A Quick Deena Update

Deena's surgery went well, and we are so thankful!!  It ended up being right about 3 hours, which was a little longer than I expected.  Her orthopedic surgeon spent a little extra time making sure her rod was in just right, so it was a good reason for it to run over. 

We were able to get the anesthesiologist we love, and we were grateful for that.  She's wonderful with Deena and has been there for most recent surgeries, including her dental surgery.  She lets me go in and sing Deena to sleep, which we really appreciate.  I missed so much in her early years, and it means a lot to be able to be there for her now.

The rod looks great and she is healing really quickly.  We were in the hospital for about 24 hours, but Deena was anxious to get home and did much better once we were discharged and she could be with the rest of the family.  

The kiddos wanted to paint rocks to give to our neighbors and it was the perfect down-town activity for Deena.  We left them by our mailboxes and all of our rocks found new homes.  Some of our neighbors even wrote the kids "thank you" notes, which was really sweet.  The kids really enjoyed it.

We also got out on Monday to view the eclipse.  We made viewing boxes and had a lot of fun learning about the eclipse.

We're back to homeschooling and getting back in our groove again.  It feels good to be all moved in, settled, and getting back in to a routine.  Life is good!

MRI, Check!

This morning Madi and I left at 8:00 to go to Cardon Children's Hospital for her MRI to check for tethering.  The were scanning her head as well as her full spine.  We got to Cardons to check in at right about 9:00, which was a little early (make a note of that... we are never early!!).  They took us back pretty fast, and we were able to start the scan a little early, at about 9:45.  At first the anesthesiologist said I couldn't go back with her.  He said he doesn't like to divide his time and it would take attention away from her.  I assured him that I would stay out of the way and would not ask questions.  I told him I knew what to expect and that I had gone in many times before, even for surgeries.  He told me he has some moms trying to interfere or fainting.  I assured him that would not be me.  I also told him Dr. Moss had promised me I could go back.  He didn't love it, but he did decide to let me back.  I was thinking we were just going to have to leave and re-schedule with a different anesthesiologist, so thank God he changed his mind!  I held Madi's hand and sang to her while she fell asleep.  After one "Twinkle Twinkle" she was out.

They said the can could take as long as 4 hours, though I knew it would be less.  It ended up taking right about 2 1/2 hours.  They came and got me while she was still sleeping, and we let her sleep until she woke up on her own so that she would wake up peacefully.

 

 



When Madi woke up she was a little cranky and a little groggy but not too bad.  They were able to get the IV in her foot (yeah!) so that wasn't bothering her.  The only thing she was upset about was her thumb.  Having the pulse-ox monitor on her thumb and then having her thumb in the same spot for so long had caused a loss of blood flow.  Her thumb was a little purply and puffy.  They tried getting ice for it, but she didn't want it. 

After giving her a few minutes (and some water... she said no to a snack) they discharged us and sent us upstairs for an x-ray.  Madi has a programmable VP shunt, which gets programmed by a strong magnet.  Because the MRI machine is essentially a large magnet, it can re-set the level the shunt is set at.  We had to wait quite a bit, but then they called us back.  Right about the time we stood up, Madi looked at me and threw up all over myself and herself.  Poor baby.  We had skipped anti-nausea medicine because she said her tummy didn't hurt and she didn't want it, but we should have given it to her.  After throwing up, she felt much, much better and was back to her old self.  After the x-ray I took her to the cafeteria to eat.  It was almost 3:00 by then and she hadn't eaten all day!  She picked a hot dog with no bun, French fries, and chocolate soy milk.  She was very happy to eat and was able to keep her food down just fine.

We finally left there and made it home right about 4:00pm.  It was a long day!  Now we're getting ready to eat dinner and watch a family movie.  Relaxing just sounds good right now!

We won't see Dr. Moss until next week as he is out of office this week.  I will update everyone with results once we have them.  Thank you so much for your prayers, I know God was watching out for her!  Please pray that we get clear tests results and for wisdom, discernment, and clear direction for Dr. Moss, as well as for David and I.