Surgery #1

This is a few days behind, but it's just been so busy to try to get internet access and blog.

We left for Houston bright and early Wednesday morning.  Some of our best friends came with us to Shriner's to give us some support.  We were asked to arrive at 7:15am.  On the outskirts of Houston, traffic came to a hault.  Slowly, the traffic sped up to a slow crawl.  Luckily, we always give ourselves some buffer time and arrived pretty much at 7:15am.  Whew!

Immediately after surgery

Trying to smile, but still very foggy from medication

Coming out of the medication fog

Once on the 7th floor, we walked up to the nurses desk.  They said they were waiting on us and ushered us into Kinnley's room.  Her name was already posted on the door.  :)  We knew we would be the fourth surgery of the day and would have some time to wait.  We broke out the stickers, go fish game, etc. and tried to keep Kinnley occupied until time for surgery.  It was great to have our friends there, as we all took turns on entertainment duty.  Kinnley started complaining about her tummy growling.  It was almost noon before they took her back for surgery.  The wait was long and she didn't get out of surgery until mid-afternoon.  The surgery went as expected, but they did comment on how difficult her feet were.  They had to cut along one of her scars, which is not ideal.  And while the casting previous to surgery helped stretch her skin, they still had a finger sized gap where the skin would not close.  This left an open wound to heal inside the cast, and caused bleeding through the night.  We were allowed to leave Thursday evening, just in time for Houston rush hour traffic. Yuck for the traffic.  

Lainie rarely leaves her side.  What a great helper!

Kinnley did well after arriving home, but now has a low grade fever.  I know this is fairly normal, but we are keeping a close watch on it.  We're still waiting on a pediatric wheelchair (should arrive by Tuesday), but Kinnley has tried taking a few steps using her little walker.  She's been nothing but a little trooper.  She complies with every request, but does tell you when the medicine tastes yucky.  :)

I cannot say enough about Shriners.  We never waited more than 15 seconds from the time the nurse call button was pressed until it was answered or a nurse to appear on the scene.  The child life specialists came in to see Kinnley no less than five or six times.  Their job is to ensure the stay is as pleasant as possible for the patients.  They will provide games, dolls, etc. and talk to the child about any questions they have.  When Kinnley's foot started bleeding, the doctor on call was notified and arrived in the room within 30 minutes.  He examed her thoroughly, until both he and Jad/I were comfortable that everything was okay.  Interestingly, he was from China and very interested in Kinnley's story.  I suppose he understands how fortunate she is to have the opportunity to have her feet corrected.  Kinnley never felt any pain after the surgery.  They were right on top of pain contol.  As always, Kinnley left with enough "loot" to fill a suitcase.  Before she left surgery, she was given a beany baby.  On the ride to the room, a purple zebra was added.  Five minutes after arriving in the room, she had a beautiful tiara.  And as a prize for dealing with a blood draw, she was given her choice of barbies.  Everything they do is to ease the anxiety of the patients and provide the highest level of care possible.  Awesome!  The Shiner's nurse called our cell phones on the way home to see how the drive was going (they know of her car sickness), and also called the following day.