Today was a big surprise! We made an appointment to meet Chuck, our new orthotist here at Hanger in town. He didn’t have any available appointments until July 7th, but they allowed us to come in today to get new velcro. (Hers was in super sad shape.) Hanger is no longer taking walk-ins, so we arrived, masked up in provided masks, and were escorted straight to our room. After a short wait, we met Chuck, Read more…
I think I’m still in shock from this appointment. I’m not going to lie, I cried. I cried enough that my nose ran- and inside a mask, that is decidedly unpleasant. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I was scared of this appointment. Maybe not afraid, per se, but very, very uneasy. Amy’s last appointment didn’t go well, and we were both pretty certain that this would be more of the same. Before I left, Read more…
I don’t have a whole lot of good to say, so I will make this short and to the point. (I also don’t have a lot of pictures, since my phone died. Sorry.) 2nd McFarland Bypass (Surgery Date 12.2.2019) 2 months Post-Op AP View This x-ray looks re-markedly similar to the last one 6 weeks ago. I wasn’t expecting something shockingly different, so it’s similarity didn’t bother me. I also took note of the fact Read more…
Today, Amy is 5.5 weeks post-op. Her visit with Cammie to fix her brace at Hanger, was a week ago. I kept waiting for her to pop out of her chair like a jack in the box, but she didn’t. Tuesday 1/14 I got a message from her teacher, who was obviously upset. She had been encouraging her to stand, and take a couple steps, but this day she pushed a little too hard, and Read more…
Thursday took FOREVER to get here! January means rising before dawn. I asked Alexa how long it would take to get there. She reported back that “With current traffic, it would take 47 minutes to reach Hangar Clinic in Modesto.” I thanked her, because I see her as kinda a person, and it never hurts to be polite. Her reply really surprised me though. “No problem! By the way, it looks like rain. Stay dry Read more…
Wow. Long long long day! The drive was short today, only an hour and a half. (Gotta love those 1pm appointments!) Lucky came along (of course!) to get her cast removed too. She was a huge help playing Mario Kart. We arrived and were fairly quickly ushered into a room. Amy took the opportunity to give me a glimpse at what her teen years would look like, ? Sunnyvale doesn’t have a cast room, so Read more…
Amy absolutely astounds me. Her recovery from this surgery has really been night and day different from her last time. At 4 days Post-Op, she was pretty much her old self. She had only taken a single dose of narcotic medication since discharge and was happily on Tylenol. She was pretty much down to taking as much Tylenol as she had been before surgery. Here she is, happily decorating the Christmas tree. (I admit, I Read more…
I was super excited for this post-op, and because of that, I was inevitably a little disappointed. Rather than a true post-op, this turned out to be more of a wound check. We arrived bright-eyed and bush tailed, and with two whole minutes to spare! lol Amy was quite determined that she was getting her cast off, despite me telling her multiple, multiple, multiple times that there was no way that was happening. I suppose Read more…
12/10 5:00am It begins. I’m on my phone. Not terribly nervous, but can’t sleep. Waiting for the numbers to click to 5am. It finally does, and the alarm rings. Okay. We’ve got this. We dress, with terse words between Amy’s Dad and I. Snipping and back biting happen, stress – they do nasty things to us even though our relationship is solid. Finally ready, it’s time to wake the girl. She’s already requested to stay Read more…
So, here we are. The long awaited day, here at last. (Almost!) After dropping off Amy’s Little Brother at preschool, we got in the car, and headed to Stanford. (We are so unbelievably thankful for our amazing support system at home!) Moments into the trip, we heard choking, then retching sounds followed by a wail. We hadn’t even made it to the freeway yet, and she threw up all over herself! (OMG THIS IS NOT Read more…
