The big day

So the day had came (March 7, 2012) and it was time to get ready to take Kayla to the hospital for her surgery. It seemed like We were ready in no time and were at the hospital a little before 6:30 A.M. which is what time they told us to have her there. I stepped up to the registration desk and told the receptionist why we were there and she gave me a card with a number on it and said when they called Kayla's number to come up and register. It seemed like we waited forever for them to call her number but when they finally did they got her registered and it was all just a waiting game from there. It took quite a while for them to call Kayla back to prep her for surgery but they finally did. My husband and I had our oldest daughter with us as well and there was no one to set in the waiting room with her so we were going to take her back with us while they prepared Kayla for surgery and the nurse told us that only 2 could go back with Kayla at one time, we explained to her that we had no one to watch Jessica and that she had to come back to the back with us but the nurse still would not let us so my husband decided to stay in the waiting room and Jessica and I went to the back with Kayla. When they got Kayla in the room and settled in her bed I talked a nurse into letting My husband come back to the room with us. She got in trouble for it but they let him come back there and stay with us. It took them a long time to get Kayla prepared and ready and they were also waiting on the Dr. But Dr. Standard finally made his presence and it was time to take her back to the operating room. They told us that one of us could go back to the operating room with Kayla and stay just until she fell asleep from the sedation and my husband and I decided it would be me to go back with her so they gave me some sterile clothing to put on over my clothes so that I wouldn't bring any germs into the Operating room with me. When we got back to the operating room they allowed me to hold the mask over Kayla's face that had the anesthesia in it that was to put her to sleep. When she fell asleep they let me kiss her on the forehead and say my goodbyes to her. I was a nervous wreck. I couldn't help but cry. I was wondering how she would handle it when she woke up and saw that we were not there, would she be confused or scared were questions that were going through my mind. The Dr. and Nurses told us it would take a few hours (cant remember how many hours they said) but it took longer then they said and it scared me. During the surgery someone came and got us and took us to see Nurse Lee so she could show us how to turn the pin on the fixator and how to care for her leg while it was in the fixator. We tried to kill time so we also went and ate. When we got back to the waiting room there was a TV on the wall that had patient information on it and we could look for Kayla's number and beside of the number it would tell if the patient was still in surgery or in recovery and it seemed like Kayla stayed in surgery forever. They FINALLY came out and told us that Kayla was out of surgery and everything went well. She was in recovery and we could go back as soon as she woke up. It seemed like it took them a long time but they finally let one of us go back to be with Kayla. Only one person at a time was allowed to go back so I went. She was awake and not really understanding what was going on but she did better then I thought she would. After a while they let Jessica and Mike come back to see Kayla but they were only allowed to stay a few minutes. It seemed like Kayla was in recovery forever before they finally sent someone to get her and take her to the children's wing in the hospital. When they finally got her to the children's wing and got her settled in, we had a problem and had to change rooms. After they got her settle in her new room we just tried to get as comfortable as possible. Jessie and Mike stayed with Kayla and I for a little while and then they went back to our room at the Hackerman Patz house and tried to get some rest. That night was a hard night for us. Kayla didn't sleep as good as I was hoping she would. She really wasn't feeling a whole lot of pain because they had an epidural placed in her back but she was just uncomfortable being in the hospital I guess. As time went on Kayla got to where she wanted me to get her out of bed and hold her but I couldn't because of all the tubes running to her and she didn't understand that so I tried getting in the bed with her and that was a very hard thing to do. The next day the Physical Therapist came in and wanted to work with Kayla. Kayla was kind of hesitant about letting her do therapy so she got Kayla out of bed and put her in a wagon and we pulled her around in the hall way of the hospital. There were other people in and out of her room through out the day, I can't really remember them all. There were nurses, Dr's., Students, Therapists, ETC.... I tried to make things comfortable for Kayla when she was put back into her bed. I tried to get her interested in watching TV and that worked for a while but then she just started crying and I could hardly get her to stop so the Nurse started giving her some of the prescribed medicines she was supposed to have for muscle spasms and that seemed to help her and calm her down for a little while. After about 3 days in the hospital the Dr released her to go back to the Hackerman Patz house. We were given instructions on how to take care of her outside of the hospital. We were also given instructions on when to start turning her pin on her fixator, which was on Monday and also we were told to take her to physical therapy on Monday. I was very nervous about turning the pin for the first time. I had never done anything like that before and it was scary to think about. We had a good weekend, Kayla was kind of restless but she did better then I expected. She didn't want us doing the therapy on her that we were instructed to do. Monday rolled around and I got up to get Kayla up and ready for therapy and I turned her pin for the first time. It was actually easier than I expected and I felt more confident about doing it. Therapy went well, Kayla didn't really want them touching her but it went the best that could be expected. We continued therapy according to her schedule and also did therapy at the Hackerman Patz house ourselves, we also continued turning her pin according to the Dr's orders.