Spika Cast #3

We are down to our third and hopefully final spika cast. We woke up bright and early this morning to drive to the hospital. We had to leave the house just after 5:00am to check in at the hospital at 6:00am. (Isaiah stayed at a friends house the night before so he wouldn't have to worry about waking up bright and early. Thanks so much Kort for watching him. He had a blast!) After arriving at the hospital and checking in we are taken back to a room where a bunch of patients are all getting ready to go into surgery. We all have our own little sectioned off curtain areas. Then we lay Brooky on her wheel-away bed. She gets to change in to her gown and slippers. Then they check all her vitals and what not. Then the anesthesiologist talks to us and asks us if we have any questions. Then Dr. Houkom her orthopedic surgeon checks her and initials her left ankle with a marker. We ask any questions. Then the cast cutting team comes in and cuts off her old cast. They do it while she is still awake so that it minimizes the time she has to have the anesthesia and also keeps all the dust from the cast out of the OR room. To me getting the cast off is THE WORST part! Brooklyn didn't like it at all last time...but this time she was convulsing with sobs and was scared to death. It just about broke my heart! We did our best to comfort her...but there is only so much you can do when you can't hold them. So after getting her most of the way out of the cast they wrapped the cut cast in an ace bandage to help keep it together while they transport her back for surgery. They didn't remove the cast all the way, because they want to leave it on to help keep the hip stable. I was really hoping I might get to hold her for a second without the cast...but no such luck. :( At least I got a glimpse of her legs! :) Then Casey dressed in his gear so he could go back with her while they put her to sleep using laughing gas...or something like that anyway. So at 7:30am she headed back for what they call surgery, but is really them just putting her to sleep and putting on a new cast since everything looked good.

Casey said she basically just went from struggling to just limp once she falls asleep. Once she is asleep they then try to put an IV in. Last time they had a hard time, but this time was even more difficult. Because she can't have anything to eat or drink since dinner the night before (and a bottle just before bed) she was dehydrated. This always makes it harder. (I have the same issue. They never can get my veins when I am dehydrated.) Anyway to make it even harder there is a really good vein that they usually try to use down by the ankle but they can't use that one because it gets in the way of the cast and everything. So finally they had to resort to using and ultrasound to find the vein and get the IV in. So glad she was asleep for all of this! She got 7 pokes in the back of one hand and 3 in the back of that wrist. Then one in the other wrist, one in the ankle and then the final one that they got in was on her arm an inch or so above the wrist bone. Poor girl! Then everything looked good and the hip was stable so they didn't have to do anything besides reapply a new cast! :) So glad everything looked good!

Once Brooklyn is all finished she gets to be moved from the Operation Room to the recovery room. Once she starts to wake up from the anesthesia then they call me back and I get to go and comfort her, and hold her, and feed her. For all of the times so far she has reacted to the anesthesia well and the only side effect is that it makes her a little more grouchy and cranky. Then the more it wears off the happier she gets. We were released very quickly an were out of the hospital by 9:45am and home by 10:30am or so. So glad they get it done so early so that she doesn't have to fast all morning or make it so we have to stay at the hospital overnight. It is so nice to be able to come home the same day! And I love how fast they get us in and out! We weren't even at the hospital for 4 hours this time! Awesome!

After returning home I fed her some more food and then we were both able to take a much needed nap. Since Zaya was still having fun swimming with his friends and didn't want to come home, I got a great nap! After she woke up from her nap she was a little irritable still and I was having a hard time getting her to eat very much. Then I noticed she was kinda shaky. So I got her to drink some apple juice since I knew her blood sugar must be low from having so little food. After that she still didn't have much of an appetite and was still fussy. Awhile later I gave her another bottle and she spit up. Then she seemed so tired so I laid her back down for a nap. When I was putting her down I noticed she seemed really hot! I was scared that she might be getting a fever. I wasn't sure what to do. I thought I would let her get a little rest and if she still felt hot or wouldn't sleep then I would call the doctor. Luckily for me she took a nap and woke up about 45 mintues later. When she woke up she was happy and not feverish at all! She must have just been hot from her cast and that was it. Thank goodness, because I was really starting to worry. This evening she is pretty much back to her normal self. I am just so grateful that everything went well. And that she has been such a trooper through all of this.

Now just 6 weeks in this cast and hopefully we will be out of this thing by Thanksgiving! YAY!

Reading stories while we wait.

She is SO tired, but never does cry when we wake her up and take her to the doctor.

My sweet tired girl before they started torturing her.

This is right after the traumatizing cast cutting. You can see the ace bandage they wrapped her up in to hold it all together.

She was so mad at this point nothing could make her happy. Not even the gas mask they were letting her play with. Although one kinda funny part that I forgot to write about is they cut the bar off between her cast and she grabbed it and was holding on to it for dear life while they sawed away at the cast. Then when they were through she was poking Dr. Houkom with it. It was pretty funny. Kinda like her saying,"I'm going to get you now after all you have put me through!" :) Also notice how much bulkier this cast was than her new purple one, which is much more slender this go around.

Here she is happy as can be in her new purple cast. They didn't do the little belly cut-out this time. It makes me sad because I can't reach in and tickle her anymore. :( Plus it is harder to clean and there is less airflow now. Oh well. Luckily we only have this cast for 6 weeks instead of 10. Here you can see the bruising on her wrists and the poke on her right ankle where they tried to get the IV in.

Checking out her cast

My happy silly girl with her big silly teeth with the big gap in-between. Here you can see the 7 poke marks on her left hand.

Just so sweet and content.

Love this cute little smile. You can also see the poke marks really good on her hand in this picture.

So relaxed and happy to be home and away from the miserable events of the day.

We are just so grateful that things seem to be going well so far and that she is such a trooper. We have definitely seen answers to our prayers and like to thank everyone else who has been praying for us as well. It sure makes a difference!