Sweet Victoria

Victoria made it through surgery! Thank God! Her surgery was almost 12 hours long, which was much longer than expected. Apparently, her femur bone was very difficult to bring down into the hip socket. They also had a very difficult time getting her IV in. It took almost two hours to get a line in and she ended up with an IV in her chest (ick!) and in her left arm. 

Here she is on the airplane. She was so good, as long as I held her. Maybe she is bonding with me! 

 My wonderful friend, Catherine, picked us up from the airport and brought me to her house for delicious home-made meatballs and zita. I sure wish I had some now! I am tired of eating power bars! The cafeteria at the hospital has limited hours and I keep missing them.

The night before the surgery I was riddled with worries and doubts. I felt awful that I was making the decision to cause her so much pain. Here is the last picture of her right hand before surgery. Two of her fingers had the tendons released to allow her to have more function. Also, her thumb was rotated. She did need to have  skin graft taken from her wrist. The doctor thinks she will be able to do much more once she heals.

Here is Victoria and Catherine at 6:30 in the morning at Shriners. Fun times! Catherine stayed with me the entire day!

Almost time to go into surgery. I was feeling more peaceful about my decision now. The anesthesiologist  was so kind. She asked me what song Victoria liked and I told her "little bunny foo foo" is her favorite. No one was familiar with the song, so I had to sing it in front of the surgeons and all the nurses and doctors. Anything to make Victoria happy! As the anesthesiologist carried Victoria away to the OR, she was singing, "Little bunny foo foo, hopping through the forest."  Very sweet!

Of course, she had to have pink casts!

She is on four different kinds of pain meds right now. She also has a catheter which delivers morphine directly to the bones. We are still in the ICU.

A CT was ordered for today, but because of how far her legs are spread in the casts, they hasn't been a way to do it yet. I am not sure what will happen next, maybe an MRI. There is chance that the ball of the femur is not securely into the hip joint. If this is the case, Victoria will have to come back in three weeks for another surgery. I am hoping and praying she won't need to have this done. She doesn't seem to mind the leg casts, but she is quite mad about the arm cast. She keeps waving her arm around. Hopefully she will start sleeping some soon.

She had tons of things hooked up to her, but the most important thing is that her pain seems to be manageable right now. I am not even going to think about how I am going to get her on an airplane. There is a certain way to pick her up or her hips could be pulled out. I am very nervous about messing things up.

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers! I will try to keep updating.