fell asleep and sleep for 21/2 hrs and when we woke up I ordered in b/c she didn't want to leave. Anna took pain meds again at 9 she went 6hrs w.o pain meds YEA!!!
We go see Dr Kosnik on tuesday morning and we will then find out if we get to come home.. Thanks again for all the prayers we still need them.. love to all Joy

Is so very thankful for Prayer and friends that you can call in the middle of the night to start praying. Anna's heart rate dropped around midnight and at 1:00 I sent a text out to start Praying. We did everything to get it up and we couldn't get it up we walked, talk to her moved her around. Nothing worked so we started listening to casting crowns quoting scripture and had family and friends praying Finally around 3:ish her heart rate went up and hasn't dropped below 70 anymore. We are now going to try to get her to eat and keep it down then we will go from there. Love to All, joy Ps if you don't believe in the Power of Prayer you need a real come to Jesus meeting :)

Update: Sorry it took so long had some problems with the blog letting me log in.. Dr Kosnik came out around 3:15 and said surgery had gone well and they he thought she was going to be okay. She finally came to her room around 4:20 and we have been fighting to get on top of her pain. As of right now nothing is working and she is throwing up in so much pain. We are giving her Zofran and Lortab and so it looks like we are going to have to give her a cocktail of med's to see if that will help @ 1:30am. She is also having a hard time getting her color back and is very swollen all over her body. I will update again tomorrow Love to All, Joy

We came back to Ohio yesterday for a bilateral subtemporal decompression. This is where they go and cut her skull out to make room for the CSF fluid. Please keep still praying that she will keep her strength and God will be glorified thru all this. We arrived at the hospital around 9:15 because of traffic and Anna was very nervous and was hyper up until they took her back then she was very upset. The took her back around 12. so we will update post surgery once we get into ICU and she gets seddled. Thanks for all the Prayers.

all your Prayer Warriors: Anna Marie cried on the way home from school today and has expressed that she is very scared b/c of the upcoming surgery. Pray for Peace that passes all understanding, God's love to shine thru her now more than ever. I know that this isn't going to be her last surgery but I do know that God has called us to ask and we shall recieve. Thank you, Joy

Update: We have been home for 11 days and its been pretty rocky. We have been going day by day. Some have been better than others. However Anna got stung on her hand on Thursday and didn't have a reaction Praise the Lord! We go back to Ohio on Nov 12. to have surgery Nov 13. We will be doing a double sub temporal decompression. (yes we are doing it again). Please be in Prayer for Anna has we she is getting over having all these surgery's. And for the finicially aspect as is gets very exspensive going back and forth however we know this is where God wants us to get anna's treatment and has allowed us thus for to be okay. Thank you for your continued support thru all this. We love you all, Mark,Joy, Anna Marie, Alexandria, Austin Mark. :) John 10:10

So we went and saw Dr Big Guy this morning Anna wasn't feeling to hot. He said her pressure is trying to balance out and thats what I kind of figured. So we are coming home for couple of weeks and will return Nov. 12 and have double subtemporal decompression on Nov 13 @ 8am. This will allow anna's body to heal and her shunt to work properly. Thanks again Joy.

Ps. We are getting a dog:) His name is Champ and is a goldendoodle. We are very excited about this adventure in our life.

Well they discharged anna to the ronald mcdonald house. We go to clinic @ 10:30 am to find out our next step are we doing the brain surgery now or later. Anna has only eaten maybe 10bites of food today so that was another reason he wanted her discharged to see if leaving would encourage her to eat and help her diziness. So everything is up in the air and Im not sure about anything right this moment. Please continue to pray for anna's body to heal and for Dr Big Guy. After clinic tomorrow I will update the blog and let everyone know the next step. Thanks again for the support. Joy

Well Dr Big Guy (kosnik) just came in. Anna has been getting very dissy and fell about hr ago. He said this is because of all the pressure she had on her bacl and this is why we are doing things slow. He said you might get discharged tomorrow but I don't think you are going home any time soon. But we will talk again tomorrow. Please continue to Pray.

Well we had a rough night and daddy sleep thru most of it..He snores really loud!!! Anyway we haved an okay we were up and walking however we haven't done some of the most important things like eat more than 3 bites all day and get pain under control. We are going to try again at dinner time to actually eat and get this pain under control and start drinking so we can get discharged tomorrow. And get to go home on thursday.. We are waiting on the phone call to tell us what day we are doing the brain surgery. I will update again tomorrow. Joy

Update: Sorry I haven't done this earleir its just been a long day. Well Mark made it in time to see Anna before she went back to surgery this morning. When she went we thought it was going to be a long time however Dr Kosnik came out 2hrs into and said were done for today we brought in General Surgeons to blow up her stomach and found her catheter kinked adn the valve not working. So they fixed the cathiter and replaced her valve. Then to the brain we didn't do it because we wanted her shubnt to start flowing correctly and she would drain to much csf and have a low pressure headache. So we will probably be discharged on wednesday to the otel then go home on thursday. Sad news is we have to come back in 3 weeks to do the brain surgery. Thanks again for all the encourging letters and notes they have ment the world to Anna.

Just wanted to update. Saturday we just bummed around and Anna had a good day with some exeptions. Today hasn't been so great her pressure is back up and she is very nervous about the surgery. She woke up this morning and said lets go home and not do the surgery but as the day has gone on she's getting okay with the idea. Please continue to pray and I will update this as soon as she comes out of surgery and we have a moment. Thanks again for all your prayers and support. If you would like to give anna marie a word of encouragement you can email her @ annadingess@yahoo.com or leave them on here.

Sorry about the delay in updating however I wanted results before I let everyone know. Anna had said the that her head had been hurting when we went to the Neurosurgeons office they did a ct scan and xrays and said that she was backed up and that was the cause of the headaches. On thursday we went back into Dr Kosnik's office and he admitted anna to have a Lumbar Puncture (LP) and a 3D ct scan. We were able to do the 3D ct scan on thursday and had to move the LP to Friday because she had a allergic reaction to the sleepy medicine. On friday they did the LP and her opening pressure was 30. So finally they just came in and said surgery on monday @ 1:30, they will be redoing her right sub temporal decompresion, replacing her LP shunt and placing a valve in her brain.

I had no idea when we came up it was going to be this intense so please continue to Pray for Anna Marie, the doctors and me..Mark is going to be coming up hopefully on Sunday then going home monday night after her surgery.
Also please keep Alexandria and Austin Mark in your prayers as they don't understand why mommy is gone again. Also childcare to keep them while Im away.

Thanks again for all your support,

Joy Dingess

We went and saw Dr Katz (neuro-opthamalogy) her vision was good and he wanted to come back and see him after our apptointments today. So today our first appt. was with Dr Kosnik (neurosurgeon) and after several xray and a cat-scan we have decided that Anna needs to go see a GI dr. Then we went to see Dr Hardin (endocrinology) and recieved amazing news!! Anna has grown 4.2 inches since January 20,09. So we are continueing on the same dosage and Praying that on thrusday Dr Kosnik and the GI dr will have some answers. Thanks agian for all your prayers and support.

Okay we are going to try this again. I updated the blog the other day and when I hit submit O lost Internet. Sorry about the long delay. Anyway we came home Wednesday after seeing Dr's all day Tuesday. first appt was with the Endocrinologist they are very well pleased on how much she has grown and they upped her growth hormones now on to the neurosurgeon he was very well pleased how well she was bouncing back and that it was an emergency to air lift her..He won't say why it was such an emergency but I am thankful that he takes Anna Marie illness so seriously. Last Dr was the nueroopthamaligist and her eyes looked good.

Good Afternoon,
Anna was discharged this afternoon she has a ear infection not sure how we got this but she is doing good. Her spirits are getting better but she said yesterday that she was done being in hospitals and unfortanitly with psuedotumor cerebri there isn't a cure or a fix it solution. The shunt is only to help the csf drain however because it is csf it has protiens. Prayer Request: That Anna will hold up emotionally and physically and that this shunt will last a little longer.

Anna's surgery went well the shunt was broken. Anna is right every time..She had a hard time coming out of surgery and had to have extra toredol to get stable. We are now just letting her rest. If you want to send anna a card go to nationwidechildrens.org Rm 3019 its still under Smith. We should have had her name change but I didn't bring her adoption papers sorry didn't know we were going to be flown from the hospital yesterday.

Dr Kosnik's sent in his Nurse Practioner to give us the update. Anna will be having surgery this afternoon to replace her shunt. Prayer request: Dr Kosnik and the medical team, Anna Marie to hold her chin up, mommy to be strong, and the medical bills that I am getting a little over whelmed with.

Thanks Again for all you all do for our family,

Joy, Anna and the rest of the Dingess Crew

Update

Last week Anna Marie had started complaining of headaches and stomache pain so we were just medicating her and seeing if it would pass. On Monday her attitude starting showing that her shunt was malfunctioning on Tuesday she said my shunt is broke on more that one ocassion. Wednesday morning @ 5am she woke me up saying mom I threw up and my headache is a 10/10 she continued to throw up until 745ish were she was able to finally keep Zofran down at 8 she passed out. 9 came and she came too and said mommy I wasn't sleeping but were was I so we were off to Scottish Rite after xray's they said her shunt had come apart in one and the other xray it wasn't so clear. We contacted her neurosurgeon in Ohio and gave him the report of what was going on after speaking to him it was decided that Anna Marie needed to be flown by a transport team to Ohio. So we waited for the medic plane to arrive in atlanta and were taken by ambulance to the airplane then another ambulance waited for us at the airport to take us to Nationwide Childrens. We are now waiting for the dr to come in and give us the plan. Anna isn't allowed to eat so I think they are going to do surgery today. Please continue to Pray for the following: Anna Marie's strength, the little people to be okay while Im away, and Mark while he is away at school.

Update..Anna Marie is doing great!! Praise the Lord!! She had a check up last week and went very well.. We are doing a two different fundraiser..Next Sunday June 28, 09 Wow Cafe & Wingery is donating 20% of all sales to Anna Marie. To help cover more of her rising medical bills. The other fundraiser is We are asking that everyone donate just a $1.00 and then ask 10 of your friends to donate a $1.00. If this is something that you would be willing to help out with, you can go to www.teamannamarie.org or www.annamariesfight.blogspot.com and donate via Paypal. $1.00 is a can of Coke but if you donate and ask 10 people to donate and they ask 10 to donate etc. it can really help out with the all her medical costs and related travel and accomodation expenses. Its just a dollar, thats just 4 quarters and we all know that we use that much for just a candy bar. Go without a candy bar for a day and know your helping a girls rising medical costs.



Thank you,

Team Anna Marie

www.teamannamarie.org

Anna Marie has been discharged from the hospital. We went and had a great dinner and then a 2 hr nap. She is now up laughing and playing. We are coming home tomorrow and going to see her pediatrican on Tuesday for check ups. Thank you for your Prayers and support. Love to all Joy and Anna Marie :)

Anna's surgery went well. The dr did say that her tubing keeps migrading to her back and there not sure why but hopefully this one won't. Please continur to Pray they gave her an antibotic that she is allergic to and now she is on oxygen. I will update tomorrow.

Anna last name under the insurance is still Smith. Because of Henry County court system. Sorry for the confusion..

Update

Just an update on Anna Marie. Last tuesday she woke up with a headache and said my shunt is broken, we went to the pediatrician and they gave her decadron to drain her fluids off of her head. On monday we drove up here and this morning went to see the neurosurgeon. At that time he decide to admit Anna Marie and we will have surgery around 2pm tomorrow. If you would like to make anna a card go to www.nationwidechildrens.org her room # A5614. Thank you for your conitinue support and prayers. Joy

Anna has been having headaches since last week. Dr Kosnik put her on decadron thru her pediatrician to lower the fluid in her head. However that didn't work and now we are going to see Dr Kosnik in the morning to schedule surgery for Wed. to replace her shunt. Anna keeps saying my shunt is broke so please PRay for guidance tomorrow and Wed. WE love you all. The Dingess clan

We are here in Ohio for check ups. Dr Kosnik (neurosurgeon) gave us great news, Anna's shunt is still working properly and the headaches she had last week where from the barometric pressure changes which then affects her. Then went to see
Dr Hardin (endocrinologist) and Anna grew I have to get the measurement in inches but in cm she is 117.2cm. So we up her growth hormone intake and go back in 3mths for another check up. Then last we went to Dr Katz (neuropthamology) Our quarterback!! and Anna has 20/25 vision and her optic nerves aren't swollen. This has been the best visit ever. After that we came back to the hotel then went and ate dinner then off to shopping where we were able to get size 7 clothes. We had so much fun shopping this was a great day..God is so good!!! Never forget to Praise him in the Storm and in the GOOD TIMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Update: Sorry this is a couple of day's late. We went to Ohio this past week for post op check ups. Anna's nuerosurgeon gave us a great report her shunt is working like its suppose to. Praise the Lord!! We recieved all great new's! Its so exciting to give these kinds of updates. Only thing is that Anna's colon is working like its suppose to so we have started the vitamin route on seeing if we can get it back working before we have to go to a GI dr. Well we go back to Ohio in April for another check up.
Prayer request: That anna's shunt continues to work and she stay's headache free
And that her body continues to accept the growth hormones and that she will grow
And Anna to catch up with her classmates in her school work

Praise: Anna has had only 3 h/a since Dec 10!! God is so Good!!!!

Thank you all for your continued support and Prayers...

PS If anyone has any fundraiser ideas pls email Mark or I @ mark@teamannamarie.org or joy@teamannamarie.org

Update

Good Afternoon,
Well its been a while since the an update. Anna Marie has had only one headache since Dec 8, 2008. This is when she had her last shunt put in. It has been probably the best month of our lives, she has started reading and doing very well at school. Her attitude is different and she actually smile. What a blessing she is. Yesterday
(1/18/08)was a new day for Anna Marie we started her on Human Growth Hormones (HGH). I am very excited and scared all at the same time. She will take a shot a day for 10yrs so she can grow. Now we won't see results over night it will probably take 6mths or more however HGH can cause Psuedotumor. So our Prayer request is that her fluid doesn't get worse and the headaches return. Her doctors are looking out for her she is on the smallest dosage of hormones so we can see how her body reacts to it. We will be going back to Ohio in Feb. for check ups from all of her doctors. Thank you all for your continued support in Prayer and financially we appreciate all of you.
IF you haven't checked out our new website for Team Anna Marie pls do so. www.teamannamarie.org