Category: Medical

Early on the morning of May 8, 2014 we woke up and headed for Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children to get Dani checked in for her surgery. We waited in our room until various people came in to touch base with us and confirm she hadn’t had any food or drink. We also saw the surgeons again who went over everything with us one more time. We also cleaned her one more time with the special wipes they gave us and put her in the hospital gown. Then we had a lot of down time to play and keep her occupied until it was time for surgery.

Then they came in and gave her the “goofy juice” to help her relax and it was time to head down to the surgery floor.

Here we are waiting for all the final items to be taken care of like “what color cast do you want?” and “Here is your beeper.” The anesthesiologist came in to talk to us and tell us it was time to go and that Dani was as cute as she had heard. Mike put Dani on the bed and she grabbed her and said, “I want to carry her in!” We laughed and they were off to start the procedure. We went to the cafeteria and had breakfast then went to the room to grab some stuff to take to the waiting area.

These turtles were in the surgery waiting room and were completely wild! I have never seen turtles act like these did. They were swimming around chasing each other and biting on their shells. If their job was to distract parents, it worked. We were told the surgery was scheduled for 3 hours, but could take up to 5. The time stretched on and on and finally our beeper went off and we headed down to see what they had to say. The nurse told us that all was going well and that they weren’t finished yet so we went back up to the waiting area. Mike and I both tried to get a little sleep while we waited and then at the start of hour 5, our beeper went off again. The surgeons came to talk to us and told us that even though they had to do “the full court press” on her pelvis and hip, it went as well as they could have hoped. We were about to go back to the waiting area when the recovery nurse came out and said that she was already awake so we could come back.

This was Dani in the recovery room after waking up. She looked so sad and she cried the saddest cry which broke our hearts. We spoke to the surgeons and they told us that everything went as great as they hoped and that everything looked good.

We also got a look at the x-rays to see what they had done. Once she was okay we headed up to the room and tried to help make her comfortable. She was clearly confused and upset about the IV in her hand and other wires and tubes attached to her. I thought she would go to sleep fairly quickly, but she just continued to look around confused about what was going on. After a bit Mike decided to go and pick up the girls from Laura’s house so he could bring them back to see her. Dani fell asleep and I settled in with a book when all of a sudden leaves and tree branches started to hit the windows. I looked out and then closed all the shades because the sound had woken her up. The next thing I knew the PA system started beeping and they asked everyone to please stay away from the windows because of the storm. A few minutes later the PA system beeped again and said, “CODE BLACK CODE BLACK Everyone out of their rooms.”

A few minutes later multiple Scottish Rite employees were in the room getting all of Dani’s IV’s and other gear together and then they told me that we were being moved into a big storage closet with the other patients. They rolled us in there and brought chairs for the parents. Several of the other parents said that a tornado had touched down in University Park which was somewhat close to the hospital. I immediately checked my phone for the direction the storm was moving because Mike was on the road on the way to get the girls. From what I could tell he was going the opposite direction of the storm and at that point he had already been to Laura’s and was on the way home with the girls. After 45 minutes they cleared us to go back to the room. Thankfully everyone was safe, but what an adventure.

After a while I was able to get some smiles out of Dani, which made me happy because she had been so sad.

Mike returned with the girls and some dinner for me and Dani perked up a lot when she saw her sisters. They played in the room a bit and then Mike took them home and I settled in on the pull out chair for what I knew would be a long night of interruptions to check Dani’s vital signs. It was a long night, but both of us managed to get some sleep.

May 7, 2014 was pre-op day for Dani at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children. Our friend Lucy came to pick up the big girls for an all day playdate and the rest of us headed for the hospital. Once all the documents were signed, they took Dani’s height, weight and blood pressure. Then Dr. Birch came in to talk to us briefly and go over the plan for the next morning. From there we headed over to x-ray and then to the station to have her blood work done.

After that they told us we could go for lunch and then finish meeting people and signing papers. We also got a text photo from Lucy of the big girls having fun.

Once lunch was finished they assigned us our room and we spent the next several hours meeting everyone from occupational therapy to nursing and we had one more meeting with all the doctors who would be involved in the next days surgery.

The entire staff was wonderful, but it was a really long day. All three of us were ready to go when they told us we could have a pass to go home for the night. We headed straight over to pick up Nadia and Amelie. Then we stopped by the house to make sure everything was packed up for them to go to Laura’s house for the night. Then we headed to Pei Wei to have dinner before dropping the girls off. Once home Mike and I let Dani have a long bath and then we had these special wipes we had to clean the surgery area with and it was time to get her to bed.

At the beginning of April Dani had her first appointment at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children. The big girls went to spend the afternoon with Auntie Laura and we headed for Dallas. Our past experiences have been so wonderful, that just walking into Scottish Rite makes me happy. We checked in and waited to be taken back to orthopedics where they got her height and weight while listening to much screaming. Then we were in the waiting area until it was time to meet the doctors.

Once they called us in the room we encouraged Dani to play with the toys in the room hoping that would help her be calm.

She was fine until a nurse came in to ask us a question, then she was upset.

The nurse left and then the first doctor came in to talk with us and check her out. She was really upset all through having her hips moved around and the doctor was so apologetic, but told us they would need an x-ray. We went over to radiology and I tried to bribe Dani with a lollipop and that worked until they got her in position for the x-ray. Even with me holding onto her and the tech helping it was a challenge. Mike could hear her screaming all the way down the hallway. Once that was over we returned to the orthopedic waiting area. Then they called us back to the room and she was happy and playing again.

Then Dr. Birch came in to talk to us about the x-ray and our options. We think he is really wonderful (we met him back in 2011 on Amelie’s first visit).  I was glad that we went into the appointment having done our research, because even with what we knew, it was overwhelming. She definitely needs surgery and we have a 6 month window to do it and her outcome be the same. Right now she only has a slight limp, but if left untreated it will get worse and worse. They told us it will require a 3-5 day hospital stay and 8 weeks in a cast from her armpits to her ankles. They told us that we should prepare for 12 weeks, but it will most likely be just 8 weeks.

Nurse Emily gave us a lot more information after the doctors left the room and asked us to take the night to talk about it and check out our family calendar. We thanked them for everything and then headed to pick up the big girls.

The surgery is now scheduled for May 8th. Our family would appreciate your prayers for us as Dani goes through this very hard surgery and weeks in the cast.