The day after surgery

On March 21st the day after surgery Kayla did very well. After I woke up Mike and Jessica came to visit but Kayla was still asleep but when she woke up Physical therapy came and got her out of bed and put her in a wagon and took her to the play room. Kayla played with some toys in the wagon for a while and then we brought her back to the room for some breakfast.... she stayed in the wagon for a pretty good while and then we put her back in the bed..... We had a visit from a few friends from the Facebook support group and It was a very good visit, it was very nice to meet them..... Then physical therapy came back in and did some exercises on Kayla.... I managed to get a shower and a bite to eat and some coffee lol.... then we had a visit from the social worker and later had a visit from a sweet lady that goes around to childrens rooms and makes them bracelets and earrings and Kayla got a pretty little bracelet made just for her from that lady and Jessica got some earrings made by the lady then Mike and Jessica went back to the HP house for a while..... Kayla wanted to get in her wheelchair after the lady left that made the bracelet and Mike and Jessie had already left so I called a nurse to help me and we put her in her wheelchair and off we went to the play room again..... Kayla played for quite some time and then Danielle came with the shoe sole that goes on the bottom of Kaylas fixator and the little brace thing that Dr Standard made to keep Kayla's leg straight, they had to modify it because it was very hard to get on and off of Kayla, so we went back to Kayla's room and Danielle put the sole on the bottom of Kayla's fixator and then Kayla watched Dora for a while.... Mike and Jessica came back over to see Kayla and she sat in her wheelchair the whole time and watched Finding Nemo with her dad.......... She eventually started falling asleep in her wheelchair so we had to put her back in bed and she woke up and stayed awake for a little bit and then went back to sleep..... Now she is sleeping comfortably and I need to be sleeping myself lol..... will update again soon and I may even add some pictures.....

Surgery day and after.....

On Wednesday March 20th we got up at 5 oclock A.M. and got ready. We had to have Kayla to the hospital by 6:30 to sign in and get prepped for surgery. We left the HP house around 6:16 or so (not sure exact time but I do remember looking at the clock at one point that morning and seeing 6:16 lol).... We got Kayla to the hospital and got her registered and headed up stairs to the 4th floor for surgery. The lady at the front desk of the 4th floor gave us a card with a number on it for Kayla. the number was 1911 and when they needed Kayla for anything they would call her number instead of her name. It didn't seem like we were there but about 10 minutes when they called Kayla back for surgery. They go her prepped and around 8:20ish (again not sure of exact time loL) the Dr came in and explained everything he was doing during the procedure and he also explained that some kids having Lengthening had been eventually having trouble out of their knees and he wanted to prevent that with Kayla so he was going to construct something either waterproof or removable that would hold Kayla's leg straight mostly of the night to prevent her from bending her knee and keep her from having any issues with the knee later on. He then left and said he would start the surgery in 20 or 30 minutes but that turned into over an hour and they didn't take Kayla back for surgery until about 9:45ish. They let me go back to the OR with Kayla until she fell asleep and of course after she fell asleep I had to leave. I cried when we were in the OR because I just really didn't want her to have to go through all this. When I got back out to the waiting area Me mike and jessie went to the HP house to put Kayla's things in our room then we went to eat breakfast and then we went to our class with Nurse Lee so we could learn how to turn struts, and learn how to do pin care and learn how to follow the schedule for strut turns... then we went to the gift store to get Kayla a few things and Mike and Jessie went back to the HP house to rest a little while I went back to the waiting room to wait for Kayla to get out of surgery. they had originally told us it would take about 5 or 6 hours from start to finish which included prepping, surgery, finishing up and recovery but it didn't take that long at all, it only took around 4 hours. They called me a few times during surgery to let me know that Kayla was doing good and I really like that they did that. Dr. Standard came out and talked to me after the surgery. he told me that Kayla did real well and had very little blood loss.... He explained a few things and also told me that he did make a removable device that we could bolt to the fixator frame to hold Kayla's leg straight to keep from having any knee issues to arise...... Jessie and Mike came back to the hospital and they called us back to recovery to be with Kayla. They would only allow two at a time to go back so Me and Jessie went.... Kayla was crying when we first got there but calmed down a short time after. I stayed in recovery with her for a while and then I went back out and let Mike go back to see her...... I went down stairs and had some lunch then went back up to the waiting room to wait.... Mike called me just a short time after and told me they were getting ready to take her to a room in the childrens wing..... We got her to her room and got her settled and she did real well the rest of the day but that night she got a little sad because she wanted me to get her out of the bed and hold her and wanted me to sleep in the bed with her and I had to explain to her that I couldn't do that because she had the catheter, epidural and IV..... She calmed down just a short time after and went to sleep......

A little update.....

Sorry it has taken me so long to update.... I know most of you have probably already seen my updates on Facebook but I will update again here anyway...... The last time I updated I told you guys there was a problem with the insurance and Kayla's financial assistance but just a couple of days before we were to leave for Baltimore for surgery I got a call from the finance manager telling me that Kayla's financial assistance had been approved.... She was still waiting on word from the insurance company about weather they would sign the agreement contract but since she was approved for financial assistance we could go ahead and make the trip to Baltimore for surgery..... A very big Prayer answered...... The LORD is so good...... We left the house for our trip on Saturday March 16th. We drove a little more than Half way to Baltimore (making several stops along the way for gas and food) and then we stopped in Stauntan Virginia at the Days Inn we usually stay at and spent the night..... It is such a long drive and so tiring to drive all the way through so we take the trip in 2 days. The next day on the 17th we got up and got back on the road after gassing the vehicles up and grabbing a quick snack and we drove the rest of the way..... We made it to the Hackerman Patz house where we are staying at the whole time we are here at about 3ish that evening (not sure the exact time lol)..... We got settled into our room and called for pizza delivery from Pepe's..... The next day on the 18th we got up and got ready for Kayla's appointment at the Rubin Institute. We left the HP house a little early so that we could go to the cafeteria of the hospital and eat a quick bite of breakfast and then we headed to the RIAO to see the Dr. Once we go there it didn't seem like no time till they called Kayla back for xrays and then after that it didn't seem like no time till they called Kayla back to a room. But once in the room it was a waiting game. I thought we were going to see Dr. Standard that day but we saw Allison the Physicians assistant but I didn't mind because Allison is awesome to lol..... We talked to Allison for quite some time and she explained to us mostly everything Dr. Standard would be doing to Kayla's leg during surgery and she answered all of my questions and showed me on a model how to turn Kayla's struts when it comes time and we talked about the schedule I will have for strut turning. I felt better after we left there but was still nervous about the surgery. Later that day we went to a grocery store near by called Giant food store and we got a few groceries but not alot because they were expensive lol and I knew we would be going to Aldi's the next day anyway so I just got a few things to hold us over for a while..... We got back to the HP house and I cooked supper and we just relaxed the rest of the night. The next day on the 19th we got up and traveled to Reisterstown Maryland and went to walmart and got some necessities and a few other things, then we went to my cousin Chasity's house for a visit, It was a wonderful visit.... We ate supper with Chas and her family and had good conversation. It was great to get to see them again...... Then we left there and went to Aldi's and picked up lots more groceries. At Aldi's you have to bag your own groceries and you also have to provide your own bags and if you dont provide your own bags you have to buy bags from Aldi's so before we left for Reisterstown I had mike to drive me to Giant Food store to buy 7 more Hot Cold bags that I had already bought 3 of the previous day to bag our groceries in and the bags were great. They even zip across the top so your groceries wont fall out of the bag. I am going to start taking them to all the stores with me here and when I get home to keep from bringing all those plastic shopping bags home and just having to throw them away...... But anyway after we left Aldi's we got back to the HP house and got ourselves prepared for Kayla's surgery the next day..... We didn't get in bed until after midnight and then had to get back up at 5 oclock in the morning so we could get Kayla to the hospital by 6:30 that morning.