Stephanie's Surgery

Well, today was extremely eventful. We had to be at the hospital at 8:30am for pre-op and registration, with surgery scheduled for 10:30am. Stephanie was nervous last night and ended up staying up until 2am talking to me and reading, so getting her up so early this morning was difficult. She was up every hour through the night as well. She hasn't slept well since the accident on Thursday.

Grammy and Grampy met us at the hospital and tried to get a few smiles out of her. They were so kind to take Ashleigh and Jeffrey back to their house so they could play. Thanks so much!

Stephanie was in extreme pain by the time we went to our pre-op "room". The came in to do the IV, and freaked her out. So, our wonderful nurse said she could talk to the Dr. and they could make adjustments for her. They agreed to wait until they put her to sleep, thank goodness!! We met the anesthesiologist who happened to see her during a meltdown and asked her if she was alright. She immediately answered no. He asked if she would like a drink to help her feel relaxed. She said she didn't know, but daddy and I told him YES! She was given a cherry cocktail, which we called happy juice. Within 5-10 minutes, she was slurring words and saying and doing the funniest things! Here are a few that I wrote down to remember:

1) She kept putting her head between the bed rails and saying she was stuck
2) She asked her daddy to give her some hand sanitizer because she was hungry
3) She patted daddy and said "hi, mommy"
4) She kept putting her head between the rails and laid there saying she was very comfortable.
A few seconds later, we heard her mumbling about the beautiful rainbow and butterflies. She
was staring at the ceiling upside down.
5) "Why is my hat blue?" as she had it pulled down over her eyes and nose.....
6) "I'm in my own virtual world"
7) Daddy would tickle her and she would giggle and say "leave me in my happy place!"
8) We thought maybe daddy wouldn't need to go back to the OR with her since she was quite "buzzed", but then we heard her say "Put your suit on!" Meaning he was going to suit up and go with her, or else.

The Dr. arrived at 10:45 and wrote his initials in black marker on the left knee so he could guarantee he was setting the right ankle. A few minutes later, they took her back. According to Thomas, they put the mask over her face and told her to breath deeply. It was the laughing gas and she later said that it tasted terrible! I had to ask her tonight if they pushed the mask down on her face and she said they did. It was like a suction....reason I asked is because she now has 2 black eyes and bruising on her nose.... She breathed in a few times, while the anesthesiologist was rubbing her face and talking calmly to her. He then told daddy to kiss her and that they were kicking him out. He, being Thomas, said he would rather walk out on his own. He got a chuckle from Dr. Berry.

Approximately 20 min later, Dr. Berry came in the waiting room and informed us it went well and that he has every confidence that the growth plate will heal normally and she won't have any trouble. She is to not put any weight on her foot for the next 2 weeks until the follow up visit where he will x-ray and check the healing process.

30 minutes later, they moved her from recovery to a room where they could make sure she wasn't having any complications before being discharged. We followed her into that room, and she was awake, but groggy. She kept saying it hurts, but after questioning her, I discovered it wasn't her foot hurting, it was her hand where the IV was. Pastor Mike Halsey from our church arrived at this time and was surprised to see how well she was doing. The nurse went ahead and gave her a Lortab for the pain, removed the IV and immediately, Stephanie started perking up. By the time we got her dressed, she was laughing and talking. We left around 1pm and had to stop at Waffle House since we were all starving and Stephanie had to eat soft foods since we weren't sure how she would respond to the meds/anesthesia/nausea meds.

We arrived home at 2pm and mom and dad basically crashed! She propped her foot on a pillow with ice and got busy playing the Xbox. By 5pm, I thought she would have asked for pain meds again but she didn't. She was allowed to have another pill at 4! I asked her what her pain level was on a scale from 1 to 10. She said 1! I was amazed! She's doing so well. She says her foot feels so much better in this new cast. What a difference the bone being in the right place means!

We have been blessed with great friends in our homeschool group! Martie brought yummy Potato Soup, rolls and Big Pretzels for dessert. She informed me that dinner is being provided tomorrow and Friday as well! I'm so thankful!! I've been so tired the last few days from helping her day and night, that I don't really have any energy left!

My mom and dad are arriving tomorrow night on their way to OH. They'll stay with us all day Thursday and head north on Friday morning. This visit couldn't have been planned any better! Stephanie is really looking forward to seeing them.

I've posted pics of Stephanie before surgery, her "old" splint...1/2 cast, and the new cast. I'll update her progress. Stephanie and Thomas are looking forward to an art project in the next few days. They will be spray painting her ugly, boring off-white cast many different colors. She was bummed that she couldn't get a neon color since she was getting a cast at the hospital instead of the office.

Stay tuned..... :)