This was March 12th, the day of Sara's surgery. We let her stay up the night before as late as she wanted as they had moved her surgery to 1:45 in the afternoon - hoping she would sleep in a little and not beg for food or water all morning - well, that was wishful thinking!
Before heading to the hospital, Sara wanted to play one last game of "PIG" so Dad obliged and even let her win!
She had her surgery at Mott Childrens Hospital in U of M Ann Arbor. We have been in many hospitals with all of Jennifer's surgeries but have never seen them cater to kids like they do here - what a different experience. They really try to make the kids as comfortable as possible. They don't even have a bed in the waiting area - just a chair.
They don't start an IV before surgery - they let her pick out flavored chapstick to rub all over her mask so she would smell the chapstick instead of the gas when going to sleep. Then we wrapped her in a blanket and she had the choice of riding in a wagon or walking off to surgery. Of course, she walked - no way was she going to be caught riding in a wagon - that's for babies.
This is after surgery and after throwing up - poor baby. She played her DS for a little while.
She spent one night in the hospital and they brought around crafts for the kids to do - she painted the top of her box but was too tired to do the rest. We were going home that day but she insisted that Grandma MJ and Jennifer come down to the hospital.
They pretty much got to the hospital in time so Jen could do a craft too and we headed home shortly thereafter.
Did not take long and we were doodling on her casts. She had lots of family and friends stop over to visit and sign her cast.
That's mine right on her toes - so she could see it all the time!
She had to bribe Major with a treat to get him to come on her lap cause usually she is giving him the choke hold which he does not particularly like.
I arranged lots of mini play dates the first couple of weeks - it helped pass the time and keep her mind off of any pain. She really has a great group of friends who have all been so very kind and caring throughout this.
This was her first cast change - they actually use a mini saw and cut them off - she was a little nervous but did just fine.
This is Dr. Craig putting new casts on - could she have picked brighter colors! Her favorite color is of course orange! Dr. Craig joked that she could work on the highway as people would be able to see her from miles away!
She had another cast change at 4 1/2 weeks and got walking casts put on - which i took my camera and took pictures - i just did not have a memory card in the camera - ugh - what a ding dong i am!
This was the appointment to get the walking casts off and braces on. She was doing really good walking on the casts by this point.
Look at those poor stinky feet - she immediately started picking the dry skin off and did not like walking at all once she got the braces on. So, i had to get the wheelchair from the car to get her out of there. It has been a little over a week since she got the casts off and she is improving every day.
She rode her bike for the first time the other day - i think that was actually easier for her than walking, which will come with time! Thanks to everyone for all your thoughts and prayers - she is a little trooper and with all the support from family and friends it has been a much easier road than we expected!
This was March 12th, the day of Sara's surgery. We let her stay up the night before as late as she wanted as they had moved her surgery to 1:45 in the afternoon - hoping she would sleep in a little and not beg for food or water all morning - well, that was wishful thinking!
Before heading to the hospital, Sara wanted to play one last game of "PIG" so Dad obliged and even let her win!
She had her surgery at Mott Childrens Hospital in U of M Ann Arbor. We have been in many hospitals with all of Jennifer's surgeries but have never seen them cater to kids like they do here - what a different experience. They really try to make the kids as comfortable as possible. They don't even have a bed in the waiting area - just a chair.
They don't start an IV before surgery - they let her pick out flavored chapstick to rub all over her mask so she would smell the chapstick instead of the gas when going to sleep. Then we wrapped her in a blanket and she had the choice of riding in a wagon or walking off to surgery. Of course, she walked - no way was she going to be caught riding in a wagon - that's for babies.
This is after surgery and after throwing up - poor baby. She played her DS for a little while.
She spent one night in the hospital and they brought around crafts for the kids to do - she painted the top of her box but was too tired to do the rest. We were going home that day but she insisted that Grandma MJ and Jennifer come down to the hospital.
They pretty much got to the hospital in time so Jen could do a craft too and we headed home shortly thereafter.
Did not take long and we were doodling on her casts. She had lots of family and friends stop over to visit and sign her cast.
That's mine right on her toes - so she could see it all the time!
She had to bribe Major with a treat to get him to come on her lap cause usually she is giving him the choke hold which he does not particularly like.
I arranged lots of mini play dates the first couple of weeks - it helped pass the time and keep her mind off of any pain. She really has a great group of friends who have all been so very kind and caring throughout this.
This was her first cast change - they actually use a mini saw and cut them off - she was a little nervous but did just fine.
This is Dr. Craig putting new casts on - could she have picked brighter colors! Her favorite color is of course orange! Dr. Craig joked that she could work on the highway as people would be able to see her from miles away!
She had another cast change at 4 1/2 weeks and got walking casts put on - which i took my camera and took pictures - i just did not have a memory card in the camera - ugh - what a ding dong i am!
This was the appointment to get the walking casts off and braces on. She was doing really good walking on the casts by this point.
Look at those poor stinky feet - she immediately started picking the dry skin off and did not like walking at all once she got the braces on. So, i had to get the wheelchair from the car to get her out of there. It has been a little over a week since she got the casts off and she is improving every day.
She rode her bike for the first time the other day - i think that was actually easier for her than walking, which will come with time! Thanks to everyone for all your thoughts and prayers - she is a little trooper and with all the support from family and friends it has been a much easier road than we expected!
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