Wow, it feels so good to be home. Yesterday was a long day, but much better than I thought it would be. First off thank you all for the well wishes, good thoughts, calls, messages, prayers and help. We couldn't have done it without you.
Here's a rundown of our day yesterday.
3 am I got up with Lidie and then I couldn't fall back to sleep after that.
5 am Josh and I got up and ready for the day.
6 am Lidie and I left
6:22 am Josh and Amaya leave home and head to the hospital.
6:30 am I dropped off Lidie at a friends house for a play date.
7 am Josh and Amaya arrive at the hospital.
7:03 am I arrive at the hospital.
7:05 am We walk through dark halls up to the pre-op area. We're led to a bed and start to get Amaya dressed. A nurse told us that there was a hospital wide power outage. She told us there was a possible
delay because of the power outage (running on generators), but Amaya was first on the schedule so whatever time they start she'd still be first.
7-8:30 am We get Amaya dressed, signed in and ready. A Child Life specialist brought Amaya a board game. After we played Amaya watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Amaya played on the computer. The power came on then back off a couple of times. We wondered & worried if we would have to reschedule.
8:30 am Dr. Nelson's resident went over paper work with us, answered questions, etc. He told us the surgery runs about 1-1 & 1/2 hours. After he left Amaya said she wasn't nervous anymore. A nurse said that non-emergency surgeries were on hold for now. At this point power was on in the area we were in but not throughout the hospital.
9 am Waiting for word on surgery. Amaya said, "Can I have my surgery now?" She was ready to get it off. We started seeing some activity; nurses, doctors and anesthesiologists. Someone said that the power was up and running and surgeries would be happening. They had to first check the humidity levels in the operating rooms before they could start.
9:20 am We got the go ahead to operate.
9-10 am We met with the anesthesiologist, RN who will be helping in the OR. Anesthesiologist prescribed Amaya the pink drink to help calm her nerves. Dr. Nelson came to see Amaya. He said that she'll have a bandage on her leg (keep it on for three days), she'll have a small incision in her hip (where the rush rod will be inserted), the pin holes will close on their own, she'll have a month off from therapy (he said she might not need it at all), the risk of fracture at the pin sites is low, the rush rod mainly protects the new bone growth.
10:10 am Amaya went back to surgery.
10:20 am After composing ourselves and taking a breath, we went downstairs to set up a pager so we get updates from the OR.
11:15 Still hadn't received an update so I asked at reception. They called OR #12. They said they were so busy they didn't have a chance to call. But that she was almost done.
11:40 got page that she was done and back in recovery. We quickly went up to meet her. She was crying, shaking, but otherwise well. Dr. Nelson said she did great and. He got her knee to bend to 90 degrees then he pushed it and got her leg to 100 degrees. He asked if she's been getting to 90 at therapy because her leg was stiff. I told him that yes its stiff, but she works hard and then gets to 90. He said she can fully weight bear, that she has her fixator and Halloween costume in a bag. Josh shook his hand and I hugged him. I was at a loss for words and all I could mutter was "I'm so grateful." What else do you say to someone who has forever changed your child's life for the better?
12-1 In recovery. Amaya was crying and shaking for a few minutes then asked for water (she was very thirsty). She said her pain was at a five so they gave her two doses of pain medication. She was confused and said she didn't have a fixator. Josh showed it to her in a bag and that she still said she never had one. She was calm within thirty minutes then fell asleep for an hour.
1:15 She woke up with pain. She got more pain medication. The nurse noticed her drainage was bigger she marked it then watched it. Anesthesiologist came to check in on her. They said she did great during the surgery.
1:50 Nurse called the doctor to look at the drainage.
1:50-3 She napped intermittently, muttered that this was a bad nightmare, that she could see them putting it on. Her pain was minimal (a 2 or 3 but would pulse to a 5). Josh took prescriptions down to pharmacy (Tylenol w/codeine & antibiotic for 14 days). I was so tired and falling asleep while we waited.
2:40 Amaya was feeling good and coloring. It was nice to see her being herself. A few minutes later Dr. Nelson's resident came over to check her drainage. He agreed it was a lot. It hurt Amaya a lot while he moved the bandage to see where the leakage was coming from and she cried and screamed. He got a bigger bandage and put it over her top pins (the leakage was coming from there not the incision). He didn't want to remove her bandages because they were sterile from the OR. So he added to it. She had to turn on her side a bit so he could reach it well, which hurt her more. A child life specialist brought her a squeeze toy to help with the pain. Once he was done we were cleared to leave.
4 pm Left the hospital. It was nice to be heading home. Josh took Amaya home and I went to pick up Lidie.
6 pm We were all home and getting settled.
6-7:30 The girls had soup and pudding for dinner. Amaya rested on the couch. I took Lidie down to bed and we both fell asleep by 7:30 pm.
9 pm After watching a movie Josh and Amaya headed down to bed.
During the night I woke up (by alarm) and gave Amaya her pain medication. Amaya had a good night and slept through the night pretty well. Today she's done pretty well. Her pain is under control and her drainage is minimal. Luckily she's use to drainage from her pins so she isn't too freaked out by it. But it does seem bloodier than the other drainage we've been seeing. All in all we're doing good.
When we got back into the pre-op area. This is when Amaya got a bit nervous.
They got her dressed and ready, but she was still a bit uneasy.
Thankfully one of the Child Life specialists came and offered Amaya a board game to play with. She chose Candy land and we played that for awhile. That distracted her and got her mind of things.
After her game she decided to watch Willy Wonka. She's smiling "like Lidie does." Luckily Josh brought his laptop and a DVD, because the TVs weren't working in the pre-op area because of the power outage.
I took one last look at her leg with the fixator attached.
Josh and Amaya holding hands before the surgery.
Dr. Nelson's resident came in and went over information with us then signed off on Amaya's leg. After he left she said, "now I'm not nervous anymore."
The anesthesiologist offered her some pink medicine to help calm her nerves. She really wanted it because she hated how she felt last time when she woke up and hoped this would help. She drank it quickly, but made a face because it tasted gross.
Amaya and Dr. Nelson just before she went back into surgery.
This is always the worst part, watching her get wheeled away. It doesn't ever seem to get easier.
Fresh out of surgery. Its crazy to see the fixator NOT attached to her leg. We picked it up and it felt so heavy!
After surgery she was crying and shaking, which is always sad to see. After some pain medication and some TLC she calmed down in a few minutes then started to feel better.
Resting in recovery. If you notice she's wearing her heart ring. Once she had calmed down she asked Josh if she could have it back. She slept for about an hour.
The nurse asked to check her drainage and then we got a good look at her leg. She thought it was a cast, but its only an ACE bandage wrapped around gauze. The nurse was concerned that there was a lot of drainage so she asked the doctor to come check it out. Later she asked where the handle was to move her leg with (like the "handle" on the fixator). We explained that she doesn't need that anymore, she can use her leg muscles to move her leg.
After some more pain medication she kept saying silly things so I decided to try to videotape some. She doesn't say much in the video, but before and after she kept saying "this is the best pudding, I'm never going to stop eating it, I want breakfast and dinner, Look at this mom, the pudding has two cups, well I think so. I couldn't help smile and her. She kept bumping her face with the spoon and spilling.
Amaya started to feel better and acting more like herself within a couple of hours. She drew on a wooden doll we brought. This help kill time while we waited for the doctor to check out her leg.
Transferring to the wheelchair was painful for her. But once in she did fine.
All smiles ready to go home.
A big thumbs up on her way out. She started to get nervous about transferring to the car, but she did fine. The owl she's holding is a little something she picked up in the gift shop on her way out. It's for her friend Rory who will be heading into her first surgery next week. Good luck Rory!
Once she got home she got home she got to see the goodies Dr. Nelson gave her. Her own real surgeons outfit to wear for Halloween. She's so excited! I have a feeling she'll be wearing this many times. Is he awesome or what?!
At home enjoying some some soup and pudding. She was happy to be home. She went potty (dad had to carry her in) ate, and watched TV.
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