Surgery Update

One more surgery down. As a quick recap...we usually visit our specialists every summer to check in and this summer I expected nothing to come of it. When we saw her orthopaedic surgeon he surprised us by saying that she needed a surgery right away to prevent her tendons from causing her surgery to be more difficult next year. The tendons on top of the her foot are pulling up on the under side of the foot.

We scheduled it for Oct 1st thinking we'd then have several weeks before the baby was born.

My doctor found at 33 weeks that I was in pre-term labor and put me on bed rest and medication. I was on bed rest until the day of her surgery which was 37 weeks. I still needed to continue with meds and rest though so that I could get her settled in school afterward and have a little time to figure out how to take care of her. I'm now 38 1/2 weeks and I've stopped progressing. Go figure! :)

The best thing is that her surgery went well. He cut the tendons on the top of the foot and pinned her big toe in place. She'll be off her foot for six weeks and we'll go back three weeks post-op to check the pin, and change the cast. The third day after surgery we saw that the pin is coming up but our doc said to just cover it up and leave it. We are managing fine with the cast although it's tiring for me, especially after being in bed for six weeks. I'm curious how it'll work once the baby arrives.

This surgery was harder than in the past because she's older and more aware. It was easier when she was younger and I knew that the understanding wasn't there. Also, as the years go on we grow to know her as her own person with feelings and a mind of her own. Another thing that is challenging is ironically the fact that we aren't in the midst of constant surgeries and therapy. We've had 18 months to just enjoy her as a typical kid. It was nice to have these things behind us but then to realize they aren't completely behind us or her is difficult. Thankfully she handled it well and wasn't in any pain after the first night. She thinks it was a little fun even. She crawls all over the house and is so content regardless of how long she has to sit.

On the way to UCLA at 5:30 Oct 1st (the day after her 4th birthday). We took Noah out of school to go with us (yes, he's in Kindergarten already!).

Waiting....

You can see how her toes pull up. If you look back through the archives to when she was born it's crazy to see her foot from then to now. It was completely flush with her leg and her toes were attached to her leg.

This is our brilliant surgeon, Dr. William Oppenheim. It's been a long road getting insurance to allow us to see him. We're so thankful for him.

Heading in for surgery...gotta love that anti-anxiety med they give.

I had to capture a picture of this one. After every surgery as she's waking up she is mesmerized by the oxygen monitor. It's really funny.

I love this one. This is after she's awake and I finally feel relieved that she is comfortable and her happy self again. This is usually when I breathe that sigh of relief after every surgery.

She's trying to give a thumbs up but only manages to get it halfway up.

Usually they let Noah in when she's recovering but this time they didn't so he was super excited to see her when she was finished. Shannon and Noah were waiting for the car and when he saw her come out he ran to her so excited and kept hugging her. It was SO sweet!