Its April. The Month of the First Surgery

Well here we are.  It's April now and Katelyn's first surgery is next week.  I just read the blog post I did before this and it does describe the procedure that she'll be having so here's a recap if you need a refresher:

We met with Dr. Dahl again and got to do more x-rays. He discussed that her femur is now 1 cm shorter than the other (I knew that was coming) and that her tibia is now 5 cm shorter than the other. Its a significant difference. It's nothing I/we didn't know. However what I wasn't ready for was the discussion of her Achilles tendon being so tight and how he wanted to do surgery within the next 4-6 months (before she starts to walk) to not only correct the tendon tightness but to straighten her leg. Part of her length discrepancy is due to the fact that the tibia is curved like a rainbow in her leg. She was born with a scar on the top of her shin which marks where the apex of the bowing in her tibia happens. During this surgery he wants to cut into that bone, reset her leg in a straighter position, insert some metal pins for stability, lengthen her tendon as well and do some soft tissue reconstruction. Whoa... This makes getting tubes in the ear look like a walk in the park. Yeah I wasn't ready for all of that.. You mean THIS spring? Really? So soon? After the surgery her leg is casted for 30 days and then we will return again to Minneapolis for the removal and assessment of the procedure. Thankfully the doc's scheduler has reached out to me because I found myself getting intentionally distracted with the household relocation to actually sit down and make the appointment. Right now we've got it set for April 24th. We will fly on a Monday get the assessment/pre-op appointments taken care of on Tuesday, Wednesday is the surgery and then we will remain in the hospital for 3 days post surgery before returning home.

In the picture below you can see the little bend in her left leg (looks like a bump) that's being removed naturally when they cut into it to straighten her leg.

So it's all set, the flights are booked, the kids are taken care of (thank you to my sister, Mom and my Mom's entire family side of Aunts and Uncles for being so supportive and helping), hotel, rental car etc.... but yet why do I feel like I'm not ready?  I'm not prepared yet.  Even though she's the 4th kid and I've been round the block with a sick child, I still feel so ill prepared.  It could be because she is an impossibly hard baby.  She's really fussy.  She cries just to hear herself cry I think and so to compound injury on top of a fussy baby I will admit, hey I'm a little nervous about the days ahead.  There is still stuff to be thought through I think stuff like getting her home and will she be able to bend her leg in the car seat or the stroller as we go through the airport? Or will a casted leg fit into an infant onsie or the same size pants as the other leg?  Yes, there is still work to be done in prepping.  Some moments it can set me into a panic.  But then other moments I remember that there is something, someone, much bigger than this who has control of this situation.  Then I relax a bit.

So the schedule for next week goes a little something like this:  Monday night the 22nd we arrive in Minneapolis after work, Tuesday we meet with the Doc to do current x-rays, assessments, tweak any planning and get prepped.  Wednesday at 6:30am we check into the hospital (surgery takes a few hours), and the rest of the week she remains in the hospital for monitoring.  If all goes well we have flights set for coming home on Sunday.  Many have asked "will we visit Mankato?" and no, not this time.  I'm not leaving the hospital without my little girl.

If you think of us, please pray for us.  We would surely appreciate it. I'll do my best to blog and explain as we go through the week.