The Waiting Begins

So now the waiting begins.  Noah made Kate a paper chain counting down the days until the dumb cast comes off.  Kate is making lists of things to do once we are only in a wheelchair with no cast.  The Zoo and the animal park in Escondido being two of them.  Here is a girl into animals. 

She does pretty good during the day,  but the nights can be wicked.  I think she is half asleep and tries to move only to find out she is stuck tight and freaks out.  She wants the cast off now, she hates the cotton inside, etc.  She reached into her cast a few nights ago and started ripping out the cotton.  I can now see the steri strips on her right abdomen incision.  She was half asleep when she did it,  and I am sure I would do the same thing.  Now being very careful to keep that area dry.   Distraction and drugs are our friends in this situation.

I am happy to report she has slept through the night the last three nights.  Good thing too, because I was feeling newborn baby tired.  The other night was so sad.  Before she went to sleep she said she missed her old life.  She just wants to walk again and go downstairs and do all the things she used to do.  Big alligator tears running down her cheeks just killed me.  We talked for a while and tried to find good things to think about.  She eventually went to sleep.  Broke my heart.

She has been getting some really fun stuff from people.  This is a picture of her with a gift basket from people at Ethan's work.  Now she really is princess Kate. 

She is eating a little better,  thank goodness,  and she is able to sit up a little better.  Her incision on the right abdomen has been more painful than the left side but her sitting up better tells me it's starting to feel a little better.  Please, please let the time fly by.  Her appointment to get her cast off is March 14th.  Praying for her bones to heal quickly. 

Home Again!

 The last day at the hospital we actually got her to eat an ice cream cone,  well most of of it anyway.  It's the small things.  We got the bean bags and blankets ready and put her in the van.  No easy feat with this big, heavy cast.  She did really well this time and got comfortable right away.  She had to have her kitten, Crystal, and the iPad for the ride home.  The hospital gave her a flower on her way out the door.  Just like two weeks ago, she crashed out on the ride home.  She takes that pink blanket Nana made her everywhere she goes.  It's super soft.

Once we got her back in her hospital bed her real cat, Cleo, came to see her.  Cleo only leaves her side to go eat.  Every time we look,  Cleo is on the bed with Kate.  Look at the smile on my girl.  Any cat that can do that is pretty cool.


Back to the same old struggle. Trying to get Kate to eat something so we can stay on top of her pain.  She is currently having a little "Princess and the Pea" situation.  Every wrinkle is uncomfortable, the sheet is not covering her toes just right, etc.  Not that I blame her,  it would drive me crazy.  Now we count down the days/weeks until this sucker comes off.  I am trying to be optimistic by thinking that by Tuesday we will only have three weeks left.  Only,  what a joke. 

Thanks again for all of the love and support.  We are feeling a little sleep deprived and there's always some level of stress.  I am seriously hoping that having her home,  and knowing that both surgeries are done,  will help with the stress level. 

Hospital Stay

We ended up staying in the hospital one day longer than the last surgery.  I think she was on so much morphine that she just couldn't get her appetite going.  On the bright side,  her pain control was fantastic. 

These pictures were actually taken a day apart.  She really lit up when the dogs came to visit.  What a great hospital.

This time around I stayed during the day,  and Ethan took night patrol.  Night can be tricky because she becomes a little disoriented and hates that dang cast.  Here is what Ethan said about her last night at the hospital:

The sun is up and my angel is asleep, hopefully for the last time in the hospital. The worst drama lat night was getting her to eat a small graham cracker. You would have thought we were asking her to undergo surgery again. Actually, she probably would have preferred that. After 30 minutes of negotiation (aka threatening, pleading, reasoning, drugging, ...), she finally agreed to eat 1 Sun Chip. After that torture, the night was smooth. Complained a little about the cast at one point (Valium is a good thing), but managed to get some sleep.

Here is a follow up to that post:

 Update -- Kate woke up when the nurses came in. She had a big smile and gave us a "good morning." The nurses asked how she slept and she said "great, but I had a bad dream -- I dreamed I was feeling sick and had to eat..." Smiling, happy and relaxed so far this morning.ti

She makes me laugh.  We discontinued the morphine and started her on Vicodin by mouth.  She has to eat with Vicodin or you get sick to your stomach.  We tried everything.  I did find her a happy meal next door and she got down 2 nuggets and a couple fries.  Never has eating junky food made me so happy.  She has been getting stuffed kitty's from people and she names and loves them all.  Thank you so much.

 

The Day After

Kate is still on a PCA which is running continuously but at a lower dose than yesterday. She can now press her PCA button and get an extra boost of morphine. Her pain, while still present, seems to be better than last time. Although, two weeks ago she was also much more alert and able to move around a bit more. Morphine is great for pain, but a killer on the diet. This girl has eaten nothing. I bribed, begged, and pleaded for one bite of a roll, which she did eat. She now feels like she has upheld her part of the bargain and will have nothing more to do with food.

Her cast is gigantic and heavy. Her Dr. said that we can use the bar between her legs to help move her around. That used to be a no-no. She still has her drains in and 'wires everywhere' according to her. I had hoped we would be going home tomorrow, but it's not looking good. We need to be eating, off the PCA and onto oral meds. We also need to get her up to a wheelchair and transferring with our help.

I'm tired. Seriously. I got 6 hours last night, but could fall asleep standing up if I weren't listening for Kate. Not the easiest thing to do for the slightly deaf. Hoping for a good night. If anyone is throwing a prayer out in Kate's behalf, we need pain control and an appetite. Thanks.

In Our Room

We made it to our room. Not shared this time which will be nice. I neglected to mention that Kate had a transfusion in the last post. I was having a one track mind about seeing my girl. She was low from the last surgery and they did a blood draw right before she went in to surgery to cross and type in case she needed a transfusion. I literally had to hold her arm down so they could stick her with a butterfly, smallest needle ever. She went much more willingly into surgery.

I wheeled her in and sat next to her in her wheelchair while she proceeded to tell the anesthesiologist that the gas mask had something sticky on it and it needed to be cleaned. Here is a girl who speaks her mind. She was very calm this time as they held the gas mask on. So much better than two weeks ago. She still did her little arm spasm and giggled and then went to sleep. So much easier on mom when the patient is willing.

Things seemed to take a little longer this time. Three hours before we could see her. Finally got walked back to the PACU with a nurse who told me how cute and funny Kate was being. When I saw her, she had a red teddy bear in her arms courtesy of the hospital for Valentines Day. She did tell me that her leg hurt and that one leg was heavier than the other, but not crying like last time. She fell back to sleep only to wake a few minutes later saying that we had spelled her name wrong. The nurse and I looked at each other and the nurse kind of asked, "spelled your name wrong?" Kate opened her eyes, looked right at the nurse and said, "yes, in my dream we were painting and you spelled my name wrong.". The nurse apologized and Kate drifted back into la la land.

Kate is mostly sleeping, but when she is awake she is still complaining that one leg is heavier than the other. Not sure how we can fix that. Hopefully that sensation won't last long. She has a drain in her right leg like last time. She is on a PCA that is currently continuously pumping her full of morphine. Let the nose itching begin.

Out Of Surgery

Kate is out of surgery and is still in recovery. I haven't seen her yet and I'm waiting impatiently to do so. Dr. Wenger told us that everything went very well. He said that we will take the cast off in 4 weeks, 2 weeks shorter than we thought, and then they will take an X-ray and if everything looks good the cast will stay off. Yay!! If not, they recast her at that time. Not yay. Pray for fast healing bones.

Once the cast is off she will go 4 weeks in a wheelchair with zero touching the ground with her feet. He says if she does touch the ground we have to recast. Seatbelts, duct tape, I will be prepared to keep her off her toes. Hate that cast.

More after I have seen my baby, which is not happening soon enough.

Right Leg Tomorrow

Going in bright and early tomorrow to Children's.  Surgery is scheduled for 9:10,  which means we will be starting around 10:30-11.  I told Kate I was going to shampoo her hair and get her ready for surgery tomorrow and she said she would much rather have surgery than have me brush her hair.  Poor kid is getting both! 

I will be updating the blog tomorrow as Kate comes out of surgery.  Hoping for sleep tonight.  Small goals, small steps.