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!
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