Follow Up Appt

The Tuesday following Bailey's surgery we had a follow up appointment with Dr. Siddiqi and Dr. Walker.

Bailey was completely unhappy about going to the hospital again, but we assured her that she wouldn't get any pokes, and she wouldn't get hurt in any way, and the doctors would just look at her.  I feel so bad for her sometimes...

They all said everything looks great, which we knew would be the case, and Dr. Walker wants to see her in 6 weeks, and Dr. Siddiqi (the plastic surgeon who did the Bone graft) wants to see her in 6 months.

Dr. Walker (We still think he's the bee's knees) feels pretty confident this was a one time thing and its all over with for the most part.

It was really nice to have these guys working in the same clinic so we didn't have to go to multiple offices that day and they work together, its just nice.

We tried to go get an image of the bone graft from CT, but the lady in medical imaging was just SUPER rude.  We walked up to the Window and she picked up the phone...I swear she just pretended someone was there...and then she was rude our entire conversation.  She wanted to charge us for the CD, when we weren't charged before.  We'll just have to work our way around that one.  It's too cool of a picture to not have for records to show Bailey when she's older, what it looked/looks like.

Coloring

Doing one of her favorite things. Coloring. On her bed, downstairs. Little girl would color all day. She has crayons, probably in every room of the house, even some in the car. I know it kind of has a glare from the flash, but we bought her a porcelain teaset that has princess stuff on it from ROSS for being a brave girl in the hospital...She LOVES it. :)

Bed Downstairs...

I brought her mattress downstairs, because I thought it would be easier for her to get up and down out of it, and didn't want her hitting her head on the railings and such. She loved it, it was so fun for her. I thought it would also help promote more rest for faster healing. I think it helped with everything overall. She did stay up late watching movies most nites, and that has been a hard habit to break, but I'm gonna blame her Dad for that one. He's the one that would set up the sleep timer on it...

It only was like this about a week, and she's back in her own room now, and has slept thru the nite in her room 2 nites in a row now, which is a record. I'm pleased as punch! haha

Final Wagon Ride.

Final wagon ride to leave...just waiting for Dad to bring the car around :)

She even said a weird thing...that she didn't want to leave. I forgot what we told her she could do if we left, but whatever it was, it worked, and she was okay with going home.

Crazy Hair

Look what having surgery, and having part of your hair shaved does to your cute little hairstyle that you once had...

She's getting ready to go home here, in her new shirt that she bought the Monday before we came in :)

Bubbles!

One of the things that Bailey must do before she leaves the hospital is WALK! Bubbles is the answer to get that going.

So we took her down to a playroom, and got walking. Her Face in the 2nd picture on the top is my favorite. Its absolutely adorable.

She still loves bubbles, and I'm so glad that during her first stay Ashlie came on the day she did with bubbles, so that she would walk...we stuck with the idea this time, and it STILL worked. :)

Eating.

Bai was very particular this trip. I just called it a trip? Crap. I mean stay. By no means was this a trip! Sure, I packed a suitcase for her, but still. Geez.

She didn't want to get dressed at all, she wanted to do things HER way. Which for the most part was fine. She and I spent a lot of time together. We snuggled a lot. It was great. We watched movies together. I am shocked and amazed at how many movies this little one has memorized! Seriously!

Here she is eating her food just in her lap. She didn't want the whole tray in front of her.

She also didn't want to take that funky looking hat off of her head, I finally got it off about 5 minutes before we were discharged. Silly kiddo.

Hanging Out

Bailey loves the wagon rides. It helps her feel better. She didn't want to get out of the wagon at the end of the ride. She said she just wanted to sleep there. The 3rd picture is right after the drain came out. She was NOT happy about having that thing come out. Neither would I, to be honest. It seemed painful. She's still grasping onto that doll for dear life. :)

Recovery Room

Right after surgery, she goes into a recovery room area, where they make sure everything is okay, then they move her to a room. It was super hard to see her like that. Especially with the drain hanging off. :(

Way to Surgery

After getting some Versed to calm some anxiety and fears, she was a little more chilled out, and not so angry with everyone. (She had yelled at the nurse that came in to talk to us...). The Anesthesiologist didn't give us a whole lot of time this time to say goodbye, like we had last time. Probably cause this day was a regular day, and they had lots of kids in there. Last time was a holiday and there was only like 1 other person in the waiting room with us. We cried on our "long" walk back to the waiting room, to wait for our phone calls on updates. They estimated it would take 3 hours, but it only took about 2, maybe 2 1/2. They also told us she would be going to be PICU afterwards but she went to just a regular surgery recovery room. We thought she would go to a NTU room, so we would have a chance to see our Favorite Nurse Cassie and/or have her be our nurse, but we ended up going to the 3rd floor. Sure is different once you get used to something!

Making A Face

Primary Children's is so great about making kiddo's feel comfy before a surgery. A Child Life specialist came out while we were in the surgery waiting room (which we were in for an hour), with a little doll, and some markers so that Bailey could draw on it. She even brought out a bunch of Doctor Tools so that Bailey could practice on the Doll. Bailey named the doll, Doll. She's usually creative with names. She still snuggles with the doll, and it stayed on her bed with her the whole stay in the hospital.

Before Surgery

On the car ride over to the hospital. It was still dark outside, since we had to be there at 6:45, we had to leave at about 6AM. Bailey isn't normally up til about 10. She was very quiet, and just wanted to hold hands, and didn't really want to talk. We would get whispered I love you's though.

Her laying down on the table with her blanket...It was after a friend of ours Chelsea, had checked her in-weight check and all of that fun stuff. Bailey was just really sad, and didn't really want to cuddle. I guess she was mad at us. :(

Updating on the Stay

Since I mostly only took pictures on my phoen during her last stay, I just transferred them to my netbook, and today I'm going to try to blog them, tell stories about them, since this is somewhat a journal, and I want to have it for my memories, and Bailey's memories.

Dave called the insurance today, and payment for her last stay seems to have been approved so that's a huge weight taken off our chest...It was only like 35,000 dollars. EEK!  Since it was 3 months ago, who knows how long this next one will take.

Bailey seems to be healing nicely, other than the weird rash on her torso.  I'm just glad that it isn't bothering her, cause then it would bother me even more.  Bailey sure is a little trooper.

We are home.

We got home at about 3pm Friday afternoon.  It's been interesting...
This surgery was a little harder for all of us.  Not that the first one wasn't hard, but it was such a surprise, that it didn't all sink in for us.

She was in a lot more pain it seemed, and wasn't anywhere close to her normal self.  She didn't like talking to anyone that much, when before she would take the nurse's ears off.

She didn't want to wear the hospital gown or her pajamas at all.  I don't blame her though.  :)

This time we didn't have any visitors, and last time we seemed to always have someone coming in, and that helped boost Bailey's morale, and  make her happier faster.  It was just the 3 of us the whole time.  Kind of different.  Serious bonding time though.  That is probably why I haven't put any pictures up on here.  I didn't take that many.  I only took 5 on my camera.  The rest were on my phone and I uploaded those on my facebook page.

She's doing fine right now, still not eating that much, but she's drinking.  I brought her mattress downstairs so we're camping out in the family room, and she's just watching some of her shows, and resting.

After Surgery

Well, we survived the early morning drive IN THE DARK!  Bailey was just really quiet and kind of dazed off the whole time.  Luckily we knew the nurse checking her in (weight check and such).  But it was still a long wait after all of that.  They gave her some calming medicine (Versed) before the anesthesiologist took her back.  It was a very different experience this time.  Last time Bai was so much more calm, and telling us jokes, and tellign the anesthesiologist jokes.  She was just very uneasy, and probably knew more of what was going on this time.  Estimated time they told us was 3 hours.  EEK.  I think it took shorter than that, but I sorta lost track of time, which was probably good.  I kept busy watching some TV shows on HULU, and playing on Facebook on my phone.  I loved reading all the messages from friends, and friends of friends.  :)

The plastic surgeon came back to talk to us after it was all over, and said he put in some plates and screws with the bone he put in, that will dissolve in a year...wow never heard of that one!  Very interesting.  He also said she won't have to go to ICU.  That was exciting for us.  :)

The best news of all, is that if her drain that she has (you can see it in the picture), can come out tomorrow, and if she's walking/eating...that she can come home tomorrow!!!  :)

The swelling we noticed last week.  They realized was her brain oozing out.  Seriously?!  EEK!  Her neuro surgeon was kinda funny when he told us, but seriously...EEK!!!  Such a nice guy though.

She must've been feeling a little nauseated casue she would sit up and say she needed to throw up.  She is still sleeping, and I should probably take a nap, but we don't have a nice lay down bed here.  LAME!  Oh well.  Hopefully, we won't be here long....Hopefully.

Tomorrow's Surgery

I just got the call from Primary's to let us know when to come in tomorrow.

We need to go in today to get some lab work done.  Bailey's favorite.  Poor kiddo.

Tomorrow we need to be at the hospital at 6:45, and surgery will be at around 8:15 AM.  We will be going to the PICU unit immediately after surgery.  I will update as soon as I can, probably while she's sleeping...

She's super nervous, and had a mini-breakdown today.  So we're just trying to keep our minds off of it all.  We're hoping to go golfing today, but the weather isn't cooperating. :(

I'm super nervous and super emotional over the whole thing.  Can't wait to come home.  :)

Thanks for the prayers, love and support :)

Sorry...

Sorry I didn't update y'all.  I haven't been so good on that.  Been dealing with a migraine all week.

Bailey went in to the doc, she had a CT scan.  No cause for alarm, surgery date is still Wednesday.  I am super nervous for that.

Anywho, doctor said it was some brain fluid leaking (CSF-I believe is what he kept calling it).  And the size will go up and down.  I've noticed when she's more active the size goes up.  She's supposed to lay with it elevated, but she doesn't lay still at all...She is ALL over the place.  She's a wild kid.

The nurse/helper lady is SOO nice in Dr. Walker's office.  She gave Bailey a little purse with a bunch of pennies in it, to make wishes in the wishing well in front of the hospital.  She also remembers how nervous Bailey is, and calms her, and lets her pick her room.  Maybe that's how she is with all the patients, but still, I appreciate it just the same.  She didn't get to see Bonnie in Radiology, so Bailey was super duper nervous, and moved  a whole lot during the Scan, but it was still okay.  As soon as her name was called and she saw it wasn't Bonnie, she freaked out.  Poor thing.

She still says that she doesn't love Dr. Walker though...She's so funny.  I love her so much.