Orthopedics

Our sixth trip of the week into the City.  Eighty miles round trip each time.  I need a nap.

But at least our orthopedics trip was a double appointment so it was only one drive instead of two ;)  S was in to have her incision sites checked out (surgery two weeks ago!) and he got the all clear to be back to normal activity :)  He is happy he can go crazy on the playground again!  He was a bit confused about how quick his portion of the appointment went--Dr. J came in, looked at the incisions, checked to see if any dissolveable stitches were poking out, told him it looked good and he could go back to normal activities and that was that.

Iz was there on referral from her pediatrician to check over her legs and feet because of the toe walking and a slight limp.  The limp is completely gone and she has started walking a little more normally--she still gets up on her toes but not as much.  He said everything looked good structurally and the fact that she is getting those feet down more is good.  Since the limp is gone, we are back to wait and see since the toe-walking can be considered normal up to age five.

He looked over her x-rays from Monday and decided we would go ahead and cast today instead of waiting for next week--if he had been on-call Monday, they would have gone ahead and casted her then instead of waiting since he didn't think the amount of swelling she had should have affected a cast.  He cut off the splint and checked out her arm and movement and then she got a purple cast--she is much happier with it since it is lighter, less bulky, and he did not include her wrist and thumb in the cast so she can use her hand again.  Her break is up on the humerus so she didn't need her wrist immobilized for the next three weeks.  In three weeks we go back and she should be able to get the cast off.

Yet another day on the surgical floor......

Today, I spent yet another day on the surgical floor of the Children's Hospital--S had his hardware removal from his left arm.  This was my fourth pediatric surgery--Iz, B, and now S twice.  After Iz's surgery, someone I know told me she felt bad for seeking advice/comfort before her kid's surgery because his was "nothing" compared to open heart surgery.  I told her that surgery is surgery and fear is fear--it doesn't matter if the surgery is considered major or minor or anywhere in between because no matter what, it is our babies on those tables and that is the only thing that matters.  When I handed B over for ear tubes, a quick "minor" surgery, I was still scared.  Not as long as Iz (and the brevity kept it from getting as intense), but the fear was still there.  The "what ifs" were still there.  If I could have fallen apart the way I did when Iz went back, I would have, but I had little eyes watching me and needed to be strong.  Same with S--both times he went back, it was so hard.  But little eyes were watching so I remained cheery and upbeat.

The fear, though, is always there, thrashing around inside, searching for a way out.  It is a bird, trapped, beating its wings against the windows.  It swells and grows and pushes on every piece of you, threatening to break you down, to burst forth and collapse you.  In the pre-op area, I saw a Mom completely break down, sobbing, and I wanted so much to go to her and put my arms around her and tell her I have been there and I would be there again if I didn't have little eyes watching me.  Pacing the hallways, waiting, wondering.  Watching the clock tick by, counting the minutes until the estimated time of surgery is up, wondering why the surgeon isn't there yet, afraid that the delay means something terrible has happened.  The giddiness of finally seeing the surgeon appear in the doorway and seeing a smile on his face so you know your child, your baby, your heart, is fine before the doctor even says a word.

S's surgery went very smoothly but his recovery was a little rough.  It took a lot longer than anticipated and he is still feeling a little sick but is feeling better and is currently watching Mythbusters :p  It was an emotionally draining and exhausting day.  Every time we have a surgery, no matter how long or how "serious" it is, it is mentally and emotionally exhausting.  I wonder if it will ever get easier or better or less draining?  And I also really hope we never have to find out--I will be quite happy to never ever set foot in the surgical area at the Children's Hospital again!

S's surgery follow up

We had a very snowy drive to the Children's Hospital in the nearby Big City and an even snowier drive back but we made it :p  S had his surgery on Dec 11, he got his cast off four weeks ago, and everything is still looking great.  The bones are nice and straight and the Dr said they look about 90% healed, which is expected at this stage.  S has been having some pain in his wrist when he moves the arm too fast (I call it flailing--its one of his sensory seeking behaviors and his control over doing it is spotty) and the surgeon thinks the cap he put on when he placed the rods may be hitting the tendon when S flails.  He cannot take the cap out just yet but we go back in six weeks and if it is still bothering S, they will schedule him to get the cap taken out and then a few months later he will go back in to have the rods themselves pulled out.  S agrees with the Dr that it would best to be able to do all of it at once instead of two separate surgeries so he told the Dr he was going to try real hard to not flail with his left arm :p

In other news, poor Izzy caught a tummy bug and was just miserable yesterday and last night.  She is feeling better today and has kept everything down since about 2am so she is on the mend :)

Update on S

So Monday the cast comes off, he isn't feeling well and running a fever.  Tuesday, one of the stitches pushes out of his incision.  We don't hear back from the surgeon's office until Wednesday and they say it is a dissolveable stitch that didn't dissolve because of the cast and we should wait and see.  Normally they tell parents they can go ahead and pull the stitch out this long after surgery but because S is running a fever and the area is red and slightly puffy, they don't want us to touch it.  Just continue to wait.  *sigh*  Because he is running a fever, he is not allowed at school and he has already missed far too much between missing four days after he broke it, three days because of his surgery, and now almost the entire week due to a fever that I was pretty darn sure was only there because his body was trying to get rid of this stitch that was not dissolving.

But we waited and watched, just as the surgeon's office wanted us to.  We checked his incision and stitch often and watched that stitch work its way out of his arm.  It was actually kind of neat to watch--we checked it about once an hour and each time, you could see that it was further and further out of his arm.  First one strand came out completely, the knotted up one, and then the other piece came out.  By Friday morning, no more fever.  So S finally went back to school :)

The cast is off!

Yesterday, S had an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon.  He was so nervous going in!  They took his cast off and then did some x-rays--you can still see the fracture in the bones but you can also see where they are knitting back together.  Because of the titanium rods in his bones, the rest of the healing can be done cast-free so they didn't need to put a new cast on :)  S isn't sure whether to be happy or scared, though, because now he doesn't have the security of the cast!  He has to still take it easy for the next two weeks and then he can do more "normal" things.

He was scared to have the Dr pull off the steri strips from his incisions (two small ones at his wrist where they inserted the rods and a long one on his arm where they had to go in and repair the calcified bump on his bone from the last break--it was preventing the rod from going in) so the Dr told him he could let them work themselves loose in the bath.  We got home and he took a long bath and later that evening the steri strips came off.  He had a scab over one of the small incisions and it came off at some point last night.

He wasn't feeling that great yesterday and was running a fever by bedtime so he stayed home from school again today.  Early afternoon, he comes to me, freaking out about his arm--I look and where the scab came off last night there is a knotted piece of what looks like fishing line sticking out of his  arm.  It was apparently tucked in under the healing scab and pushed its way out today.  It is kinda gross LOL  S insisted we put a bandaid over it so it doesn't get caught on anything while we wait for word from the doc on what our next move is (we got the office voicemail and are waiting for a call back).

He started feeling better but his fever creeped up again towards bedtime so I dunno if school is in the cards tomorrow.

Today was S's surgery follow-up appointment--everything is looking great!  The bones are still nicely aligned and his incisions look good.  They took off the wrappings and splint and put him in a short cast--he was so excited about that :p  The long cast meant he couldn't move his elbow but now he is more comfortable and can do more things :)  The doc said the titanium rods will do the job of holding everything in place so the long cast wasn't necessary anymore.  Three weeks and we go back for another check and possibly get the cast off.  S is really hoping the cast can come off because then he could join the next session of swim lessons (he had to miss the last few weeks because of his arm and now lessons are over).

In other news, Izzy has gone and grown up on me ;-)  Last week when I was hospitalized, she had a hard time being away from me but she did it and even had fun while I was gone :)  She has been eating real meals instead of just snacking between nursing sessions, she has decided she likes drinking milk and water from her straw cup, and she has gotten even more opinionated.  My little baby has decided it is time to be my little toddler!

S was finally able to return to school today and he was both nervous and excited.  It is the first time he has been back since last Monday when he broke his arm in the evening.  Last week, he didn't go in because the surgeon that set his arm did not want him in school while he was on the Tylenol with codeine--good call on his part because S slept away most of last week and when he was awake he was spacey.  He had an ortho appointment on Friday and then another on Monday, then surgery on Tuesday, and then he was sick from the anesthesia on Wednesday.  He has adjusted to the pain meds now and can take them if needed and still be alert so off to school he went.  He had a great day :)  He was happy to see his friends although he did not want to tell anyone what happened to him or that he had surgery.  Last week, he got a big envelope in the mail full of handmade cards from all his classmates wishing him a good recovery, many of them Star Wars themed because S is such a Star Wars fan :)  It was very cute.  They are all very curious about where he has been and what happened so we had a talk today about how it is fine if he does not want to talk about it but he does need to be polite because they are just curious and worried about him.  The standard second-grade response is "none of your beeswax" but I would prefer he be a little politer ;)

I think the universe is out to get me.....

S had his surgery yesterday--he was very nervous but he was a champ about it all. He was very cooperative and they asked him if he wanted a parent to come back with him until he fell asleep. He asked me to come and held my hand until he was asleep.

We took Izzy downstairs to feed her some breakfast and while waiting in line, I started feeling a little sick. I felt perfectly fine up until that point but soon afterwards, I was in the bathroom throwing up. I felt a little off and spent most of the next hour or so in the waiting room with my eyes closed while the mister entertained Izzy. 

When the surgery was done and S was in recovery, we met with the surgeon in a consult room--they successful placed titanium rods in S's two bones so they are nice and straight and have the extra strength to stay in place as they heal. There was one small complication--he had a bump on one of the bones from the healing of the first time he broke it and that was preventing the rod from going in. So they had to open up his arm and repair the bump so he does have an incision along his arm instead of just the two holes at his wrist. 

At that point, I commented on how hot the room was and the mister and the doctor thought it was cool. Someone, I'm not sure who, said I was really pale, and the next thing I know, I am on a bed with people poking at me and I have no idea what is going on. I lost huge portions of yesterday and have only scattered memories of most of the rest of the day. I have been told I collapsed and was very confused. My blood pressure was a tad bit high, I had a fever, and I was in tachycardia for many hours. They did not know how long I was in tachycardia before I collapsed and were worried that my heart was going to be damaged so I was admitted to the hospital for observation. I remember waking up in the Children's ER and asking if I hit my head because it hurt (they said no). And then I was in an ambulance but I have no memory of being loaded up in it. I spent some time in the adult hospital ER. I know I was moved to the cardiac observation unit but I don't remember being moved there. I had many EKGs and blood draws and was hooked up to heart monitors all night. At some point overnight my heart rate finally came back to normal and once it has stayed normal for several hours they did one last check of my heart--no damage. It appears I had a perfect storm of a virus, stress, the onset of a migraine, slight dehydration, and the pain from the infection in my arm that led to the tachycardia and collapse. Scary stuff, my friends. I really do not ever want to wake up full of tubes and wires again and not know what is happening or why :/

I was told that S was sick from the anesthesia and threw up a lot most of the evening but he feels much better today and is glad I am home. He was very worried because he knew something bad must have happened to keep me from taking care of him while he was recovering. Poor little guy :( Izzy had a hard time of it, too, and has not left my side since I got home this afternoon. B just thought he got a fun sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's LOL

Surgery tomorrow

Well, S had his ortho appointment and the broken bones are still shifting around so he is on the schedule for a surgical repair tomorrow.  Third kid in eight months to be on the surgical floor of the Children's Hospital.  How did our boring little life get so complicated?