The Whirlwind...

Well. The past 4 months have been......challenging/exciting/not-so-great/wonderful/prayerworthy/praiseworthy, all at the same time. A whirlwind, one in which the dust in finally settling.... *takes deep breath* 

Warning: I'm feeling particularly long-winded today....

Shortly after I wrote the last post, after we closed on our new home, we took our daughter in for surgery on her spine. Lets take a step back.

When she was only 12 months old, while bathing her, Josh noticed that one side of her back stuck out just a little bit further than the other. Just barely, really, but I had been thinking for a while that she walked just a little crooked, or silly I thought, tended to balance herself by holding up one of her arms. I thought maybe it was just her learning to walk, just something that would correct itself, but as I looked over her in the bath, I agreed with Josh, and we brought it up to her pediatrician at her year appointment. The doctor didn't see what we were seeing, he really didn't think there was anything wrong - but he referred us to a pediatric orthopedic surgeon at Rady Childrens, more to ease our minds than anything else. We made our appointment, and a few months later we were there. Even the orthopedic surgeon didn't see anything at first glance - not until we pointed it out specifically as she walked. And of course the x-rays confirmed. She had congenital scoliosis - she was born with a hemi-vertebra (partial vertebra), in her spine, basically a triangle in the midst of a bunch of rectangles, which would cause her spine to grow crooked.  

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At a year it wasn't something that needed to be taken care of right away, she was so small, but we were to keep up on annual appointments. The thought was she'd probably have surgery between 3 and 5 years old, the prime age for this type of surgery - whenever her vertebra were large enough to support the screws and rods, and before she hit too many growth spurts - the more growth that happens, the more curved her spine would become. We saw them again at age 2, not a significant change in curvature, so back at age 3. This time there was a change in the curvature, enough so that they thought having surgery on the earlier end of the 3 to 5 range was best. After more tests and exams, and lots of prayer and wise counsel, we decided that having her surgery before our big move to Menifee, and before another major growth spurt, would be best. 

I don't think anything can quite prepare you for your child going through surgery, no matter how minor or major it might be. We tried to prepare her as best as we could (think hospital/surgery themed coloring books, books like Maisy Goes to the Hospital, and lots of little conversations) - but at 3, only so much could get through. So we prepared ourselves as best as we could, and we prayed. We arrived very early on Monday September 30th, checked her in and sat with her in the prep area, with her cute little gown on, all smiles as usual. She walked back on her own, so proud. If only she really understood, but really sometimes ignorance really is bliss.

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 I held it together until we got to the waiting area, and then I had a minor melt down. Surgery went amazing, it was quicker than expected and no complications, praise God! She has two screws and a rod to fuse her spine - and interestingly enough, the hemi-vertebra is still in her spine! They needed a spacer to put in between the vertebra that were above and below the hemi-vertebra. It's always better to use a person's own bone versus something artificial, so they were able to remove the hemi, flip it on it's side and fuse it in there. Incredible.

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 The first few days of recovery in the hospital were rough. Lots of bloating, finding the right dose of medication, nausea, sleepiness and general crankiness. Mixed in with some highs off of some of her medications that made for some pretty hilarious made up songs (see video at end of post). Even in the hospital she was determined, however, to be as normal as possible. Once her catheter was removed, she insisted on using the potty - and was able to! No diapers for this one! Yay! It's the little things.  There were definitely hurdles we had to get over, and a 6am fire alarm test that was oh so wonderful, but overall everything went about as well as could be expected. We were discharged on Friday and sent home with our daughter in a cast from under her armpits down to her hips on both sides, down the leg to her knee on the left hand side (to offset the previous curvature as she healed). 

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Shortly after the surgery, view of the cast, after the meds kicked in...there's my girl :)

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Particularly loopy, chocolate pudding mustache!

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Sweet girl with some comfort from home, a cuddle from grandma, and flowers from sweet friends :)

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More visitors, hospital gifts and wheelchair rides - getting the hang of it.

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Overwhelming. But really, the first week at home was tough, but she rebounded so quickly. God has shown me throughout this experience how faithful he is, and how truly resilient and amazing kids are. She wasn't bothered much by any of it, it was more ME learning to deal with everything!  After a week at home, she no longer accepted life in a wheelchair or on the couch - she began to walk, ever so crooked, leg cast be darned. By the time they removed the leg cast, 6 weeks in, she was able to "run" in it. And thank goodness, once the leg part got removed, life got so much easier, we no longer had to balance her backwards on the toilet to go to the bathroom, woohoo! There wasn't much holding her back once the leg part was removed, the only real reason I noticed she still had a cast was the smell, lol ;-P Another 6 weeks later, after 12 FULL weeks, on Christmas Eve, the remainder of her cast was removed and x-rays were taken - she was healing wonderfully, and shouldn't ever have to have a surgery of this kind ever again!! So thankful for all the prayers and wise counsel, we know we made the right decision having the surgery when we did. It wasn't fun to get through, but I can now look at it in the rearview mirror - and it should barely be a distant memory for Kaylie the older she gets!

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The transformation, which happened over a weeks time really, from wheelchair, to couch, to standing, walking (painting!), running, to NO leg cast and FINALLY the cast FREE!

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**** I want to take a moment to thank all the AMAZING, WONDERFUL, TERRIFIC people that helped us out during this time - for the meals, the gift cards, the childcare, the thoughts and prayers, the encouragement, dealing with my frayed nerves and emotions, we truly felt (FEEL) so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family in our lives - we can't thank you all enough. Thank you cards were just one of the things that fell by the wayside among the whirlwind :-/ So, Thank You from the bottom of my heart :) ****

.......So that was the bulk of the 4 month whirlwind.....pair that with a MOVE to a location an hour away from our previous home (post in the works), all of the holidays (maybe a nod in a post to come), multiple sicknesses (including the ever-dreaded stomach variety - refuse to post), uncertain business opportunities, settling into our new neighborhood and starting a new school (post worthy), you get a mishmash of challenging/exciting/not-so-great/wonderful/prayerworthy/praiseworthy :) As mentioned, I have a few other blog posts stirring around in my head to keep you caught up, so those are soon to come (hopefully....it's the thought that counts, right?!) Until next time!

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As promised, one of Kaylie's "Silly Song" videos....