Surgery

The weeks leading up to her surgery date were emotional.  It was a very hard decision no parent should have to make, but we knew it was the best decision.  It was hard knowing she was going to have a major surgery.  It was hard saying good bye to her sweet little foot with the most precious 4 toes that you had ever seen.

Before the big day- I made foot prints of her feet in a special photo frame.  My older sister also came out from UT to watch our other 2 kids while we were at the hospital for her surgery.  She helped me make a foot mold of her left foot -so we would have a perfect memory of that sweet foot.  I went to our local craft store and bought a keepsake molding kit.  They turned out perfect.

Fri 11/9/2012

We got up the day of surgery and headed out. We had to be at Shriners at 7am.  Surgery was at 9am. She was going to be having a Syme's amputation.   We went through the normal pre op procedures.  Waiting.  Met with the anesthesiologist.  Waiting, and then Dr R. came in.   She said hello, and that they were just about ready.  She marked her left leg for the surgery and said someone would be by shortly to come get Allison. I'm sure she said more than that... I just don't remember.  Oh and we picked the color of her cast - Purple.

Allison had been given a 'Good Luck' Bear from the hospital before her surgery.

 

Allison was doing great- I was a ball of nerves.  At 9:10 a surgery tech came and took Allison from us and I kissed her good bye.  I was really surprised that she didn't cry when a stranger took her from us. They took her back to the OR.  A Nurse said that they would keep us updated every hour as surgery progressed.  She then took us down 1 floor to our room - where we would be staying for the next two days.  We were told that surgery had started at 9:50 and all was good.  We sat in our room for a while. Then we went back up stairs and sat in the OR waiting area.  We had been told surgery would be about 3 hours.  At 12pm Dr R. came out and said Allison was in recovery and starting to wake up and that we could go back to see her.

That was - thankfully- the quickest 3 hours.  It was helpful that my mom, mother in law, sisters and my best friend were there for my husband and I.  We went into recovery and Allison was trying to sit up and she was smiling.  She was very happy to see us.  We were able to hold her and I was able to nurse her, as she hadn't eaten in quite a few hours.  She was still very drugged and did not appear to be in any pain.  Dr R said surgery went better than expected and was very pleased with how it all went.
 

That first day she slept alot.  We made sure to keep up on her pain medicine. 

Allison got a good night sleep.  Mommy, not so much.  The pain medicine would drop her oxygen levels.  Through the night I had to keep a oxygen mask near her face to help with her oxygen levels and keep them up where they needed to be. 

Saturday when daddy came back to the hospital he brought big sister and big brother.  My sister and their cousins also came to visit us.  Allison was very groggy from the pain medicine.

Brianna and Noah had been coming to Shriner's with us to Allison's appointments.  They were familiar with the hospital and Dr R.  They knew her leg didn't grow right when she was in mommy's tummy.  We had been telling them that the Dr was going to do surgery and take her foot and that she would be in a cast for a little while. Then they would make her a new leggy and foot she so can walk just like them.  

When they got to the hospital to see Allison, they said hi, saw her cast and then asked if they could go to the play room.  They had remembered it from the previous appts.

Saying Hi to cousin Cooper.

 

After saying hi to Allison, the kids had more fun looking out the window at the the amazing view from our room.   Then I took them to the playroom. 

Over the course of the day - we adjusted her medication.  She was so loopy when it was working and then she was more her self as it was wearing off.   Her dosage was a little high. 

She was doing great.  Dr R was ready to send us home on Saturday - but I really wanted to stay 1 more night and make sure we had her pain meds at the right dosage.

We just hung out and watched movies and did lots and lots of cuddling.  She was doing great. She was eating well and her vitals were good. The nurses thought she was the cutest thing and they loved coming in to check on her.

Sunday we were ready to go home. We both slept fairly well - for being in the hospital. We got dressed and waited for our discharge papers and daddy to come get us.

I was so glad I had a stash of baby leg warmers.  They would be our best clothing option over the next few weeks while she had her cast on.  As big as her cast was - pants were not going to be an option.

We were on our way home.