5:00am We get up and start getting reading for the hospital. We leave Olivia in her PJ’s and take her to the car. We bring her favorite blanket and her hospital doll and a little Strawberry Shortcake doll the Hoss’s sent her. In the car on the way to the hospital I tell Olivia we are going to see the doctor. She sighed and said “ot oh!”, then she paused and said “Olivia, owie”. I was surprised that she even put all that together. Maybe she understood more then we thought she did.
We arrive at the hospital and get her all checked in for her surgery and met with several members of the staff, including her nurse, Dr Roach (surgeon) another doctor there to observe the procedure, Dr. Sanders, the anesthesiologist, Wendee, her nurse and Stefanie her aide for after she was out of recovery.
We were able to speak in depth about the procedure, and confirm that they will be removing about 2 inches of her left femur bone to be able to place the leg back in the socket, they will then reshape her socket on her left hip bone. Then they will do the leg release procedure so that she can bend her leg to around 45%, they said they can’t get to 90% with out loosing her ability to straighten her leg. The they will put on her SPICA cast and she will go to recovery. The procedure will take about 5 hours.
We go to Olivia’s room, where she will be the next few days after her procedure. They dress Olivia in her gown, and prick her finger to check her iron. She is happy and laughing through the entire procedure, even the finger prick. They gave her some valium, which I wasn’t even sure that she needed, but we wanted to make everything as pleasant as possible for her. They said it was nasty, but she swallowed it with no problem. We then move to the pre-op room. Olivia is so drugged she can barely hold her head up. They tell us it is time for her to go into the operating room, and we say goodbye, not even thinking she is coherent enough to hear us. She begins to sob. Saying “no bye bye”. I then quickly realize that she thinks we are leaving her there. I try to reassure her that we aren’t leaving, that we will wait right there for her. She calms a little but ultimately goes into her surgery scared and crying. I think a part of it is the valium. It is much like drinking it lowers your inhibitions. I think that she was scared all along, but always tries to act tough and carefree. But that the drug took away that tough exterior and showed her for the scared child that she is.
We haven’t eaten and decide to head to the cafeteria. Shriners gives you a pager so that you can roam the hospital and have a little freedom, which helps take your mind off things.
We sit in the cafeteria with some friends and Mike Babcock for a little while. We receive a page and Mike Babcock calls so that we can see the update. They called to tell us that they just started her procedure. It takes around 45 minutes to get everything set up before they start. They are great about staying in contact with each step in the procedure and call us during the procedure to let us know how far they are in the procedure and how much they have left to do and how Olivia is doing. The also called during the procedure and said that they were running some blood work, and decided to call to find out what other tests they should run based on her country of birth. We thought that this was very kind and truly considerate of our daughter and her needs.
I can’t even put into words how amazing Shriners is. Because all care is 100% covered by Shriners hospital, through generous donations. Money and insurance NEVER come up. Every conversation is about your child and their care. Because no one has to account to the HMO or insurance company, they run any test they want without any concern about coverage or money. It is really a unique experience to have the health of your child be the number one concern.
When the procedure is done they call, Olivia had wanted the orange cast, but they are out, and so her 2nd choice was the blue, so we tell them to go ahead with the blue. (honestly I am relieved I wasn’t too excited about living with the neon orange for 6 weeks. They will cast her now and then she will head to recovery and she will be in there 30-60 minutes, and when she wakes up they will bring her to her room.
Dr. Roach comes in and tells us that the procedure when well and that they are pleased with the results. They will send her to get a CT scan tomorrow to make sure that her cast is putting her hip in the optimal position.
Olivia comes into the room, she is extremely pale, and doesn’t look well. They order another blood test to make sure that she is ok. She keeps looking at her arm, which is under the cover but has the blood pressure cup on it, so I lift the cover so she can see what was on her arm. She also kept breathing really deep, like she was feeling how constraining the cast was. So I pulled back the sheet to show her the cast. I thought it was pretty amazing that as soon as she saw the “Blue” cast, even though she was still pretty out of it her first word was an annoyed “Orange”.
We work with her for hours trying to get her pain under control. Since her English is so limited it is hard to tell if she is in pain, or just annoyed with the cast.
Daddy brings the twins and Jordan to visit Olivia. Olivia wants to play!! But that is not really an option.
We have a long night, she is up about every hour saying “owie”. Not to mention that every two hours we have to prop her in a new position, so that she gets good circulation and won’t get any bed sores. She cries whenever we move her. I am not 100% sure the epidural is working as she keeps saying “owie”, but at times she says that when she doesn’t like something, she pretends it hurts. Like the oxygen monitor on her finger. She likes to be in a position so she can see me. She also wants me to hold her hand constantly. Which is a great bonding sign, and sweet, but difficult to do.
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