Cast Change!

Today was the big day--cast change! It went beautifully and we were home by 10:30 a.m. Caroline and I both took nice long naps :) She was fussy after she woke from the anesthetic, but is back to normal now.

Our surgeon said her x-ray/arthrogram looked really good, he was pleased with how her hip was seated in the socket, and that it felt very stable upon manipulation. That is really great news; it is not always the case with hip dysplasia kids.

Just to mark the change, and for something different, we went with a bright purple cast this time. It is almost exactly the same as the first one, except the bar is curved. This is due to the fact that I teased our dr. about the last bar (it was very close to the diaper area), so he made a special effort to make changing easier for us!!! Bless him, it was so sweet, but just goes to show surgeons lose their sense of humor somewhere along the way... hello, I was kidding!

However it is a lovely cast, as spica casts go, and so clean & shiny I am tempted to lick it!!! :)

He did say her skin looked great--one of the best he's ever seen! My reaction to that was a mixture of pride and severe shock. It was a relief though, I've heard horror stories about the terrible sores found under the cast.

So, we go back in six weeks and 1 day to have the spica removed. She will be awake that time, and will be fitted for her brace that day. She'll be in the brace full time for 4-6 weeks, although we'll be able to remove it for baths (hooray!!) and hopefully some swimming. After that, we'll see, it just depends on her x-rays. Most kids are weaned very gradually from the brace, so that's what we're expecting.

For now, though, we're just enjoying our nice clean girl and celebrating the halfway mark.

Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers and words of encouragement. They sustain us.

Love,

Melissa

ps--be sure to see the previous post, I just added lots of pics.

In recovery

Walking around in recovery

Back on the beanbag again!

Pictures

Here are the girls in the beautiful dresses my friend Cindy made. Note the customized spica-friendly bloomers on Caroline!

The other day, in a fit of nostalgia, I got out the shaving cream & let Caroline go crazy. I'm not the only one who remembers doing this at school, am I?

Then we "cleaned up" by having a tea (water) party. (I covered her in a waterproof floor mat)

For her last bath in the pink cast, I let her play in the sink (yes I cleaned it first!). I've been scared to do this for fear of getting soaked, but I figured the cast is being changed in a couple days anyway, so why not give it a try? She had a ball splashing around and my fears were unfounded, so we'll definitely be doing this more often!

Happy Mother's Day!

Ok, not sure if anyone is still reading this, but if you are please accept my apologies for the long silence... There has not been much to report as of late. We are doing fine and Caroline is plugging along. She had an ear infection last week--that was much more traumatic to her than surgery! She is finally getting more comfortable with being on her tummy, she's scooting around more. Other than that, it's just status quo. Tomorrow, though, marks a major milestone: CAST CHANGE! Hooray! Now, I know you are probably thinking, big deal, what's so great about that? But let me tell you, just stop for a minute and think about what is involved in having a toddler in a body cast for 6 weeks, including diapers, no bathing, and scooting on the floor. Now you might be able to relate a little bit! Of course it's also a big deal because it marks the halfway point for the Spica cast. Six weeks down, six to go!!!! She will go under general anesthesia tomorrow because applying a body cast requires her to be completely still. They will also give her a good bath (hallelujah!), do another arthrogram (dye x-ray) and manipulate her hip to evaluate the progress. All this to say, it is very minor compared to the first surgery, but it's still considered surgery and has risks. Please keep her in your prayers. I have lots of pictures to post, I'll try to do that tomorrow along with an update. Melissa

Oops

Just a quick note to say I'm obviously having trouble with formatting! For some reason, I can't figure out why some parts are double spaced & others aren't... my apologies....

Coasting

The title pretty much says it all--we're just kind of coasting right now, riding on the energy we have received from so many people in the form of prayers, encouragement, help, gifts, food, etc. But, I fear we are losing altitude! Not that the help has tapered off--it hasn't--but I guess you could say we are settling in for the long haul. The adrenaline has worn off & we're all pretty tired.

Things are going absolutely as well as we could hope, but it's still rough. Caroline does best when we are out & about rather than at home, but there is only so much she can do. When we are home, I don't get much done, because she is so dependent on me. And to add insult to injury, the lovely allergy season has hit Nashville full force! Blech.

Ok, enough whining. I do have some good news to report. The swing we ordered came in this week, so Caroline is able to resume her favorite pasttime. Hooray! It was so pitiful before, every time her sisters were outside she'd point at her old swing & say "Swing? Swing?" Here she is in the new one:

I have been meaning to write for a while about the amazing level of love & generosity we have been receiving. I honestly cannot express how grateful we are. This would be completely impossible without all the help we've gotten and are continuing to get. Just to name a few: we are getting dinner 3 times/week, rides to school & back for the big girls, visits, babysitting, 2 months worth of lunch fixins for the girls, a brand new "tricked out" wagon, coffee gift certificates, grocery store runs, packs of diapers, flowers, balloons, gift cards, notes & cards & gifts galore! Ellery & Lauren have gotten care packages of their own so they don't feel left out.

One sweet friend who is a talented seamstress whipped up some custom bloomers to fit over the cast, AND made 3 matching dresses for the girls! (I will post a pic later.) People have brought bean bags, yoga mats, hiking backpacks and other equipment to try to help find ways to make Caroline comfortable. The other day, a group of Keely's co-workers at Regions brought this to him:

This is a full-size toy box, y'all! Stuffed to the gills with goodies--and I took this picture after the girls had already raided it some. The lid wouldn't even close.

Another group of Regions folks donated a TON of money to pay for housecleaning for us!!!!!! Seriously, how do you say thank you for this kind of stuff?

There is so much more, I just can't list it all. It is so awesome how God provides!

So, if you see us, and we seem to being doing well... now you know why.

Checkup

Happy Friday everyone. We had our first follow up appt. with Dr. Martus today. Her x-ray looked great & he was very pleased. The nurse also said Caroline looked great & smelled great so I must be doing a good job!

The one piece of semi-bad news is that he pushed off her cast change date. His office had scheduled it for May 5, which was only 5 weeks post-op instead of the 6 we expected. When he realized that today, he said he'd have them change the date b/c he'd rather wait the full 6 weeks. Bummer. I had kind of been hoping we'd end up with 2 5-week casts, but it was not to be. So, now we await a new surgery date (the cast change is considered surgery b/c she has to go under general anesthetic).

BUT thankfully all looks good and in 9 weeks, 3 days we should be cast-free!

In the meantime, Caroline has made her big debut at church where she enjoyed bible class again. Here she is last Sunday:

Shout out!

Just a quick note to give a shout out to Grandma Darlene! (what do I think I am, 19? first a blog, then facebook, now this...) Seriously though, for those of you who don't know, we have some very dear friends in California, Dave & Darlene Mackey, who have adopted our girls as grandkids. They were our marriage mentors and we developed an amazing relationship that has lasted lots of years and lots of miles. Isn't it wonderful how God provides? Our kids only have 1 biological grandparent living (my mom) and all of their aunts, uncles & cousins live very far away. Although the Mackeys live in California, they have stayed very involved with us & visit often. When we first found out about Caroline's hip, I was overwhelmed & scared. We found out literally the day before my mom arrived for a pre-arranged visit, so I knew she wouldn't be able to come back to help so soon. I called Darlene at work on my way home from the dr's office and she said--absolutely, I'll be there, whatever you need. Just like I knew she would. She came & stayed with us for 12 days (how's that for a friend!). She kept Ellery & Lauren while we were at the hospital & took care of everything. She was the extra pair of hands we needed at first and the companionship we needed even more. So here's to Grandma Darlene--and Grandpa Dave--we love you more than we can say. Caroline and Grandma Darlene