Nerves

    After a hellacious night on Thursday Amaya woke up rested on Friday morning. She slept in until after nine a.m. and I was glad I kept her home from school. When I was getting Amaya and myself ready to go to her therapy session she started telling me about what it was like for her when she woke up from her last surgery (when she had the fixator put on). She said the first thing she said was, "I want my mom and dad." She said she was tired, confused and things seemed blurry. I told her we missed her so much and anxiously waited to go see her. I told her how we roamed the halls, sat in hallways, went to the cafeteria, sat by a fish tank. All in hopes of killing those long hours waiting for her. She was surprised to know that we were at the hospital the entire time. She thought that we left. I told her we wanted to be close so that when they sent us a message that we could come see her we would be there within minutes. She said she thought that maybe we left to shop at Target. I giggled and told her that no, we were there the entire time. We worried wondered, and waited. Last time we waited nearly four hours, we're hoping this time it'll be closer to one or two hours. But even an hour spent waiting for your child in surgery is long.
    I was surprised that she started talking about her last surgery and the moments after. It seems with this upcoming one she's recollecting the last one more and sharing things for the first time. Both girls are showing signs of worry, and nervousness. It's a lot for them to handle. Lidie is afraid that when Amaya's fixator comes off she'll be getting one put on. Even though we tell her she isn't its hard for her to believe us. She's also nervous about being away from us and her home. And she's concerned for Amaya. Amaya is worried about pain, and isn't looking forward to the feeling after she wakes up from the anesthesia. She's also worried about her sister and feels bad that Lidie has such a hard time being away from us all. At least this time we're only planning on a one night stay in the hospital. That should make things easier.
   At therapy we told Melissa about our night and the pain in Amaya's shin, knee and foot. She said that it sounds like Amaya's nerves are saying they've had enough. She explained that the nerves come from the waist, through the bottom, down the leg around to all the muscles and then into the feet. She noticed that Amaya's hamstring was very tight. She said that even though the tightness is in the hamstring the pain is spread throughout the nerves. She started stretching Amaya's hamstring and told us that it's still important to stretch those muscles and lock in the bar. I knew she would say that, but was hoping she'd say that we could skip it for the next few days. She said that it was okay that we took out the bar last night, because sleep is vital and it isn't good for Amaya to miss sleep because of pain.
   I asked Melissa about what to expect when the fixator comes off. Will the hamstring still be tight? How will it stretch if we don't have a bar to lock it straight with? She said that having the fixator removed helps a lot, but that the muscles will still be tight. She said that walking will help stretch and loosen up the muscles most. She also said bike riding will help a lot too. She also added that Dr. Nelson will probably have Amaya stay off her feet for a week or two after the fixator is removed. Melissa showed us two new stretches that will help with hamstring tightness. She also gave us a new blue band to use with the stretches.
   After Melissa stretched the shin she showed Amaya the new stretches to do at home and after the fixator is removed. She took Amaya into the adult gym to work on squats on the total gym machine. She had Amaya work hard on straightening her leg (stretching the hamstring) and bending the knee (stretching the quads). After that it was time to do bends. Melissa told Amaya that since they spent most of the time working on straightening the leg, bends might be difficult. She told Amaya to work hard and not give up, but if she wasn't able to hit ninety degrees today, that was okay. Her knee was at forty-seven degrees to start. She worked hard to bend and after a few minutes was in the seventies. Melissa told her to do ten big bends and that after that she could stop. Amaya stretched and after five said she couldn't bend anymore. Melissa told her to keep going, she had five more bends to go and after that she could stop regardless of what number she was on. She did her five bends and got to eighty-eight degrees. That's great considering how little work she did on stretching the knee. Melissa told her she was so close to ninety degrees but that since she promised that she could stop after her ten bends eighty-eight would do.
  Since we came home late last night we skipped locking the bar in. This morning we are going to give her her shower and then do the new stretches Melissa taught us.

Here's a picture of Amaya's leg at bedtime. We still tie a towel around it to keep her heel off the bed because she still has her bedsore (the one she got the first day in the hospital back in March). 

Here's what her bedsore looks like. It's not too bad, but if we don't tie the towel around it or if it come off it starts to get worse again. I think its because the fixator weights so much and the weight gets put on her heel when she lays. 

Here's Melissa lifting and lowering Amaya's leg to stretch out her leg and to help the pain in her shin.

Here's Amaya doing the new stretch Melissa showed us. She gave us that blue band because it has more resistance than the yellow and red bands we have at home already. She'll also use the blue band to pull her leg up as she lays on the bed or couch. 

Here she is doing her bends. 

After therapy we drove down to Irvine to drop off Amaya's money for the 5K, pick up our wristbands and shirts. So far Amaya raised $395 for CHOC! We're all so thankful for all who donated. Tomorrow is the 5K and we're excited to post pictures from the event.

Later in the day she tried some glasses at a store. She loved them! 

Lastly we stopped by the beach. It was cool, calm and nice. Moments like that are so refreshing and helpful as we head into a hectic, emotional week.