Preparing for surgery

After we had Kayla's surgery scheduled I began to prepare. I was making lists of things I would need to take with us because we were told we would be there in Baltimore for about 3 weeks. This was Kayla's first surgery so what they would be doing was tibia straightening and ankle reconstruction (called super ankle). Dr. Standard said in order to have a successful Lengthening Kayla would have to have a stable ankle and a straight tibia. I asked many questions along the way on the groups I was apart of trying to get a little insight as to what to expect from others who had been through the same thing. I had alot of help from others. I wanted to be as prepared as I could be, I bought clothes that I thought would be easy to modify and I bought dresses because I felt they would be easier to put on her with the fixator on her leg. The only thing that I didn't make or buy was fixator covers because I had no clue how to begin to make them or where to even buy them. I also started doing fundraising to try to get the money we would need to make the trip and to stay in the Hackerman Patz house that was across the street from the hospital. We had lots of help with our fundraisers and between fundraisers, donations and $1,000.00 from our yearly tax return we had plenty enough money to make the trip. I finally felt like things were going to work out in Kayla's favor. As time passed and it got closer to time for the surgery I became really nervous. In the days before we had to leave for Kayla's surgery we had her a birthday party. Her birthday is on March 1st and her surgery was scheduled for March 7th. We left on March 3rd and drove a little over half way to Baltimore and spent the night in a hotel. The next morning we drove the rest of the way and got to the Hackerman Patz house on a Sunday evening. The very next day on Monday Kayla had a pre-op appointment with Dr. Standard. The appointment went well and we were called later that day or the next day (not sure which one) and told what time to have Kayla to the hospital for surgery. On Tuesday we didn't have anything to do so we went to my cousins house to visit. My cousin lives in Reisterstown Maryland about 20 minutes away from the Hospital. We visited with her and also had her to show us where Walmart and Aldi's was so we could shop and get some necessities. The whole day I was thinking about the surgery in the back of my mind and was getting more nervous by the minute.