Last night Mary had trouble going to sleep because of a new sensation in her leg she described as throbbing but not painful. Once she fell asleep she was asleep until 6:00 am. But when she woke up she asked for Tylenol with Codeine (which surprised me since I had trouble convincing her to take Regular Tylenol the day before). It had been 10 hours since her last does of medicine and her leg had probably been in one position for a long time. She is now sleeping on her side.
She (like us) was nervous about seeing those big pins sticking in her legs. They have been covered since surgery with what we call "marshmallows" big puffy pads.
The first morning home she got ready like normal then went downstairs and rested in the recliner, the second morning home she brushed her teeth then rested in bed before getting dressed and heading downstairs. Today was a combination, she brushed her teeth, then went downstairs to the recliner and got dressed later downstairs.
We showed Mary a video of a doctor turning pins that her Daddy had found on line. I think it helped (all of us) to see a young girl not experiencing any pain. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaPsuQxJSKk
We proactively dosed her with Tylenol with Codeine as we had been told to do before our first pin turning at the first doctors appointment.
We had to allow for extra time to get ready to leave for the doctors appointment. As I had been warned you don't do anything quickly with an external fixator on.
The car ride to and from the doctors appointment was fine (still no complaints about the bumps in the road.) (Yeah!)
At the appointment we briefly saw the Resident (one of the good ones) we met in the hospital. The nurse showed us how to clean the pin sites but left the bulk of the mess for us to get off in a shower at home. Some doctors prescribe soap and water, some prescribe saline, and some prescribed peroxide to clean the sites. Our doctor likes peroxide because as it was explained to us today you never want the area around the pins and wires to heal so peroxide cleans both the "good and bad" cells.
We were reminded they expect us to get an infection or two during this process. Discharge is normal but redness, and "snotty" smelly discharge is the sign of an infection. Everyone indicates they are actually worse than just described and we will clearly know when she has one. They act like they are sparing us the details. Something to look forward to.
Next the nurse, Daddy, and I all turned pins for the first time. It was uneventful! Mary held the RX for us. It is a print out of what number to turn each strut each day. They are all at different numbers. It will be helpful to have a magnifying glass to help read the numbers and maybe even a flash light.
We also received our first prescription for Physical Therapy which we start on May 30. It is for once to twice a week for 6 to 8 weeks for Range of Motion. There will be a lot more that's just phase one.
When we were home the girls played with a Lego gift that Mary received. It was nice to see them playing in a way they did prior to the fixator.
Then our dog returned home from the kennel and we all worked on being better dog handlers. Everyone including the dog did great.
Lastly we gave Mary a very long shower. She sits on a garden chair in the walk in shower with her foot propped on a stool. We cleaned all the goo off and did our first pin site cleaning.
Mary isn't one to comment about the songs on the radio but today coming back from the doctors appointment she heard the song "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" and she told me "I like this song." I have a feeling I know why.
No comments:
Post a Comment