Day Two
Day Two started early with doctors making rounds. Ortho stopped in followed by a pediatrics. Then physical therapy and respiratory therapy. Pain meds every two hours, still alternating between IV morphine and oral percoset. Both meds were causing her to sweat badly so the air conditioning was set at about 70 degrees. She was having a problem urinating so they ended up using a straight cath to empty her bladder. They hoped that later in the day getting her up and onto a commode would help. (She was not happy with a bed pan.) Physical therapy told me that we would need basketball shorts to fit over leg braces.....so ran to Walmart to get a couple of pairs. Also picked up coffee at starbucks on the way back. Social work stopped by ..... a walker, wheelchair and commode were being arranged to be delivered to my home.
Day three...
Fitful night again.....at 5 am made a run to the 7-11 for coffee...a big one. Melissa's bladder was still not working so they had put in a foley catheter during the night. She didn't want it but once in it was actually a blessing. Physical therapy visited twice...time to get her up. She was taught how to shift her weight in the bed and how to get out of bed...not that she could do it herself yet. It took two of us to get her into a standing position. She sat in the chair for a bit while her bed was being remade.
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Surgery was set for February 21st, 2013 at NCH in Naples. A few days before, we had to do a pre-op admission at the hospital...it gets the insurance details taken care of and we met with the anesthesiologist. We saw a student nurse anesthesiologist who talked directly to Melissa, not me. He explained what his function was and how different types of anesthesia works....all broken down so a 14 year old could understand. He made her feel very comfortable.
Two days before surgery, my mom flew into town. Little did I know how much I was going to need her help.
Morning of the surgery arrived and Melissa checked in at 6am. She was immediately taken to pre-op and I stayed with her until they were ready for her. She did not seem scared...maybe just a little nervous. She was anxious to get this done....this was the big step in getting her life back.
Once they took her in, I went down to the cafeteria to get some breakfast. The hospital has the worst coffee I have ever had in my life. Douwe Egberts instant foodservice stuff. Yuck. I returned back to the family surgical waiting room and found that they brew real coffee...thank god. My mom arrived around 10:30 Just after noon, Dr Churchill came into the waiting room with copies of her xrays. She had handled it well and would be going upstairs to pediatrics soon.
They had opened the bone in her femur approximately 3/8ths of (seen above as the white area at the bottom of her femur.) Lots of long screws and a plate along the side of her legs.
About 30 minutes later, we were called out...she was ready to go to her room. She was in the hall, still mostly out of it. We were taken up the 3rd floor, the pediatric wing. Brightly colored, nautical theme which is perfect for Naples. Double room all to herself....as we would find out later there were only about 4 kids on the floor. For the first few hours, all she did was sleep...she would wake up briefly for meds, morphine. She was in pain with big blue braces on both legs. Bright orange feet. She had some dinner around 7pm ...it was important that she eat so they could get her onto oral percoset, which would give her longer pain relief. Soon her best friend arrived to say hello and see how she was....this put a smile on her face.
Around 10pm we settled down for the night. We made a point of bringing her own pillows and blanket...made it feel more comfortable. I had a pillow and snoozed in the reclining chair next to her bed. She slept for about 2 hour intervals, alternating between percoset and morphine. I probably cat napped about 3 hours.
Two days before surgery, my mom flew into town. Little did I know how much I was going to need her help.
Morning of the surgery arrived and Melissa checked in at 6am. She was immediately taken to pre-op and I stayed with her until they were ready for her. She did not seem scared...maybe just a little nervous. She was anxious to get this done....this was the big step in getting her life back.
Once they took her in, I went down to the cafeteria to get some breakfast. The hospital has the worst coffee I have ever had in my life. Douwe Egberts instant foodservice stuff. Yuck. I returned back to the family surgical waiting room and found that they brew real coffee...thank god. My mom arrived around 10:30 Just after noon, Dr Churchill came into the waiting room with copies of her xrays. She had handled it well and would be going upstairs to pediatrics soon.
About 30 minutes later, we were called out...she was ready to go to her room. She was in the hall, still mostly out of it. We were taken up the 3rd floor, the pediatric wing. Brightly colored, nautical theme which is perfect for Naples. Double room all to herself....as we would find out later there were only about 4 kids on the floor. For the first few hours, all she did was sleep...she would wake up briefly for meds, morphine. She was in pain with big blue braces on both legs. Bright orange feet. She had some dinner around 7pm ...it was important that she eat so they could get her onto oral percoset, which would give her longer pain relief. Soon her best friend arrived to say hello and see how she was....this put a smile on her face.
Around 10pm we settled down for the night. We made a point of bringing her own pillows and blanket...made it feel more comfortable. I had a pillow and snoozed in the reclining chair next to her bed. She slept for about 2 hour intervals, alternating between percoset and morphine. I probably cat napped about 3 hours.
This is the story of my daughter and our experience in dealing with her knock knees. Until 16 months ago, we didn't even know we had a problem. I am writing this hoping I can help another family prepare for the journey we are currently going thru.
November 15, 2011 started off as a normal day. Melissa my then 13 year old had just gone to her room to get dressed when suddenly a blood curdling scream came from her room. I ran to her room and her right knee cap had slide out of its groove and was below her knee, creating an ugly bulge. It popped back into place but the pain continued. She hopped to the car and we headed off to the hospital. The physicians on duty did not know what to make of it...they braced her leg and gave us a referral to a an orthopedist.
A week later we saw Dr. John Churchill of Peds Ortho at the Naples office. They took a history and xrays and the diagosis was fast. Genu valgum. Melissa was knock knee'd. Actually there was a pretty simple test. When standing with her knees together, her ankles could not touch. Looking back at her elementary school photo's we could see it in every class photo. Nobody had ever noticed before. It was immediately suggested that Guided Growth Plates be put into legs, basically locking down one side of the growth plate but still allowing the other side of the femur to grow and straighten her leg. http://eight-plate.com/treatment_overview.php Ten days later at Health Park in Fort Myers Melissa had these plates surgically inserted in her knees. Outpatient procedure, we were on our way home in about 3 hours. She was in pain and we were sent home with vicodin. Over the weekend, she took 3 pills, otherwise she coped with the pain with 600mg of advil. She returned to school on the Monday in a wheelchair. School let out for the christmas break during which she transitioned to crutches. She walked with the crutches....they gave her support and made her walking more comfortable. She used them for 3 weeks and finally gave them up.
Unfortunately, this procedure did not achieve the desired results. Her age was working against us....she initially grew 3/4 of inch in height within the first 6 months...then nothing. She had hit her full height of 5'6"...time had run out. Meanwhile her left knee cap was beoming unstable. Pain increased in both knees and her physical activity came to a halt. She had never been althetic but loved to walk around our complex with her dog. She loved to swim for hours. She would come home some days in tears complaining about how much her knees hurt. Even shopping trips to the mall became shorter and shorter as her knees became more and more unstable. In January of 2013 we returned to Dr Churchill. The only solution was major surgery....a bilateral distal femoral osteotomy on both legs at the same time
November 15, 2011 started off as a normal day. Melissa my then 13 year old had just gone to her room to get dressed when suddenly a blood curdling scream came from her room. I ran to her room and her right knee cap had slide out of its groove and was below her knee, creating an ugly bulge. It popped back into place but the pain continued. She hopped to the car and we headed off to the hospital. The physicians on duty did not know what to make of it...they braced her leg and gave us a referral to a an orthopedist.
A week later we saw Dr. John Churchill of Peds Ortho at the Naples office. They took a history and xrays and the diagosis was fast. Genu valgum. Melissa was knock knee'd. Actually there was a pretty simple test. When standing with her knees together, her ankles could not touch. Looking back at her elementary school photo's we could see it in every class photo. Nobody had ever noticed before. It was immediately suggested that Guided Growth Plates be put into legs, basically locking down one side of the growth plate but still allowing the other side of the femur to grow and straighten her leg. http://eight-plate.com/treatment_overview.php Ten days later at Health Park in Fort Myers Melissa had these plates surgically inserted in her knees. Outpatient procedure, we were on our way home in about 3 hours. She was in pain and we were sent home with vicodin. Over the weekend, she took 3 pills, otherwise she coped with the pain with 600mg of advil. She returned to school on the Monday in a wheelchair. School let out for the christmas break during which she transitioned to crutches. She walked with the crutches....they gave her support and made her walking more comfortable. She used them for 3 weeks and finally gave them up.
Unfortunately, this procedure did not achieve the desired results. Her age was working against us....she initially grew 3/4 of inch in height within the first 6 months...then nothing. She had hit her full height of 5'6"...time had run out. Meanwhile her left knee cap was beoming unstable. Pain increased in both knees and her physical activity came to a halt. She had never been althetic but loved to walk around our complex with her dog. She loved to swim for hours. She would come home some days in tears complaining about how much her knees hurt. Even shopping trips to the mall became shorter and shorter as her knees became more and more unstable. In January of 2013 we returned to Dr Churchill. The only solution was major surgery....a bilateral distal femoral osteotomy on both legs at the same time
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)