Rod Surgery #1

The day had come and we were READY! Shelby and I arrived at the hospital super early so we didn't miss any of the doctors or nurses.  We killed the time by watching some movies, coloring, dancing and laughing. Jake (the driver) and his dad stopped by the room to wish Kadence luck.  It was so sweet and thoughtful of them to think of her.

 We found out on Monday that Tuesday was the start of Nurse Appreciation Week so we went and got treats for all of the nurses.  Kadence wrote thank you notes and we taped them to the candy.  We handed them out to many people Tuesday morning.

 Rachel met us down at the hospital so she could take Shelby but we again just had us 4 go back to the pre op room.  One last picture in front of Mike and Sulley!

 She's all ready!

 They had a bunch of cords hooked up to check her spinal cord function throughout the surgery.  This makes sure they don't make any mistakes that could cause lasting damage simply by not knowing there was a problem until it was too late.  The guy explained that he would get a base reading and then for about an hour he wouldn't be able to get a reading because of the cauterizer used which would cause interference.   

 She went back nervous but happy and I held it together.  I was SO nervous.  Rachel took Shelby and they had a great day.  Another picnic and a lot of fun at Rachels house.  Here they are on the merry go round.

The surgery was a longer one so David and I watched Enders Game.  About halfway through the nurse called from the operating room to tell us that Kadence did great, they had her opened up and were trying to decide the placement of the hooks.  That was such a relief, but it got my anxiety going.  To know your baby is but open on a table and there are people debating what the next step should be was not my favorite.  We finished Enders Game and started Date night.  We were almost done with it and I was starting to get nervous because we hadn't heard from anyone.  That's when our buzzer went off telling us the dr was heading to the room.  He came in and told us that everything went great!  What a relief!  We finished the movie and then they brought her back to us.  She spent more time in recovery than usual which is understandable, but this momma just wanted to see her and KNOW she was ok.  She came back and cried for a minute because she hurt.  They gave her a morphine pump which they usually only do if they are 8 or older but figured she could handle being in charge of her pain management.  She opened a present from her sister and was pretty happy with it

 Here she is looking at herself for the first time

 Mommy and her baby

 Grandma and Grandpa Joy and Jeffy came down that evening and she was so excited to see them.  Kadence did great and refused to say she hurt at all.  She kept saying her pain was a 0.  Occasionally she said she was a 1 so we would talk her into pushing her morphine button.  She sat a little and watched David and I build her Hello Kitty boat.  We were so happy because we requested our favorite night nurse and we got her.  Her name was Cindy and she was absolutely amazing as a nurse and great as a person.

 Shelby got back pretty late and Rachel, Aaron and Kylah came to see how she was doing.  Shelby just held her sister for a while and it was so sweet.  They hadn't been able to lay together in bed for a while because of how inclined it was. 

 It was my night to stay with Kadence and I was a little nervous to be honest.  I thought it could be a long night and I was already exhausted.  I found a lot of comfort in knowing Cindy was her nurse and would take great care of her.  To my surprise she went right to sleep and slept really well all night.  They rolled her over and she went pee during the night but other than that she was out cold.  She did keep farting which she would wake up to and start giggling.  She kept talking about it the next morning too which was funny.

 We got to keep her pins which they kept warning us were "very sharp" but we didn't care, Kadence wanted to be able to show people.  We were so happy that they let us keep them.  Jake's dad is actually the one who cleaned them off for us and brought them to her room.

It was a very long day, but everything went great.  By the end of the day she had barely had any morphine, was excited about her present and the fact she could keep her screws and still hadn't gotten out of bed yet.

Surgery Preparation

I know that this post is so incredibly late, but I've been determined to at least post it all in the right month....so I have 45 minutes to reach that goal and it will be a few different posts.  Wish me luck!

As we got close to her rod surgery, we had a lot of different things to get done.  We needed some "before" pictures in which she turned into a "look at all the tricks I can do" photo shoot...

 The left is her back in the beginning of May and the right was taken in November.  Although the right picture is blurry you can see how drastic a difference it has made.

 Kadence also developed an infection at two of her pin sites and it hurt her pretty bad.  She said that it was a 6 on the pain scale and her highest up until that point was a 4 which only happened maybe twice.  It was tender and gross and oozed nasty and actually got way worse than this picture.  They tried an antibiotic ointment and then when that wasn't working they did an oral antibiotic.  The surgeon wasn't too worried because he knew she only had a few days left in the halo.  

 The weekend before was extremely difficult for David and myself.  We usually can go do fun activities as a family to spend some real quality time together and to distract all of us from the upcoming event.  Unfortunately this wasn't the case.  It also was bad timing because all of our visitors had tapered off since we had been in the hospital so long.  It was rough.  All we could think about was the surgery, all the risks, all the what ifs, etc.  It was on our mind every second.  Then we also had to try to fake being happy for the girls sake and that was extremely difficult.  On Sunday we got a much needed visitor and it came as a huge surprise.  Kathy Gambles came to see us.  She came while David was out doing laundry at the Ronald McDonald House so he had to rush over to catch her in time.  She brought them a book and read it to them in true Mrs Gambles form.  She's the best at reading stories!

 The girls were cozied up on Kadence's wheelchair and it was so precious.

 Kadence got to show off all her tricks

 Shelby put on a musical show while standing on her favorite purple hippo

 She had the kindest things to say to us and it was exactly the boost we needed.  I have a hard time taking compliments from her because I value her opinion so much.  She is just one of those people that you couldn't find a negative thing about them if you tried.  We love her to pieces and appreciated her visit more than she will ever know.  We called and asked if Jeff could come help give all of us a blessing.  Rachels family was heading down to distract us and so Aaron would be there.  Rachel made us a yummy dinner which was great and the kids just played.  We all had the opportunity to get a blessing and are so happy to have so many around us who honor the Priesthood and are willing to make the drive to help comfort and bless us.  We spent the night watching a movie together and it was perfect.

 Monday was when things got more serious.  The xrays they got of her back weren't detailed enough in the neck so they sent us for more xrays

Love and support poured in for us in the form of texts, calls, facebook messages, etc.  Mrs. Wright sent well wishes along with a picture of the class

 Sarah, Emi and Lindsay posted this adorable picture on Facebook...

 Everything was ready to go and her surgery time was scheduled for 10am.  It was Davids night to stay with Kadence and he sent me this picture.  She broke down in tears before she went to sleep because she was really scared.  She had marker on her hand which she got on her face and when the tears hit it she looked like she had runny mascara.  

We were as ready as we could be and were extremely hopeful and nervous.  She hasn't had anything this major before but we knew in our hearts it was the right choice and the only one.

Unplugged

The girls school advertised for a program called Cache Valley Unplugged.  It's a program in which different local businesses sponsor a "brag tag" that helps get kids out doing things instead of sitting home bored or in front of the tv.  The different activities vary from making a fire escape plan to thanking a veteran.  We decided that we want to try and accomplish many of the activities on the list as well as complete all the items on our summer to do list.  This will give us more than plenty of things to accomplish this summer.  There are a few brag tags that Kadence is unable to earn, but there are a total of 60 and she can do most of them.  Both girls are so excited and motivated to get as many as they can.  They immediately sat down and wrote an essay which will earn them their first brag tag.  We had a trip to the dr spring on us and so we weren't able to turn it into Utah State in time to get our brag tag but we'll go pick it up on Monday.  A few of them are date specific and we're hoping to be able to get all of those.  The first one was today, the first official day of our summer break, and it was a car show.  The even was Hot Wheels and Hot Dogs.  It seemed like a fun experience and David really likes trying different kinds of hot dogs so it made him happy to hear they are supposedly the best around.  We invited Jeff up for the event too because everything is better when Jeff comes.  The girls had to fill out a paper as they went through the car show and when they were done they were awarded their tag.  (It goes on their unplugged lanyard)

Here's Shelby in front of a Shelby...

 Both girls in front of a Chevelle...

 Kadence is such a good daddy and let Kadence use him as a table to fill out her sheet since she can't get on the ground very easy...

 Kadence and a Nova...

 Kadence took a picture of David and the Nova, which is the car he hopes to restore one day...

 YAY they earned their very first tag!

 The hot dogs were delicious!  The girls didn't like them because they were a more quality dog than they are used to.

We stopped by the Hyrum library on our way back to the car and signed up for their summer reading program.  This earned us another brag tag!  It is an amazing program where they get a sucker every hour they read and tickets for drawings every 6 hours.  If they get a sucker with a star on it they get to choose a prize from the cabinet.  We had fun exploring all of the amazing prizes and the girls are so excited!

 We then decided to earn our "Little Free Library" tag.  We didn't even know one of these existed in Cache Valley and there are two!  You leave a book and take a book, or you can borrow the book.  The girls left these books...

 And took these books...

 David and I think it's such a great idea and actually want to purchase one and start it in our neighborhood.  We just have to wait until we get our tax return or something first.  Unfortunately when we went to pick up our tag, they didn't know where they were so we have to go back another day to pick it up.  No biggie.  We then decided to go wash my car for the "car wash" tag.  The girls owed me one from Mothers Day and now that the weather is better we figured no time like the present.  Plus, we parked in a sprinkler at the Hot Wheels and Hot Dogs event.  

 We couldn't find where to pick up our tag, but we called the number on the building.  I guess we must have come at the exact wrong time.  There's always someone out wondering the bays UNLESS they are filling chemicals.  We went back and got our tag AND a $2 off carwash coupon.  We used it because the girls aren't the best car washers in town and it gave us 4 free minutes of vacuum time.  I have to say that we will now be going to Cache Car Wash for future car washes.  

We went to the Logan library to get some new books for all the different reading programs we have enrolled in.  One of the programs is asking each child to log a total of 3,000 minutes and my girls are determined to finish.  This also crossed off an item on our Summer to do list....Library! We also had a BBQ which is on our to do list but we don't want to cross it off at the same time as library.  We're hoping those are two frequented items on our list.  Here are the girls while we were cooking making a path between their bonsais...

 Entertaining themselves with rocks....

After dinner we read A LOT and are bummed it doesn't count toward any of our programs.  One starts tomorrow, another on Monday and one a week from Monday.  Oh well, reading is great without the reward.  The girls started a 10 day "no screen" challenge in which they can't look at any electronic screen for 10 days.  It will earn them another brag tag.  They also started a 7 day "food log" challenge where they need to log one serving of fruit and one serving of vegetables each day for a week.  The fruit will be easy, but we don't like veggies in this house.  They did eat some veggies off their kabobs at dinner though just to satisfy the requirement.  

After dinner I realized that I haven't made it to Childrens Place to look for a denim jacket.  Kadence picked a new outfit for her baptism pictures and she chose a denim jacket.  I was thinking that Childrens Place would have one that fit better than the one at Old Navy.  While at the mall we also earned the "Window Shopping" brag tag so it was a very successful trip.  We had to go to all the stores and write what we liked or didn't like about each one.  (Some of them required signatures) It made the hunt for a better fitting denim jacket a little more time consuming, but we found a great jacket and earned a brag tag so it was worth it. 

In our first day of summer vacation we earned 5 brag tags (although they only physically have 4 right now), crossed off an item on our to do list, started two challenges toward more brag tags, had some great new experiences and got a lot of reading done!  Now I'm sure most of our summer days will be spent lazily lounging around the house in PJ's with our hair a mess...but TODAY was a success!!

Post Op Visit

I realize that I am writing the "Post Op" post before the "Surgery" post, but if I don't post what is happening until I catch up then I will never post at all.  It's far too overwhelming to think of all the blog posts I haven't done yet.  At least I can do some current ones and hopefully get some time to post the older ones soon.  

On Wednesday the 28th Kadence had her follow up visit with her surgeon.  We were excited to ask a few questions and get some clarification on her restrictions and talk about what is to come.  We haven't finished all of the blankets yet, but we did bring about 15 in to Shriners to donate.  We will donate another 15 or so to Ronald McDonald house in the near future.  Kadence was so proud of her hard work...

 We visited the nurses that were working, the physical therapists, Caroline and of course Mike and Sulley who were now accompanied by Boo.

 Caroline showed us that they had a giant giraffe donated and it made her think of Kadence

 The visit went really really well.  Mike Pond was there and so we met with him and Dr D'Asteou at the same time.  They were very pleased with the way the incision has healed and with her progress.  They are happy that she hasn't had pain and that she is adjusting so well.  (Although they are starting to expect this from her at this point)  They told us that she can now get her incision wet which made her so excited.  She is still unable to jump, run, bike, fall, trip, climb, get bumped significantly, etc and won't be able to until September.  She won't be able to bend at all while having this rod in.  She has to bend with her knees and not her back.  She won't be able to lift anything heavy with this rod.  She won't be able to do gymnastics of any kind.  She can dance, but they are worried she'll bend without thinking.  Mike had the great idea to talk to orthotics about a lower lumbar brace much like what weight lifters wear.  They don't have one small enough but are going to look into custom making her one.  This would allow her to dance and give her a physical reminder not to bend.  Hopefully that will work.  She can run in September but we have to watch to make sure it doesn't hurt her, that she isn't coming down hard on her feet, that she isn't running too far of a distance.  She also will be able to jump in September but not repetitively.  It's all been a huge adjustment and we are all coping pretty well with it.  It's hard for all of us to adjust our summer norms, for me to have added patience and for Kadence to remember the rules.  We're going to go back in December for another follow up, xrays and to schedule her expansion surgery.  It seems like her next surgery will be February or March. 

After the dr we went over to the zoo.  It was a really hot day which doesn't thrill me so we did a fast version of the zoo.  The girls got to see the new lion exhibit where we learned the lions are out Fri-Sun and the lionesses are out Mon-Thurs.  Right before this picture I almost went "Crazy mamma bear" on a poor kid who was trying to push past my kids to see better.  It's really a struggle to keep Kadence from being pushed around and it's hard for me to stay calm in the process.  

 Kadence made gorilla arms...

 So Shelby naturally followed suit...

 It's almost always way too busy by this elephant so I always say "Maybe next time" because I'm horrible like that.  It was our lucky day because the elephant was all ours!  Shelby couldn't have been more excited!  We also got to watch as Zuri played in the water.  She was so active and playful and it was really fun to see.  

We had a great, yet exhausting, day as a family!  I'm so happy that we can always turn a long day into an adventure, it makes it easier on all of us!