We had pre-op on April 3. It does start making it all real when the room is filled with 4 people: Doctor, Physicians Asst., Nurse, and Physical Therapist. Dr. Scott really wants to fix her 4th elevated metatarsal while he is straighten the first metatarsal because he thinks it will become a problem even though it doesn't bother her now. It makes sense to do everything that needs to be done all at once but at the same time, he doesn't want it to prolong the recovery process that he has already promised her which is 2-3 months. He also acknowledged that sometimes you try to do too much at once and one thing can complicate it all. He has added it to the list to do but will play it by ear during the surgery.
Mary's biggest fear about this procedure is having a pin in her foot that will be removed 4 weeks later in the doctors office. Now she may have 2 pins in her foot. That will be a fun visit. :-)
When the nurse was filling out the paperwork for the handicap placard she decided to give us a permanent one so we don't have to keep going back but I have to say it bugged me and I almost tried to tell her we only needed a temporary one but I didn't. I think I didn't like the reality that we will be needing it again, and again.
That night we pulled out the walker and crutches to make sure they would still work and they do. I didn't like seeing them. I have never been fond of the walker. In particular, the sound the walker makes that I can remember when she would get up at night and go to the bathroom when she couldn't sleep last time.
The next step was the call regarding anesthesia. My hubby did that and it was good other than at this hospital they do the IV first. He explained Mary is terrified of needles and should be given gas first before giving her an IV. They made him nervous because they said it's up to the doctor that day. So I reached out to Dr. Scott's nurse and she confirmed Dr. Scott would support whatever Mary wants. We feel better.
Then the wheelchair was ordered and delivered. Again getting more real and real to see a wheelchair in our garage.
The good news is that the wheelchair and walker should only be necessary for the first several weeks then she should be fine with regular crutches and moving into a walking cast.
They called Thursday night and gave us the surgery time. We are to arrive at 7am for the 8:30am surgery. It will be 90 minutes even if he does do the extra pin in her 4th metatarsal.
On Friday Mary went shopping to get new ribbon to refresh her walker with her good friend and today Mary, her sister and I pulled the old pink duct tape off and changed it to gold with the ribbon she bought with her friend.
Tonight before bed Mary asked what she was going to wear to bed when she had her cast on because she realized the pants she wears to bed won't fit over a cast. (Last time I had adjusted all of her pj's.) We realized she can wear shorts that she has and she was happy with that. I asked her to think through to see if she thinks there is anything else we need to be thinking about and she can't think of anything either.
My hubby has gotten into minimizing germ exposure as we approach surgery on Monday so we are sticking closer to home as we get closer. That definitely makes it real.
My younger daughter has had the most concerns as we approach this one. I don't blame her since our last experience was so long and at times very hard but tonight she told me she is feeling better. I just keep acknowledging her but reminding her this shouldn't be anything like last time.
I am most nervous about going to another hospital. The last time we did that we all hated it! This is a children's hospital but it's further from home which is a bummer since we can't just run home and could have traffic to deal with.
Two days away...
Two days away...
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