The Roller Coaster Continues

On Monday we went in for a routine follow up on Anna's arm.  Poor Anna has a real fear of hospitals and doctors, etc.  She was bawling as I carried her in for appointment, but again, Children's Hospital Boston to my rescue.  Lots of fish tanks, coloring pages, movies, and stickers helped distract her out of her hysteria and brought her back to reality.  I take her to radiology and she has a set of xrays, and the orthopedist isn't happy.  They take her cast off, and take another set of xrays where they are bending her broken arm all over the place and yet again she is bawling.  We go back upstairs and the dr. suggests that we will need to do an MRI the next day because the break is in such a place that makes it difficult to get a good xray - which I believe after ALL the sets people have tried to take.  The bummer of an MRI on a three year old is that she will need to be sedated.    I say, "she's probably going to need surgery isn't she?".  They suggest that I prepare for that.  With Anna's family history this means a visit to a cardiologist as well because anesthesiologists don't like to hear that her paternal great grandfather had muscular dystrophy.

After our 5 hour visit where Adam falls asleep on my back in the ergo - oh how I love the ergo - we head home and we all just kind of sit on each other and hug for awhile.  A few minutes later I get a call from the orthopedist, she had sent the films over to the orthopedic surgeon who basically said, no need for an MRI, she needs surgery.  Bummer.

We schedule all of the pre-op appointments.  Anna has an EEG and an echo cardiogram - not fun for an upset little three year old.  The results come in and she's cleared for surgery.  We find sitters for Kate and Adam, clear our schedules and go in for the surgery on Thursday.  My favorite moment was when Anna took an oral anti-anxiety pill and finally looked happy.  She's been anxious for about two weeks and it was just great to see her smile.  Spencer was able to go into the Operating Room with her while she fell asleep to grape smelling gas; and then we waited.  About an hour into the procedure the surgeon comes out and surprises us.  He said that he had injected dye into the joint and found that the fracture that spanned the joint was a bit rough on the bone, but that the cartilage was perfect.  He then pushed on the fracture in the growth plate and found that she had about 95% mobility already.  Guess what he did, nothing.  He said she could take the cast off in two weeks.  Spencer and I looked at each other and all of the sudden I just felt happy.  Crazy, giddy, happy.  It's in these moments you realize how much you care for a person.  Good news for Anna made me ecstatic.

When they told me to prepare for surgery I didn't think of the possibility that it would go great.  This was kind of a light bulb moment for me.  I'm going to try to think that things are going to go great more often.  I think this result was a major blessing and am very grateful for it all.


Spencer left the hospital to go to work, and I got to sit next to Anna as she came out of anesthesia.  It was a very happy peaceful moment in a week that hadn't been very easy.  It was great to just focus on her, and listen to her little voice from behind a gas mask.  I switched her out of her hospital pjs and back into her own clothes, placed her in a wheelchair, and walked down to the valet.  Then I was able to take her home.  It felt great, it still feels great.

Anna is on her 3rd cast, it's her best one yet.