Micah's Surgeries Day 7

Day 7-
Thursday brought with it some baby steps in the right direction for Micah! Our physical therapist came back for more "torture" as Micah puts it but this time she not only made Micah sit up, she made her STAND UP. Yes, stand up just 2 days after her 2nd major back surgery! I can't believe it. With a LOT of support and very small slow baby steps, Tea helped Micah shuffle to her chair specifically designed for recovery from this type of surgery and made her sit in it for 30 minutes. Micah was NOT happy and was very uncomfortable but she did it! 
Tea came back later Thursday afternoon after Micah's catheter foley was removed and made her shuffle to her portable potty chair and sit. Then she had to sit in her special chair for a full hour! She hated every minute of it, but she is doing much better than expected! She is still using her pain pump with the continuous drip but is pressing the button less and less and by the end of the day, she was no longer having to push it every 10 minutes for that boost. Progress..
We had a few visitors: my Dad came up and my good friend Lawanda came and brought her girls to visit who brought some super fun stuff for Micah, including the waterless Tressemme shampoo several people have mentioned to me and we attempted to use it to clean Micah's hair (future reference: the hospital no-rinse shower cap thingies suck and you'd be better off pouring olive oil over your child's head to get the same results but it smells nice at least) and it helped a little but we finally just put one of her cute new bandanas from Cammy and Jasmine over her hair. Out of sight out of mind I hope until we can wash her hair properly without risking getting her incision sites wet or dirty.
My brother and Anna came by with Lucy Kate for a visit also and brought an adorable goodie basket and Angie Davis and Dalton brought lunch from McAlisters--yum! 
Micah is no longer hallucinating, though sometimes she wakes up from a dream still a little confused. It is SO much better than the other day, however and for this I am continually thankful!
My parents stayed with Micah while I snuck off for Micah's open house at the middle school and to file her homebound paperwork for the first 6-8 weeks of school she'll be missing (boo.) and then to the elementary school for Haven's open house. I can't believe she's starting kindergarten! I ran by the house for a minute to grab more clothes and sift through the mail. Micah got some sweet happies and cards in the mail and I was excited to bring them back to the hospital for her! Her friends and counselor from camp (whose sister had a similar surgery 2 weeks ago) wrote her. She smiled!
After my parents left (I was gone for a total of less than 3 hours but it felt like forever away from my sweet girl!) I was able to get in the bed with Micah (she has asked so many times but there were too many tubes!!) and we watched a little Olympics until she fell asleep. I remember getting into her hospital bed so many times at both LeBonheur and St.Jude when she was little and in treatment--and back then she was in a hospital bed CRIB so it was quite interesting-looking I'm sure! She has always loved to snuggle with her mama and I am so not a snuggler! But it made her happy then and it made her happy last night. So thankful the tubes and stuff going into her and wires monitoring her are becoming fewer and fewer every day. 

 

Micah's Surgeries Day 6

Day 6-
This day has NOT ended on a good note but up until this evening I had nothing but good to report! After a nice quiet morning of Micah resting and watching a movie, they moved us from the IMCU to the 9th floor! In fact, we are in the exact same room, just 3 floors up, so after I hung up Micah's happies she received from folks, it looked just like "home" haha. We got settled in and she rested some more. 

Toughest kid I know... 

Physical Therapy came in and not only got Micah to sit up, but after MUCH protesting from Micah, she actually got her to dangle her feet off the side of the bed and sit up for what seemed like forever! Micah did not like this at all and complained the entire time of pain and nausea and dizziness. I can't imagine how it must have felt to sit up for the first time since Friday early morning. I'm sure if she had actually eaten anything since last Thursday night, she maybe would have even thrown up. Poor kid! But she did as she was told and they said the first time sitting up is ALWAYS the hardest. So the worst is hopefully over as far as that goes! More of sitting up tomorrow!

Later this afternoon, Tina brought Micah's buddies Tanner and JT who came bearing not only great gifts, but my favorite: PF Chang's. Mmm... We had a good visit! Our super awesome electric guitarist at GCC, Paul also stopped by while he was here for a meeting and he is always good company as well. I was actually glad we had a low visitor count today. It was a rough day physically for Micah and it was nice to have a few quiet times today. Not that we don't love visitors! We do! Thanks to everyone who has texted, facebooked, called and visited, its been wonderful to feel so loved!
Micah got a PCA pain pump today where she gets to monitor her own pain. You can see the black button thing in the picture above. It has a constant drip of morphine and then every 10 minutes she is able to get another little "hit" if she needs it. It can't give her too much but it lets the nurses know how she is doing pain-wise, based on the number of times and the frequency in which she presses her button. I think she's been pressing it a LOT. 
This evening after Gary came with dinner (yum!) we started having IV trouble. They'd already pulled 1 of the really big IVs they gave her in surgery yesterday and then after the right arm (AGAIN!) infiltrated causing her elbow to get gigantic, we were down to one IV. And then, it too was gone. I made the call to step in as a parent at that point and put my foot down: no more TPN and lipids. The nutrients she was getting were good but the way almost every one of the TPN IV's was blowing after a while led me to believe it was NOT a good idea to give her any more. I've been doing my best ever since to keep giving her the clear liquid protein supplement so that she will at least have something. After both arms were unavailable, we started pushing for a PICC line but finally after the PICC nurse couldn't get an IV to stay strong (2 of the 3 she did was using an ultrasound and Micah's veins just kept blowing), the ER doctor came up and tried with an ultrasound and it almost immediately blew, the other doctor on call grabbed anesthesia coming out of the OR and asked them to come try. They were checking her feet for veins but he ended up finding a spot in her left arm and getting a good IV. It is now taped up, braced down and in an immobilizer as well just to keep it safe! They plugged her PCA back up and she is back in business with her button! WHEW!!!!! The fear was that the Valium and Zofran and Morphine in her system were going to eventually wear off leaving her in pain crisis in the middle of the night. Hopefully we are in the clear. He said this IV should last for several days...here's hoping!
We are continuing to log roll Micah so that her body doesn't lay in one spot too long, which she hates but she goes with it. 
Settling down for the night myself, tomorrow is a new day and will be better! "For this is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it!" Psalm 118.24

Micah's Surgeries Day 4 & 5

Day 4: 
What a busy couple of days! Monday was a tough day off and on between Micah waking up hallucinating, trying to rest and visitors, etc. She was becoming more and more uncomfortable as the day went on and I believe much of the stress was mounting the closer we got to surgery day #2. The fact she couldn't really rest and didn't get much sleep the night before only added to her disorientation and discomfort, I think. Despite it all, she has handled it so well!
My sisters Jessica and Abby came with my nephews and brought yummy lunch and snacks and were a great distraction for a while! Micah was very happy to see her aunt Abby!

Many other friends came by for a visit Monday as well: My in-laws pastor from Scotts Hill made the trip in to pray for Micah, my cousin Maggie brought Elijah and my Aunt Polly and my sweet Oma who made sure to tell Micah several times to rest rest rest! Maggie also brought Get Well notes from she and Elijah along with flowers and a bag of treats! My close friend Lawanda came by again, this time with quite the surprise for me:

Oh yes folks, that there in that paper sack is.....GARRETTS popcorn!!! My FAVORITE ever since Lawanda introduced it to me when she brought me some from Chicago. She asked her cousin to bring some for me when she came back from Chicago this weekend just so she could surprise me! So.stinkin.delicious. I can make myself sick off this stuff. And well, I have. The Edible Arrangement is from my sweet friends Leigh and Mrs.Sally. Yum! Don & Phyllis McKenzie came by for a visit along with Gary's buddy Al and my Dad.
Angie Davis brought Dalton and Hailey Ellis by with the most awesome gift from all the elementary kids at Great Commission Church:

 Absolutely awesome! We hung it up so Micah could see it from her bed! She loved it!
Gary came by for the evening and agreed to stay the night again with me up here. He also brought me dinner AND a special thoughtful treat to brighten my day:

 GiGi's cupcakes! So thoughtful!

Micah's evening wasn't so awesome, and it was the first time she got truly agitated and upset. I can't imagine what her little body must be going through and she really hasn't been in her right mind. Its been so frightening to watch and I'm glad it has decreased a little. Praying for rest...

I feel like I'm leaving something out or not mentioning something someone has brought us but know that all of it has been appreciated! I'm just not functioning on all 4-cylinders! And I also don't even know what that means...

Day 5: Surgery #2
Up early!!  Preparation for Micah's 2nd surgery started so early today! She was so uncomfortable and very upset all morning but tried to make the most of it! The epidural turned off in the middle of the night, so the effects were beginning to wear off and though she still had some morphine in her, her anxiety was mounting. She would become upset and anxious anytime someone began messing with her arms for fear of getting yet ANOTHER shot or IV and I don't blame her! They finally pulled the 5th IV this morning as well because her arm was starting to swell on the left side this time. Poor weak little veins! But this time they promised not to put another one in until she was asleep.
To help with this process, I read her some of the notes people have been leaving her when they come visit. What a testimony to Micah of how much people love her and what a great testimony to the nurse working with the IV of how God is showing His love to Micah through our family and friends. I pray it impacted her life as well in some way.
We made it down to the pre-op area and poor Micah was just so over it. They gave her the Versed to relax her. We saw sweet Paige who was on duty in the ICU the night that Micah was admitted for the first time way back in October of 2001 and has maintained a connection with us over the years. She brought Micah a fun gift too! :) Micah wanted me to sing to her so I did a little while we waited and it calmed her down. Well, that and the Versed. They prepped her, talked to us, and wheeled my baby off!
They kept us posted all day and she did GREAT in the surgery! It took less time than the first surgery but was a much bigger operation they said. They put in 20 screws along with the rods and sewed her back up. They took the chest tube out, re-did the epidural and foley and gave her bigger stronger IVs that will hopefully last...Here's hoping.

Here is our little fighter before they wheeled her down to pre-op!

While she was out, Chris Bishop brought us lunch, my parents came by, Anna brought sweet Lucy Kate to see us (with a treat for ME and bread for us to snack on!) and Mandy with a bag full of goodies (including duck tape which will thrill Micah to add to her duck tape collection!!!! haha). 

When Micah was finally back upstairs, she was way more awake than anyone expected but eventually settled down and has been sleeping most of the evening. Gary and I were able to go downstairs to eat, thanks to Mom for sitting with Micah and then we were able to just relax and watch a movie while Micah slept on. I guess I am bracing myself for the harder days to come. Lord give me strength and patience and energy to help Micah recover! She is my little hero! I hope she hears me when I keep telling her this and I hope she remembers..

Oh one more cool thing, just a testimony of how giving Micah is! She had her soft blanket on her because she was so cold when she came up (they have an ice vest on her, cooling her torso to prevent high fevers from the surgery) but tonight when the nurses were checking her back, she asked them to give the blanket to me because I was cold. I mean, really?? Love this kid.