The first day Isa went back to school was hard and things didn't go as planned. I stayed with her the first day and quickly realized that she needed someone to assist her full time at school and not just with the toileting.
The first thing that came up was that the school was hoping to have her slide herself onto the toilet from her wheelchair. This just seemed impossible for her since she couldn't put any weight on her feet and she didn't have the sufficient upper body strength to do it. She was going to require being carried onto the toilet and off. Next thing was that there was no one to push her from room to room. While in her own classroom she was able to move well on her own but couldn't manuever from classroom to classroom. The other things were for instance P.E., where she was unable to fully participate. They had her trying to make baskets in a hoop while the other kids did some kicking but there was no one to retrieve the ball for her. If I had not been with her she would not have been able to do anything. My other concern was during recess, would anyone actually stick around past the new "she's in a wheelchair" phase or would she be by herself at lunch. The kindergarten playground is also not set up for wheelchairs so she could not line up with the rest of her class, instead she had to go around where the ramp was available. Unfortunately the school could not provide someone to help her full time and since I am a stay at home mom the choice was pretty obvious.
I have to admit that I did feel a bit guilty about leaving my baby boy with Grandma all day but it was the choice that had to be made. She needed me and if Max has the same surgery I will do the same for him. Max has been a sweetheart through it all, never complaining about all the extra attention Isa needs and fortunately he really enjoys doing art projects all day with Grandma.
It has been two and a half weeks of me going to school and I have to admit, it is a lot of work. I am tired and nothing seems to be getting done at home. However, regardless of how tired I am or the fact that my house seems a bit unkempt, I am very happy with my choice. I feel that I am able to assist my baby girl and she has been more comfortable during this phase.
EYE UPDATE:
We recently went to the doctor to follow up with the outward deviations. He said for her to resume patching again and that at least for now she wouldn't need surgery. I had mixed feelings about this, on one hand I felt relieved that surgery wasn't in her immediate future but on the other hand I felt that we are running around in circles. I feel that we are almost to where we started four years ago. Yes, she hasn't had any problems in her right eye but in her other eye we are back to where we started. I knew very well at the beginning of all this that surgery might need to be repeated and she may not ever be truly cured. However, back then there was just optimism and now I am faced with a big dose of reality :( I know I may be silly about my feelings but I can't help it. I do recognize that however things turn out whether she has surgery six months down the road or never again or patches for three months or for the rest of her life we are still blessed. It's always in the back of my mind that things could be much, much worse. We have another few months until our next appointment.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Post Surgery Update and Eye Update
Please keep in mind that I am not a doctor and have no medical background. I am just writing based on my experiences and occasionally I may get things wrong.
It has been a week since surgery and things are going well. We have ups and downs. The first two nights Isa slept all through the night but not really since then. She has either woken up in pain or itching. However, I am pleased to report that she has rarely needed to take the prescription Tylenol she is mostly taking the Ibuprofen and not like clockwork like right after surgery. We talked with the doctor's office in regards to tips on itchiness and they recommended wetting her cast since it is waterproof, taking Benadryl (which she can safely do even with the other two medications), Ibuprofen should also take the edge of the itching, and tapping the cast gently with a spoon on the outside.
Although the doctor said it would be fine to wet the cast within three to four days post surgery we haven't. This is simply because she was still in pain where putting her in the tub would be tricky and also because we feel more comfortable waiting a few days, so instead we have opted for sponge baths and shampooing next to the tub like in a salon, which she found amusing :-) We have used Benadryl and it seems to work OK it just takes a while to kick in and can only be repeated every six hours,. Ibuprofen helps with the pain and maybe slightly with the itching but not enough. Tapping the cast with the spoon does nothing except tempt her into trying to stick the long part of the spoon under her cast to itch, which is probably not good for her :( needless to say we won't be doing that again. We have also tried ice over the cast and putting silicone strips at the top of her thighs were the cast starts. The silicone strips help with the cast rubbing on her thighs and seem to do a moderate job of keeping the itch in that area at bay even if just for a while. So at this point our major battle is dealing with the itching.
She is doing really well with the mobility of her legs. She is able to move her legs up and down and from side to side :) Like I mentioned earlier pain wise she has been incredible and is doing quite well with mostly Ibuprofen but she has had her moments when she is crying out in pain and requires the Tylenol.
All in all she has had an amazing recovery thus far, it truly amazes me just how resilient kids can be and how positive they can be. Isa has been extremely positive given her in mobility situation. I know that I probably would have been bed written in pain and whining about not being able to walk. I think through this experience she is learning about compassion towards others as is everyone else around her and of course me. It is making me admire even more those people who are permanently in wheelchairs and are capable of so much and having a positive outlook on life, especially children!!!
EYE UPDATE:
Unfortunealty it could no longer be ignored, her eye has been deviating outward quite frequently. We have called Dr. S and he said we needed to make an appointment prior to the one in Novemebr. We have an appointment in a week and a half. Truthfully both Jon and I are very fearful of what is to come out of that appointment but like always we will take it full on!
It has been a week since surgery and things are going well. We have ups and downs. The first two nights Isa slept all through the night but not really since then. She has either woken up in pain or itching. However, I am pleased to report that she has rarely needed to take the prescription Tylenol she is mostly taking the Ibuprofen and not like clockwork like right after surgery. We talked with the doctor's office in regards to tips on itchiness and they recommended wetting her cast since it is waterproof, taking Benadryl (which she can safely do even with the other two medications), Ibuprofen should also take the edge of the itching, and tapping the cast gently with a spoon on the outside.
Although the doctor said it would be fine to wet the cast within three to four days post surgery we haven't. This is simply because she was still in pain where putting her in the tub would be tricky and also because we feel more comfortable waiting a few days, so instead we have opted for sponge baths and shampooing next to the tub like in a salon, which she found amusing :-) We have used Benadryl and it seems to work OK it just takes a while to kick in and can only be repeated every six hours,. Ibuprofen helps with the pain and maybe slightly with the itching but not enough. Tapping the cast with the spoon does nothing except tempt her into trying to stick the long part of the spoon under her cast to itch, which is probably not good for her :( needless to say we won't be doing that again. We have also tried ice over the cast and putting silicone strips at the top of her thighs were the cast starts. The silicone strips help with the cast rubbing on her thighs and seem to do a moderate job of keeping the itch in that area at bay even if just for a while. So at this point our major battle is dealing with the itching.
She is doing really well with the mobility of her legs. She is able to move her legs up and down and from side to side :) Like I mentioned earlier pain wise she has been incredible and is doing quite well with mostly Ibuprofen but she has had her moments when she is crying out in pain and requires the Tylenol.
All in all she has had an amazing recovery thus far, it truly amazes me just how resilient kids can be and how positive they can be. Isa has been extremely positive given her in mobility situation. I know that I probably would have been bed written in pain and whining about not being able to walk. I think through this experience she is learning about compassion towards others as is everyone else around her and of course me. It is making me admire even more those people who are permanently in wheelchairs and are capable of so much and having a positive outlook on life, especially children!!!
EYE UPDATE:
Unfortunealty it could no longer be ignored, her eye has been deviating outward quite frequently. We have called Dr. S and he said we needed to make an appointment prior to the one in Novemebr. We have an appointment in a week and a half. Truthfully both Jon and I are very fearful of what is to come out of that appointment but like always we will take it full on!
Day Two Post Surgery
Please keep in mind that I am not a doctor and have no medical background. I am just writing based on my experiences and occasionally I may get things wrong.
Early in the morning Dr. Vin came to visit us and check in on Isa. He said everything was going well and since she had been taking ibuprofen and a prescription strength Tylenol as opposed to morphines she could go home.
After the quick but a bit painful removal of the IV Isa was discharged with a prescription for the same prescription Tylenol she had been taking and for ibuprofen. Her follow up appointment would be at the end of the month.
We quickly gathered all of our belongings and headed home with the exception of a quick stop to pick up the prescription and some ibuprofen. Isa was in pain when we picked up her prescription so as soon as I had the medicine in hand she took it and feel asleep.
Once we arrived home Jon took a much needed nap as I watched both kiddos. Thankfully Isa was in very good spirits and even requested we go out for frozen yogart, another recent favorite of hers. So as soon as Jon woke up we got her ready and headed out. It was so reasurring to see her up to going out and quite frankly it blew my mind that just two days previous she had had surgery.
We went to the frozen yogart and a quick stop to Target to pick up thank you cards. She did well but as soon as we were done she was ready to get back on the couch and rest.
Once we arrived home she rested watching tv and coloring and then headed to bed. Since we didn't have her table situation all figured out yet we all had dinner in the living room with her. Suprisingly she slept all through the nigh :) and I was able get some much needed sleep as well.
Day One Post Surgery
Please keep in mind that I am not a doctor and have no medical background. I am just writing based on my experiences and occasionally I may get things wrong.
The night after surgery had been a rough one and Jon and I didn't sleep much in the hospital. We were both decided on not leaving the hospital until Isa was discharged. Max was at home very happy with his Grandma overnight and during the day he hung out with us. It was so nice that there wasn't much of a visiting hour or number of people visiting rule.
The day got to a much better start and Isa was alert but still on two different types of pain killers. We had to watch the time and remind the nurses before she was due for her next dosage because as soon as the medication wore off Isa was crying in pain. She did mention a few times throughout the day about how she didn't want to be in a cast or wheelchair and wanted to be able to move freely. It was difficult hearing but thank goodness that it didn't last more than a few minutes and knowing that it was only temporary was comforting.
Late in the day the physical therapist came in to visit Isa and to fit her in the wheelchair. It was the first time Isa would be in the wheelchair. Turns out that the wheelchair didn't fit her right so we had to have another one delivered but in the meantime Isa took a spin in the current wheelchair to the children's playroom area and the children's garden area. She felt good about being able to leave the confinement of her hospital room and it also made her feel like she could still have some self depenence by moving around on her own :-)
Dr. Vin came in to check on Isa and see how she was doing. The only thing he noted was some swelling but nothing unusual or nothing that required the cast to be split. This however caused Isa to feel that her toes were overlapping each other and caused her some discomfort. Dr. Vin asked us if we felt capable of coping with her pain at home since everything seemed to be going so well she could probably go home the next day...YAY!!!!
Night time was pretty consistant of waking up every few hours in pain and getting medication. Again Jon and I didn't sleep very well, but Isa seemed to be doing much better!!!
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Day of Surgery!!!!
This is how things happened for us and I was very adimit about not to sugar coating any of it so that you can have an honest account....
I got out of bed quickly since I had already been awake for most of the night. Isa woke up as soon as we carried her out of bed and said she was ready to go.
We arrived rather quickly at the hospital since 6 am traffic is very slow. We took a deep breath and made the journey inside, where we met some family members. First, was admissions where Isa received her bracelet. At this point Isa was still in very good spirits. We received a cart ride to the pre-op area. Isa put her hands in the air and joked about it being a ride :) Once we arrived to the pre-op. area it was just Jon, Isa, and myself. This is where Isa started to get nervous and hugged her American girl doll tight. We walked into the pediatric pre-op area where the walls were nicely painted with animals and butterflies and there were ride on cars. Isa had her height and weight taken. We met many nurses, including the nurse that would be in the O.R. and we also talked with Dr. Vin. The child life specialist came in to talk to Isa about getting ready for surgery. She provided her with a coloring rag doll and told her it was her buddy that would be with her. Isa was distracted by this. When she was done coloring the doll she was provided with an Ipad by the child life specialist with many apps. Her favorite was Toca Doctor and she played that until they came to take her. The anesthesiologist gave us the option of giving her a sleepy syrup. He asked how she had reacted last time she left the pre-op area to go to the O.R. She was very terrified and was screaming so we opted to give her the sleepy syrup. He said that she should be very sleepy within 15 minutes and shouldn't remember leaving us and going into the O.R. Of course it would be like Isa not to feel sleepy but she was definitely much more relaxed than last time. The child life specialist went to the O.R. with her providing her some comfort and a familiar face, she was the same one who gave us the hospital tour. Although she cried very little it was still heart wrenching to have to leave her! Surgery started at 8 am.
Jon and I walked out of the pre-op area crying, especially me. I said many prayers as we walked over to the surgical waiting lobby.
In the surgical waiting room we waited what seemed to be hours on hours, but in reality it was three hours. Dr. Vin cam out once surgery was done and said that everything went very well and that he was able to rotate her femur bone about 40-45 degrees successfully. He said that within minutes we should be called into the recovery area. I felt a rush of relief that surgery had gone well but knew that this was just the beginning of our journey.
Within a few minutes we were told that I would be allowed back, not Jon. I followed the receptionist man very anxious to see my little baby. However, apparently he didn't know where to go because he took me to adult intensive care, followed by the child intensive care, and then we did a huge loop to end up in the same waiting area where he made a call. My poor baby had already left the post-op area and was in a room. I felt devastated thinking that I had told her that I would be there when she woke up and now she was probably frightened and without me or any familiar face. Jon came over and the man tried to explain to him what was going on, Jon felt just as frustrated and told the guy not to worry explaining it but to just find her. Finally he was able to obtain a room number. We rushed over there and I found my baby crying and very frightened. When she saw me she felt better but yet she was still confused and in pain. Within a few minutes Jon was in the room too. Isa kept screaming that she was in pain, that she didn't want a cast on , and tried to pull out her IV. This was extremely painful to witness! I couldn't contain tears from silently falling. The nurse said she would give her morphine to calm her down and hopefully she would sleep and not remember what had just happened.
Lucky she was able to sleep for about two hours. When she did wake up she woke up much more calm but in a lot of pain still and very frightened. For the remainder of the day she spent it in this pattern, waking in much pain and being scared about not being able to move her legs and then sleeping once she was given medication. Dr. Vin visited us again to see how she was doing, he checked her for swelling to see if the cast needed to be split, it didn't.
She hadn't used the restroom since the morning and we were worried. The nurse said that she really needed to urinate otherwise she would have to have a catheter otherwise her bladder won't expand too much. They gave her a few hours into the evening and she managed to urinate a minute amount. They contacted Dr. Vin and he said that for her safety they would have to put a catheter in to empty her bladder and then give her a few hours to go to the bathroom on her own if not they would have to put it in again and leave it in. It was hard to hear because I knew it was going to be extremely difficult to handle. Three nurses had to come in to do it and Jon and I held her arms. It was one of the most difficult things to experience! She was screaming that it hurt and to stop as she looked right at Jon and I. I couldn't help but cry silently as I told her that it would all be over in a minute. I know that it must have only taken a few minutes but it seemed like hours because it was so difficult.
Thank God that within a few hours she asked to go to the bathroom on her own. Around 2 am she was finally awake enough to be herself :-) However, she was still in a lot of pain and like clockwork as soon as the medicine wore off she was yelling the she was in pain.
End of day 1in the hospital.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Night Before Surgery
Isa went to school as usual and then her ballet class. I spent the day at the doctors, my stomach was still upset (yes,I think it was just nerves!) After ballet we went to dinner at IHOP. Isa loved the idea of breakfast for dinner :-) We were joined by our close family and had a good time but the drive home was very quite. We did our last minute packing for the hospital and then it was off to bed. Unfortunately I don't think that Jon and I slept but Isa fell asleep as soon as she got in bed. I admit I did a lot of praying and some crying...I was extremely nervous for surgery.
Surgery Info
It's been five days since surgery...since I was to preoccupied to write as we went I will back track.
Monday, September 24, 2012
One Day Away!!!
It's been a crazy past few days. I have been super busy and admittedly very distracted. Even all the things that I had to do couldn't keep me from thinking about all that was to come. I have been experiencing an upset stomach that just doesn't seem to want to go away :-( Everyone keeps telling me it must be nerves, if it is then I hope it will go away tomorrow and not worse!
Had the hospital tour the other day and it was comforting yet frightening at the same time. I felt relieved that the children's area was much nicer than I could have hoped for but being there made it real and that was frightening! My Isa was dazzled by all the cool things at the hospital which was also comforting.
I pray that everything will go well tomorrow and that I am able to be as brave as Isa!
Had the hospital tour the other day and it was comforting yet frightening at the same time. I felt relieved that the children's area was much nicer than I could have hoped for but being there made it real and that was frightening! My Isa was dazzled by all the cool things at the hospital which was also comforting.
I pray that everything will go well tomorrow and that I am able to be as brave as Isa!
Monday, September 17, 2012
8 More Days Until Surgery!!!
8 more days until surgery and today I actually had some time to reflect *sigh*. Truthfully, I was a bit scared of having that time but I also really needed it. I have been running around busy with so many things. I do enjoy doing it all and being involved in Isa's school but I needed a few minutes to unwind. I am happy to report that I am at ease with my decision of choosing to do surgery and that there isn't any second guessing. However, I can't say that that takes away the worry. I am worried. First beacause of the anesthesia and then how difficult the recovery is going to be on her. But I have faith in God and know he will watch over her.
Friday, September 14, 2012
Eye Update and a Few Other Things
While at Disney I have to admit that Isa had a few instances of her eye rotating out (during the six days we were there). I would like to think it is because she was exhausted from everything going on, but truth be told I think me saying that is just an excuse. It is something that I am going to have to bring up to the doctor during her appointment in November. I am scared of what is to come but for right now I can only deal with one surgery at a time. I am hoping the doctor will have her start patching AGAIN even if it is just to postpone another surgery.
We had a lot of fun at Disney but I have to admit that it was very draining! It did get our mind off the surgery! As soon as we got back, within hours actually (got home at 4 am and by 7am we were off to school, no worries Isa got plenty of sleep ;-)) I was back to my busy schedule. I haven't had much time for anything other than taking Isa to school, school volunteering, and taking the kids to their extra curricular activities that again I have no time to REALLY think about what is to come in less than two weeks!!! I have a busy schedule for the following week as well so I should be able to stay a LITTLE sane without thinking and pondering all the time the what if's and double guessing our decsision.
I have to say that I am extremely thankful to God that although Isa does have some health issues they could be FAR worse. I admire mothers who have children with medical conditions especially with serious conditions, it takes a lot to be able to do it, emotional and physical!
We had a lot of fun at Disney but I have to admit that it was very draining! It did get our mind off the surgery! As soon as we got back, within hours actually (got home at 4 am and by 7am we were off to school, no worries Isa got plenty of sleep ;-)) I was back to my busy schedule. I haven't had much time for anything other than taking Isa to school, school volunteering, and taking the kids to their extra curricular activities that again I have no time to REALLY think about what is to come in less than two weeks!!! I have a busy schedule for the following week as well so I should be able to stay a LITTLE sane without thinking and pondering all the time the what if's and double guessing our decsision.
I have to say that I am extremely thankful to God that although Isa does have some health issues they could be FAR worse. I admire mothers who have children with medical conditions especially with serious conditions, it takes a lot to be able to do it, emotional and physical!
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Destressing at Disney
I have to admit that lately I have been very preoccupied with all of our daily things, school, extracurricular activities, appointments, my school volunteer stuff and of course all of my home duties that I haven't had much time to just sit and think. The constant running around has allowed me not to be in the constant worry and be scared mode, thank god! However, now that the day is getting closer I am getting more nervous. We are twenty days away from surgery at this point!!!! Jon and I decided to take the kids to Disney to destress :-) We figured it would be a good way for Isa to have some fun before surgery and to get all of our minds off of it.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Do you occasionally allow your kids a candy bar? UnReal Candy Review
I recently tried Unreal Candy Bar # 5 which is an equivalent to Milky Way with the kiddos. As part of BzzAgent.com I was invited to a Unreal Candy campaign, they sent me coupons for one free Unreal candy and several coupons for BGOF. If you haven't heard of BzzAgent you should totally check it out. They send me tons of free stuff to try out and review and then spread the Bzz about it via word of mouth. You never have to lie and say you like the product, you just give an honest opinion on whether you like the product or not and talk with people and not at them or spam anyone.
Any who,Unreal is suppose to be an unjunked version of a candy candy bar with no corn syrup, no artificial ingredients, and no preservatives amongst other things. Isa and Max thought it was great, but I haven't come across a chocolate bar that they dont' like yet! I love Milky Ways so I was more critical. While I must admit I am not a huge fan of giving my kiddos candy (Grandma will attest to this!) I do once in a while and I would feel better about giving them something that doesn't have all the extra artificial ingredients and preservatives. I took my first bite thinking, "yeah right is this going to taste as yummy as a Milky Way", but I was pleasantly surprised! The caramel is what stood out the most, it was very rich :-) It tasted just as good a Milky Way and even better without some of that junk!!!
If you are like me and do give your little ones candy once in a while, you may want to give this a try to at least take out some of the junk out of the junk food!
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
A Few Different Things...
A few different things on my mind today, the first we had the meeting with everyone at the school. We discussed all the things Isa would need help with at school. The school is looking for a person who can assist her, with moving from place to place and toileting. We also discussed how we would have Isa keep up with all her school work while recovering at home. The teacher already rearranged the seating arrangement in class so that Isa can have easier access to her table. She is now seated right by the door at the highest table. The teacher said she wanted to move her well in advance so that she wouldn't feel that she was having to move strictly because of her wheelchair, one less thing for her to worry about. The teacher has already planned on making get well cards with her classmates for Isa to have while in the hospital, I thought this was super sweet! The nurse will also be talking to the class once Isa is out for surgery about kindness and understanding. They will be explained what is going to happen to Isa and to expect her in her wheelchair. This is something that truthfully I hadn't even thought about! It is nice that someone had it covered already!
Secondly, I found a new friend at Isa's school whose baby has two casts like Isa will have! How wonderful the way things work ;-) I can't say that I have ever seen or met in the past someone with two full leg casts and now I had! She was friendly and very helpful. I met her the first week of school. Her baby has casts on for different reasons other than Isa will, but nonethe less she was able to answer some questions and provided much needed comfort, yay! The baby is an adorable lively little fella:-) I met him three days after he had surgery and he was so happy and was even doing some kicking!!! This made me feel so comforted knowing that Isa wasn't going to be completely miserable and unable to move while in such large casts. She did note that pain relief was key for her and her baby, something for us to keep in mind. I also questioned the ease of dressing a child with the casts, she said that since it is HOT and he is so little usually he lounges with just shirts or onesies. but suggested in my case dresses. At first I considered asking grandma to make some special dresses. However grandma is already making comfy but very cute pajamas for her first week post op (and also for her American Girl Doll !)and after looking into the cost of fabric and the time it takes to make it, I figured that I might as well just buy some wide bottom dresses. Overall, I am just extremely happy to have met the baby who has provided strength and comfort. I see him being so happy and playful and innterupted by his casts that it gives me not only comfort but also strength for Isa.
Lastly, the past few weeks since Isa started school I have been crazy busy :-p Now that school has started we also started our other extracurricular activites. Isa has ballet for a few weeks until surgery, she also will be starting religous education classes soon. Max has storytime, a art class, and both kiddos have piano class. I also do some homeschooling for Max so that he is well prepared for Kindergarten. Not to mention I also have signed up for a few volunteer things at Isa's school. I have things to do almost EVERYDAY, including weekends! Which is great I am not complaining after all I signed up for it all but I just need to get used to my schedule and fit working out somewhere in all this. I need MOTIVATION and LOTS of it to start working out. I always seem to start and then within a few weeks lose the motivation and it loses priority. I need to, I have to, find the motivation and make it a priority!!!
Secondly, I found a new friend at Isa's school whose baby has two casts like Isa will have! How wonderful the way things work ;-) I can't say that I have ever seen or met in the past someone with two full leg casts and now I had! She was friendly and very helpful. I met her the first week of school. Her baby has casts on for different reasons other than Isa will, but nonethe less she was able to answer some questions and provided much needed comfort, yay! The baby is an adorable lively little fella:-) I met him three days after he had surgery and he was so happy and was even doing some kicking!!! This made me feel so comforted knowing that Isa wasn't going to be completely miserable and unable to move while in such large casts. She did note that pain relief was key for her and her baby, something for us to keep in mind. I also questioned the ease of dressing a child with the casts, she said that since it is HOT and he is so little usually he lounges with just shirts or onesies. but suggested in my case dresses. At first I considered asking grandma to make some special dresses. However grandma is already making comfy but very cute pajamas for her first week post op (and also for her American Girl Doll !)and after looking into the cost of fabric and the time it takes to make it, I figured that I might as well just buy some wide bottom dresses. Overall, I am just extremely happy to have met the baby who has provided strength and comfort. I see him being so happy and playful and innterupted by his casts that it gives me not only comfort but also strength for Isa.
Lastly, the past few weeks since Isa started school I have been crazy busy :-p Now that school has started we also started our other extracurricular activites. Isa has ballet for a few weeks until surgery, she also will be starting religous education classes soon. Max has storytime, a art class, and both kiddos have piano class. I also do some homeschooling for Max so that he is well prepared for Kindergarten. Not to mention I also have signed up for a few volunteer things at Isa's school. I have things to do almost EVERYDAY, including weekends! Which is great I am not complaining after all I signed up for it all but I just need to get used to my schedule and fit working out somewhere in all this. I need MOTIVATION and LOTS of it to start working out. I always seem to start and then within a few weeks lose the motivation and it loses priority. I need to, I have to, find the motivation and make it a priority!!!
Friday, August 24, 2012
Getting Everything Ready At School
We informed the principal, the teacher, and nurse assistant on the very first day of school to expect Isa in a wheelchair for a few weeks. We met with the principal again the other day to make sure everything is going to be ready for Isa. She said they are going to make sure that Isa has accessibility to the whole school in her wheelchair, yay!!! My second biggest concern was her going to the bathroom and this was discussed as well. The head school nurse was going to call me and set up a plan for her.
Later that afternoon the nurse called me and said that the school was going to have somebody train to help Isa go to the bathroom. It made me feel better knowing that Isa would not have to stress or possibly get hurt trying to go to the bathroom without help. I feel reassured about someone helping her but at the same time I have to say that there is some worry. I am just so protective of my baby and for good reason because you just never know! I have talked to Isa about making sure that she knows that NO ONE is allowed to touch her and to IMMEDIATELY tell a grown up IF someone ever tries to. Hopefully I am just overworrying about it! It did calm me down to know that I would be the one training the person with how I want things done :-) The nurse explained to me that a 504 Plan would need to be drawn up for her. She explained to be that by law they would need to make sure that Isa is able to attend school in her wheelchair and have help. Here is a link for a website that further explains a 504 Plan. http://specialchildren.about.com/od/504s/f/504faq1.htm We will have an appointment once the 504 Plan is written and the teacher, the head nurse, the principal, and the specialist who writes those sort of plans will all meet with us to make sure that everything is covered in the plan to get school ready for her.
It made me feel good about the fact that I was not asking the school for something above and beyond, that it is actually something required by law. Although regardless of whether it is required by law or not I would have asked for it but this way I don't feel pushy!!! I do have to say that the school has been great about communicating with me and making me feel at ease about Isa going to school in her wheelchair!!!
Later that afternoon the nurse called me and said that the school was going to have somebody train to help Isa go to the bathroom. It made me feel better knowing that Isa would not have to stress or possibly get hurt trying to go to the bathroom without help. I feel reassured about someone helping her but at the same time I have to say that there is some worry. I am just so protective of my baby and for good reason because you just never know! I have talked to Isa about making sure that she knows that NO ONE is allowed to touch her and to IMMEDIATELY tell a grown up IF someone ever tries to. Hopefully I am just overworrying about it! It did calm me down to know that I would be the one training the person with how I want things done :-) The nurse explained to me that a 504 Plan would need to be drawn up for her. She explained to be that by law they would need to make sure that Isa is able to attend school in her wheelchair and have help. Here is a link for a website that further explains a 504 Plan. http://specialchildren.about.com/od/504s/f/504faq1.htm We will have an appointment once the 504 Plan is written and the teacher, the head nurse, the principal, and the specialist who writes those sort of plans will all meet with us to make sure that everything is covered in the plan to get school ready for her.
It made me feel good about the fact that I was not asking the school for something above and beyond, that it is actually something required by law. Although regardless of whether it is required by law or not I would have asked for it but this way I don't feel pushy!!! I do have to say that the school has been great about communicating with me and making me feel at ease about Isa going to school in her wheelchair!!!
Monday, August 13, 2012
Pre Surgery Appointment
Please keep in mind that I am not a doctor and have no medical background. I am just writing based on my experiences and occasionally I may get things wrong.
We were very nervous and anxious about our pre-surgery appointment or as the doctor put it, it was our Q&A appointment. We decided to go to the appointment while Isa was at school so that we could freely discuss everything.
As with previous visits everyone was very friendly :) As you can imagine we had three pages worth of questions! I felt guilty about how much time we were taking about 45 minutes into the appointment but Dr. Vin said he was there for us and didn't have anywhere else he needed to be and would be there until we were all done with ALL the questions, what a relief!!!! This made me feel so reassured with the decision we made to pick him to be Isa's surgeon!
Some of the questions we asked included:
What exactly will be done?
A small incision will be made on the outer thigh slightly above her knee and the femur bone will be broken in order to realign them. Metal plates or pins will be used in order to keep the bones in place. The metal hardware is removed within six months in a minor outpatient procedure.
Why the femur as apposed to the hip bone?
Doing the femur in my opinion is better because doing the hip would require an almost full body cast.
The other doctor said he wouldn't put a cast on her, why?
In my opinion doing hip surgery without a cast is a risk for a child her age. A child needs a cast to prevent injury since they are not able to stay in mobile for that long.
How long will the surgery be?
About 2 hours
How long will she be in a cast?
For about a month
How much will be in a cast?
From mid thigh to past the ankle
How long will she be in the hospital?
On average for about 2-3 days, maybe longer maybe less
Will she be in a wheelchair?
Yes, for at least a month full time and then on and off for a month or so
When will we get thewheelchair?
We will send the prescription to the place that rents them and they will take care of the insurance stuff and deliver the chair to the hospital. The physical therapist in the hospital will make sure that the chair is the right fit for her if not they will change it out for her .
When will she start physical therapy and for how long?
She will start physical therapy when the cast come off and probably do it a few times a week for two months afterwards
Does the hospital have tours for kids?
Yes, and my office will help set that up
When will she be able to resume her normal activities?
Within 8 weeks post surgery she should be able to sign up for tackle football if you should choose to!
When will she be able to go back to school?
If the school is wheelchair accessible than as soon as she is off of narcotics
Those were some of the top questions but there were plenty more!
Jon and I felt so much better about the surgery having all of our questions answered and knowing that our doctor CARES! The fact that within 8 weeks she should be back to her regular activities is also very reassuring! I can't help but be amazed with how resilient a child can be!!
We are now ready to prepare for surgery and see where our journey leads us!
.
We were very nervous and anxious about our pre-surgery appointment or as the doctor put it, it was our Q&A appointment. We decided to go to the appointment while Isa was at school so that we could freely discuss everything.
As with previous visits everyone was very friendly :) As you can imagine we had three pages worth of questions! I felt guilty about how much time we were taking about 45 minutes into the appointment but Dr. Vin said he was there for us and didn't have anywhere else he needed to be and would be there until we were all done with ALL the questions, what a relief!!!! This made me feel so reassured with the decision we made to pick him to be Isa's surgeon!
Some of the questions we asked included:
What exactly will be done?
A small incision will be made on the outer thigh slightly above her knee and the femur bone will be broken in order to realign them. Metal plates or pins will be used in order to keep the bones in place. The metal hardware is removed within six months in a minor outpatient procedure.
Why the femur as apposed to the hip bone?
Doing the femur in my opinion is better because doing the hip would require an almost full body cast.
The other doctor said he wouldn't put a cast on her, why?
In my opinion doing hip surgery without a cast is a risk for a child her age. A child needs a cast to prevent injury since they are not able to stay in mobile for that long.
How long will the surgery be?
About 2 hours
How long will she be in a cast?
For about a month
How much will be in a cast?
From mid thigh to past the ankle
How long will she be in the hospital?
On average for about 2-3 days, maybe longer maybe less
Will she be in a wheelchair?
Yes, for at least a month full time and then on and off for a month or so
When will we get thewheelchair?
We will send the prescription to the place that rents them and they will take care of the insurance stuff and deliver the chair to the hospital. The physical therapist in the hospital will make sure that the chair is the right fit for her if not they will change it out for her .
When will she start physical therapy and for how long?
She will start physical therapy when the cast come off and probably do it a few times a week for two months afterwards
Does the hospital have tours for kids?
Yes, and my office will help set that up
When will she be able to resume her normal activities?
Within 8 weeks post surgery she should be able to sign up for tackle football if you should choose to!
When will she be able to go back to school?
If the school is wheelchair accessible than as soon as she is off of narcotics
Those were some of the top questions but there were plenty more!
Jon and I felt so much better about the surgery having all of our questions answered and knowing that our doctor CARES! The fact that within 8 weeks she should be back to her regular activities is also very reassuring! I can't help but be amazed with how resilient a child can be!!
We are now ready to prepare for surgery and see where our journey leads us!
.
Decision on Isa's leg Surgery
We thought about and discussed it not only amongst ourselves but also with the rest of our family and the decision that we came up with was to do surgery. It wasn't an easy one but after much prayer and discussion it was the right one for us. We didn't want to limit Isa's possibilities, we wanted to be able to have her make the decision of what she wanted to do and not struggle with walking or running. It is a decision that we would much rather not have to make but we do and we are ready to tackle it!
We decided to have surgery done with Dr. Vin, he is a highly qualified doctor and one that makes us feel at ease and one that cares about Isa and us.
We decided to have surgery done with Dr. Vin, he is a highly qualified doctor and one that makes us feel at ease and one that cares about Isa and us.
Second Opinion
Please keep in mind that I am not a doctor and have no medical background. I am just writing based on my experiences and occasionally I may get things wrong.
We went to another recommended pediatric orthopedic surgeon.
Once again I sat in a big unwelcoming building waiting to hear a second opinion. Isa as brave as usual. We both walked into the room (Jon was away on work and Max was with his uncles) and waited for the doctor. The doctor came in and introduced himself , he was polite but I didn't feel comforted. After a quick examination, there it was again, surgery! He unlike Dr. Vin suggested that she have surgery done on her hip since it is the bone where most of the rotation takes place. He wouldn't be putting a cast on her but would need her to be inmoble for much longer than a month. He also said we could try physical therapy just to make ME feel better, but it would not work for two reasons. One, that it would be trying to compensate a bone problem with a muscle. Second, because she was a child and would not be able to give her all because she wouldn't understand it. He gave all the information very rushed and very as a matter of fact. He said that we should condsider surgery because she would not be able to have any type of active life and even things like walking or running were a struggle for her. He also suggested that if I didn't want to do surgery than not to expose her to anything active so that later on in life she wouldn't feel like she was missing out on something because she had never been exposed to it. That made me feel very said to think that I should start blocking things from her inorder to help her not to want to participate later on in life and what about the keep your kids active stuff? I felt very discouraged after that conversation and it was obvious that he was not 100% child friendly because he used words like cut open and scar in front of my poor Isa who of course listened to every word he said.
She left feeling very terrified about being cut open and having scars. I managed to calm her down and asked her which doctor she liked better and she quickly responded Dr. Vin, the silly one! I felt the same way.
We went to another recommended pediatric orthopedic surgeon.
Once again I sat in a big unwelcoming building waiting to hear a second opinion. Isa as brave as usual. We both walked into the room (Jon was away on work and Max was with his uncles) and waited for the doctor. The doctor came in and introduced himself , he was polite but I didn't feel comforted. After a quick examination, there it was again, surgery! He unlike Dr. Vin suggested that she have surgery done on her hip since it is the bone where most of the rotation takes place. He wouldn't be putting a cast on her but would need her to be inmoble for much longer than a month. He also said we could try physical therapy just to make ME feel better, but it would not work for two reasons. One, that it would be trying to compensate a bone problem with a muscle. Second, because she was a child and would not be able to give her all because she wouldn't understand it. He gave all the information very rushed and very as a matter of fact. He said that we should condsider surgery because she would not be able to have any type of active life and even things like walking or running were a struggle for her. He also suggested that if I didn't want to do surgery than not to expose her to anything active so that later on in life she wouldn't feel like she was missing out on something because she had never been exposed to it. That made me feel very said to think that I should start blocking things from her inorder to help her not to want to participate later on in life and what about the keep your kids active stuff? I felt very discouraged after that conversation and it was obvious that he was not 100% child friendly because he used words like cut open and scar in front of my poor Isa who of course listened to every word he said.
She left feeling very terrified about being cut open and having scars. I managed to calm her down and asked her which doctor she liked better and she quickly responded Dr. Vin, the silly one! I felt the same way.
Femoral Anteversion Diagnosis
Please keep in mind that I am not a doctor and have no medical background. I am just writing based on my experiences and occasionally I may get things wrong.
We were on a hike about a month ago and we realized that Isa was having major issues walking. We had realized a few years ago that she had some in toeing but left it alone because of an earlier talk with a specialist. We noticed that Max, her little brother had a significant in toe and decided to take him to a specialist when he was two (he is now almost 5). The specialist Dr. Vin said that most kids outgrow this problem, something our pediatrician also said. Dr. Vin said that he thought Max was too young to decided anything yet, usually at about 5 is when you want to decide. He said that Max had a double dose of rotation since he had rotation in two of his bones. He said that unless a child has severe in toeing that causes him or her to slow down or fall than surgery should probably not be considered but it is a family choice that has to be made.
We decided to leave Max's in toeing alone since he was so young and see where it goes. So when we saw it in Isa we thought it would be same type of situation but that day while hiking we knew it had to be looked at. Jon and I started talking and realized that Isa did a lot of falling but we always attributed it to her clumsiness. We even made sure she wore pants each time she went out to her playground since she was very likely to fall. We came to the conclusion that it might not just be her clumsiness but also her in toeing.
We went to see Dr. Vin again this time for Isa. Dr. Vin is a pediatric orthopedic specialist and his office is small and very welcoming. Dr. Vin's bedside manner is remarkable. We felt confident upon walking into the doctors office hoping that we would get the same response that we got when we talked about Max. Within a few minutes of examination Dr. Vin explained to us that Isa had a very high dosage of rotation in her femur and hip bone. I felt the "cloud" once again over me. This was not going to be the same as with Max. Dr. Vin explained that her bone rotation was very extreme, usually a significant femur rotation is 45 degrees and Isa's is 90 degrees! He first clarified that braces and orthopedic shoes have not been proven to help with her problem. Dr. Vin said that usually he recommends that the problem be left to resolve on it's own or if it doesn't interfere with the child's life to leave it, however in her case she would probably continue to have problems with falling (but no more extreme than she was currently having) and will not be able to lead any type of active lifestyle. This news was heartbreaking, far more than the exotropia! I felt overwhelmed : ( He said that we should seriously consider surgery and that it would significantly help her. He said that if we decided to do surgery, he would be performing it in her femur bones. He would have to cut both femurs and realign them using pins that would later be removed. She would be in a cast from mid thigh to down past her ankles.
We left the office with very little to say. Jon and I knew that it would be a very difficult decision. We discussed the fact that we didn't want to put our baby through surgery but we also didn't want to limit her possibilities later on in life. She loves ballet and soccer and we knew that those would not be something she could continue. It wasn't a matter of wanting her to be an athlete or a dancer but anything like walking or running would be difficult for her. I even read somewhere that riding a bike was difficult for someone with her problem.
Here is a site that might be helpful
We were on a hike about a month ago and we realized that Isa was having major issues walking. We had realized a few years ago that she had some in toeing but left it alone because of an earlier talk with a specialist. We noticed that Max, her little brother had a significant in toe and decided to take him to a specialist when he was two (he is now almost 5). The specialist Dr. Vin said that most kids outgrow this problem, something our pediatrician also said. Dr. Vin said that he thought Max was too young to decided anything yet, usually at about 5 is when you want to decide. He said that Max had a double dose of rotation since he had rotation in two of his bones. He said that unless a child has severe in toeing that causes him or her to slow down or fall than surgery should probably not be considered but it is a family choice that has to be made.
We decided to leave Max's in toeing alone since he was so young and see where it goes. So when we saw it in Isa we thought it would be same type of situation but that day while hiking we knew it had to be looked at. Jon and I started talking and realized that Isa did a lot of falling but we always attributed it to her clumsiness. We even made sure she wore pants each time she went out to her playground since she was very likely to fall. We came to the conclusion that it might not just be her clumsiness but also her in toeing.
We went to see Dr. Vin again this time for Isa. Dr. Vin is a pediatric orthopedic specialist and his office is small and very welcoming. Dr. Vin's bedside manner is remarkable. We felt confident upon walking into the doctors office hoping that we would get the same response that we got when we talked about Max. Within a few minutes of examination Dr. Vin explained to us that Isa had a very high dosage of rotation in her femur and hip bone. I felt the "cloud" once again over me. This was not going to be the same as with Max. Dr. Vin explained that her bone rotation was very extreme, usually a significant femur rotation is 45 degrees and Isa's is 90 degrees! He first clarified that braces and orthopedic shoes have not been proven to help with her problem. Dr. Vin said that usually he recommends that the problem be left to resolve on it's own or if it doesn't interfere with the child's life to leave it, however in her case she would probably continue to have problems with falling (but no more extreme than she was currently having) and will not be able to lead any type of active lifestyle. This news was heartbreaking, far more than the exotropia! I felt overwhelmed : ( He said that we should seriously consider surgery and that it would significantly help her. He said that if we decided to do surgery, he would be performing it in her femur bones. He would have to cut both femurs and realign them using pins that would later be removed. She would be in a cast from mid thigh to down past her ankles.
We left the office with very little to say. Jon and I knew that it would be a very difficult decision. We discussed the fact that we didn't want to put our baby through surgery but we also didn't want to limit her possibilities later on in life. She loves ballet and soccer and we knew that those would not be something she could continue. It wasn't a matter of wanting her to be an athlete or a dancer but anything like walking or running would be difficult for her. I even read somewhere that riding a bike was difficult for someone with her problem.
Here is a site that might be helpful
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Patching In Public & Update
Recently I have read the questions about patching in public and what to expect, well here is our experiences,
I know that it can be very difficult to deal with your little one's self consciousness while at the same time trying to make it as normal as possible. At first I didn't know whether or not to patch in public because I didn't want Isa to be made self conscious by other people. We had tried since she first started patching not to make a big deal about wearing the patch, but I couldn't help but worry. My husband Jon was the one who convinced me that I shouldn't be concerned and to just try to make it as normal as possible for her. There were occasions when out in public, people, especially adults would stare, point, or ask why she was wearing it. I tried to ignore the points and stares so that Isa wouldn't feel self conscious. I think that I noticed it a lot more than she did. When she did notice I would just tell her that maybe they were admiring her patch. I would remind her that she uses her patch to help her with her eyes and not everyone has it, so it maybe it is just something new to them. As for the questions, I would just say we were doing vision therapy and explain to her again that to some people it is something new. I would also remind her of her manners and remember that even if something is new to us doesn't mean we stare or point. As her mother it would frustrate me so much that adults were so rude and it made the situation harder for me to deal with just because I didn't want my little one to have to go through it. However most of the time Isa didn't even notice :)
For the most part we kept patching while at home just because we found that she would fall more often while being active or walking because she would lose some depth perception. We did however find that even if there were those "uncomfortable moments" while patching in public it was best to do it at least once in a while so that she understand that it was nothing that she had to hide or be ashamed of.
UPDATE:
Isa started full day school last week and is also fighting a cold so she has been very tired and unfortunately that means we have been seeing a lot more turning out of one of her eyes than we would like : ( I am still questioning whether we should have stopped the patching? I will wait at least until she is over her cold and a bit more adjusted with her new schedule to see whether or not I should call Dr. S and see what the next step in this journey is.
I know that it can be very difficult to deal with your little one's self consciousness while at the same time trying to make it as normal as possible. At first I didn't know whether or not to patch in public because I didn't want Isa to be made self conscious by other people. We had tried since she first started patching not to make a big deal about wearing the patch, but I couldn't help but worry. My husband Jon was the one who convinced me that I shouldn't be concerned and to just try to make it as normal as possible for her. There were occasions when out in public, people, especially adults would stare, point, or ask why she was wearing it. I tried to ignore the points and stares so that Isa wouldn't feel self conscious. I think that I noticed it a lot more than she did. When she did notice I would just tell her that maybe they were admiring her patch. I would remind her that she uses her patch to help her with her eyes and not everyone has it, so it maybe it is just something new to them. As for the questions, I would just say we were doing vision therapy and explain to her again that to some people it is something new. I would also remind her of her manners and remember that even if something is new to us doesn't mean we stare or point. As her mother it would frustrate me so much that adults were so rude and it made the situation harder for me to deal with just because I didn't want my little one to have to go through it. However most of the time Isa didn't even notice :)
For the most part we kept patching while at home just because we found that she would fall more often while being active or walking because she would lose some depth perception. We did however find that even if there were those "uncomfortable moments" while patching in public it was best to do it at least once in a while so that she understand that it was nothing that she had to hide or be ashamed of.
UPDATE:
Isa started full day school last week and is also fighting a cold so she has been very tired and unfortunately that means we have been seeing a lot more turning out of one of her eyes than we would like : ( I am still questioning whether we should have stopped the patching? I will wait at least until she is over her cold and a bit more adjusted with her new schedule to see whether or not I should call Dr. S and see what the next step in this journey is.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Post Surgery
Please keep in mind that I am not a doctor and have no medical background. I am just writing based on my experiences and occasionally I may get things wrong.
A few weeks after surgery Jon and I had bittersweet feelings. We were happy because Isa had not experienced any double vision but was still experiencing the occasional outward drift in one of her eyes. We were worried as to what the next step was going to be, was the surgery not 100% succesful, would we have to do it again? We knew that having to reoperate was a very real possibility but we didn't want it to be so soon.
We both went to her next appointment. We were happy to hear that her prescription had changed for the better with the surgery and that surgery had been 100% succesful in one of her eyes!!! However, her other eye was still experiencing a slight misalignement but a definte improvement from prior to surgery. I have to admit that I did have some feelings of discouragment when Dr. S said one eye was not sucessful.
Dr. S. said that he thought patching would be enough to help the one eye. We had stopped patching post surgery because at the time everything seemed to be succesful. We allowed her to pick out a new patch. Dr. S's office has a pretty nice supply of them for sale in their optical department. Isa thought it was really cool that she didn't have to patch any more after surgery since she had already done it for so long, but since she is such a sweetheart she said she woudn't mind having to do it again. We were lucky that we got to wait to do the surgery until an age where she was able to get an idea of what was going on and understand it, at least on a basic level.
We patched post surgery since October of last year and two weeks ago we had our most recent appointment with Dr. S. Dr. S said everything looked great and that at least for now we could stop patching! Yay, we were so excited about this!!! However I was cautiosly optomistic because we have been there before and had to go back. I also worried that stopping the patching would make the problem worse so I felt hesitant to stop. However, I trust Dr. S, who is a wonderful doctor and like my friend said, "I guess if you don't stop you will never know if it works or not". This news couldn't have come at a better time. During this time we had just found out of anther medical condition that we would have to tackle with Isa, femoral anteversion surgery.
We don't have a follow up appointment with Dr. S for another five months which I pray brings good news. I am happy to report that so far we have only seen a drift once or twice since the appointment. Here is to hoping we can keep things moving foward but we will deal with whatever comes our way with much determination just like my sweet Isa! I can't say enough how proud I am of that little girl who started Kindergarden today:) She has been a strong and brave girl through all of this. I get my courage from her strength!
A few weeks after surgery Jon and I had bittersweet feelings. We were happy because Isa had not experienced any double vision but was still experiencing the occasional outward drift in one of her eyes. We were worried as to what the next step was going to be, was the surgery not 100% succesful, would we have to do it again? We knew that having to reoperate was a very real possibility but we didn't want it to be so soon.
We both went to her next appointment. We were happy to hear that her prescription had changed for the better with the surgery and that surgery had been 100% succesful in one of her eyes!!! However, her other eye was still experiencing a slight misalignement but a definte improvement from prior to surgery. I have to admit that I did have some feelings of discouragment when Dr. S said one eye was not sucessful.
Dr. S. said that he thought patching would be enough to help the one eye. We had stopped patching post surgery because at the time everything seemed to be succesful. We allowed her to pick out a new patch. Dr. S's office has a pretty nice supply of them for sale in their optical department. Isa thought it was really cool that she didn't have to patch any more after surgery since she had already done it for so long, but since she is such a sweetheart she said she woudn't mind having to do it again. We were lucky that we got to wait to do the surgery until an age where she was able to get an idea of what was going on and understand it, at least on a basic level.
We patched post surgery since October of last year and two weeks ago we had our most recent appointment with Dr. S. Dr. S said everything looked great and that at least for now we could stop patching! Yay, we were so excited about this!!! However I was cautiosly optomistic because we have been there before and had to go back. I also worried that stopping the patching would make the problem worse so I felt hesitant to stop. However, I trust Dr. S, who is a wonderful doctor and like my friend said, "I guess if you don't stop you will never know if it works or not". This news couldn't have come at a better time. During this time we had just found out of anther medical condition that we would have to tackle with Isa, femoral anteversion surgery.
We don't have a follow up appointment with Dr. S for another five months which I pray brings good news. I am happy to report that so far we have only seen a drift once or twice since the appointment. Here is to hoping we can keep things moving foward but we will deal with whatever comes our way with much determination just like my sweet Isa! I can't say enough how proud I am of that little girl who started Kindergarden today:) She has been a strong and brave girl through all of this. I get my courage from her strength!
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Exotropia Surgery
Please keep in mind that I am not a doctor and have no medical background. I am just writing based on my experiences and occasionally I may get things wrong.
I decided to write this part as honest as possible including all the emotions that we experienced so that you may have an idea of what we went through, but keep in mind your experience may be completely different.
We scheduled a day in early October for surgery and started prepping not only Isa for it but also ourselves, Jon and I. Jon made arrangements so that he could take a few days off in order to travel back home for the surgery. Isa, Max, and I traveled a few days earlier than Jon. This allowed the kids to spend some time with the family and also Isa had to get clearance from her pediatrician for the surgery. Basically it was a physical to confirm that her heart and lungs were healthy for anesthesia. The appointment went smoothly.
Isa was very happy to be home as she had been home sick and missing her grandparents, her aunt, and uncles. Although Isa said she was ready and even excited at times about the surgery she too was nervous. She was almost five years old and understood the reason for doing the surgery as she did not like having double vision.
The night before surgery my husband drove in and we all went to Chilli's, Isa's favorite restaurant at the time (her current favorite is IHOP) to take her mind off of it. We also beforehand took her to Build-a-Bear so that she could make a stuffed buddy to take to surgery with her. We were told that we could bring a favorite cup for her to drink from and a stuffed animal to join her during surgery also that she could not eat anything past midnight.
After some nervousness that nigh, Isa finally feel asleep. It is amazing how a small child can take so much in!!! As for Jon and myself that was another thing, I don't think either one of us slept very much. Finally the morning had arrived and our caravan (everyone wanted to be there to support Isa, Jon, and I) started making our way to the surgical center.
We checked in and then headed over to the children's waiting room filled with toys, books, and decorated with beautiful quilts. We debated whether or not to bring Max with us but Isa insisted she wanted him there along with everyone else that is close to her. We waited maybe half an hour before we were called and all of a sudden Isa's nerves kicked in big time. She started crying and yes even some yelling that she didn't want to have surgery.
The initial nurse we got wasn't very friendly or understanding of Isa's feelings. She very rudely insisted that Isa calm down and get dressed into the hospital gown. As you can imagine all of Isa's emotions made Jon and I even more uneasy and having to forcefully put on the gown was a toughie. Luckily another nurse came in and took over, she offered Isa a coloring book about surgery and a bunch of those stickers that you get when you go to the doctor's office, all princess ones which calmed Isa right down.
Once Isa was calm, it made everything much easier for us. We waited a few minutes and then Dr. S came in to say hi and let us know the anaesthesiologist would be coming over to talk with us. He followed shortly and explained to us that they were going to take her to the O.R. and there they would be giving her a fruit flavored or fruit smelling gas mask to make her fall asleep. At that time they would do the IV, blood work, and of course the general anesthesia. Isa heard everything of course and got a little nervous again. A few minutes later and they were back to take our precious baby. I did my best not to cry in front of Isa, but it was extremely hard to do. I was extremely scared of the anesthesia. Some how Jon and I kept it together and they explained to Isa that she was going to the O.R. and that her stuffed dog, Brownie would be going with her to take care of her. She started fearfully crying because she didn't quite understand. Jon and I walked away with our hearts in our hands.
We waited in the waiting room for what seemed forever but in reality took probably about an hour and a half. Jon and I decided that we wanted to wait in the general waiting room until we were able to pull ourselves together again before we faced Max and the rest of our family in the children's waiting room.
Finally, Dr. S came out to tell us that Isa's surgery was done and everything looked good. He also mentioned that Isa was a feisty little girl because she was punching and yelling at the nurses in the recovery area (a possible reaction from the anesthesia since she was confused). It was then that we heard Isa screaming and admittedly I felt very relieved to hear that my baby was OK. We waited about 5 minutes before they allowed Jon and I into the recovery area.
In the recovery area we found our sweet baby girl curled up in a ball sniffling with her eyes closed and shiny as if she had Vaseline on them. She was comforted by the sound of our voice but was still very disoriented. The nurse informed us that Isa needed to drink water before leaving the surgical center and that her IV still needed to taken out. I wish that they had been able to take it out while she was still asleep so that she wouldn't have to undergo that, but I guess that is just asking for too much!
Fortunately Isa had a spectacular recovery room nurse that was very patient and kind. It was kind of difficult to provide comfort to her since she was on the hospital bed still with her IV in and couldn't really be moved. The nurse patiently helped Isa calm down while she removed the IV in her hand. Within about forty minutes or so after we finally convinced her to take a drink she was discharged.
She kept her eyes closed on the way out to the car and we already had the car ready with black out towels in the back for her. It was about half an hour drive back home and within 15 minutes or so she felt nauseous and threw up very slightly. After that she fell back asleep and when we brought her into the house she woke up and felt very panicked because she couldn't see very well, she was experiencing blurry vision from surgery. She kept screaming, "I can't see, I can't see, it hurts!" It was heart breaking to hear her say that but we knew that things were going to get better because of the surgery. It was frightening to her because although we had already explained it to her, what can be expected from a four year old child? It was the first time she opened her eyes and just felt very scared and some slight pain. After a while of calming her down she took a VERY long nap, something she RARELY does even for half an hour!
Upon waking up it was like nothing had ever happened!!! The only signs of surgery were her bloodshot eyes but no symptoms that she could physically feel. We also made sure to cover the mirrors that were at her eye level because she normally panics at the slight sight of blood and we didn't want her to see her bloody eyes and panic. I do have to mention that in some of my research and the doctors post surgery what to expect paper, we expected her eyes would be far worse. However, her eyes were only moderatley boodshot and mostly just on the outer sides of her eyes.
We were so relieved that she seemed absolutely fine, she required no Tylenol or pain medication whatsoever. The only thing that we realized was when she turned her eyes all way to her sides it did feel as if she was pulling her eyes and it was uncomfortable not necessarily painful. This was a side effect that the doctor had explained but he said it posed no danger for her to do it. We had prefilled a prescription for an eye ointment that had to be given to her once in both eyes in the morning and once in the eveining. We initially thought it was going to be a nightmare to have to do this for a few weeks but surprisingly after a few days it wasn't bad since it posed no pain to her and was an ointment as opposed to a liquid eye drop.
The next day we had an appointment with Dr. S to check to see how things were. Isa was just fine that morning and again the only sign of any surgery was the bloodshot eyes and a bit of light sensitivity while outside. Dr. S gave us wonderful news that as of that moment everything seemed succesful and we could safely travel back out to our temporary home the very next day!
I decided to write this part as honest as possible including all the emotions that we experienced so that you may have an idea of what we went through, but keep in mind your experience may be completely different.
We scheduled a day in early October for surgery and started prepping not only Isa for it but also ourselves, Jon and I. Jon made arrangements so that he could take a few days off in order to travel back home for the surgery. Isa, Max, and I traveled a few days earlier than Jon. This allowed the kids to spend some time with the family and also Isa had to get clearance from her pediatrician for the surgery. Basically it was a physical to confirm that her heart and lungs were healthy for anesthesia. The appointment went smoothly.
Isa was very happy to be home as she had been home sick and missing her grandparents, her aunt, and uncles. Although Isa said she was ready and even excited at times about the surgery she too was nervous. She was almost five years old and understood the reason for doing the surgery as she did not like having double vision.
The night before surgery my husband drove in and we all went to Chilli's, Isa's favorite restaurant at the time (her current favorite is IHOP) to take her mind off of it. We also beforehand took her to Build-a-Bear so that she could make a stuffed buddy to take to surgery with her. We were told that we could bring a favorite cup for her to drink from and a stuffed animal to join her during surgery also that she could not eat anything past midnight.
After some nervousness that nigh, Isa finally feel asleep. It is amazing how a small child can take so much in!!! As for Jon and myself that was another thing, I don't think either one of us slept very much. Finally the morning had arrived and our caravan (everyone wanted to be there to support Isa, Jon, and I) started making our way to the surgical center.
We checked in and then headed over to the children's waiting room filled with toys, books, and decorated with beautiful quilts. We debated whether or not to bring Max with us but Isa insisted she wanted him there along with everyone else that is close to her. We waited maybe half an hour before we were called and all of a sudden Isa's nerves kicked in big time. She started crying and yes even some yelling that she didn't want to have surgery.
The initial nurse we got wasn't very friendly or understanding of Isa's feelings. She very rudely insisted that Isa calm down and get dressed into the hospital gown. As you can imagine all of Isa's emotions made Jon and I even more uneasy and having to forcefully put on the gown was a toughie. Luckily another nurse came in and took over, she offered Isa a coloring book about surgery and a bunch of those stickers that you get when you go to the doctor's office, all princess ones which calmed Isa right down.
Once Isa was calm, it made everything much easier for us. We waited a few minutes and then Dr. S came in to say hi and let us know the anaesthesiologist would be coming over to talk with us. He followed shortly and explained to us that they were going to take her to the O.R. and there they would be giving her a fruit flavored or fruit smelling gas mask to make her fall asleep. At that time they would do the IV, blood work, and of course the general anesthesia. Isa heard everything of course and got a little nervous again. A few minutes later and they were back to take our precious baby. I did my best not to cry in front of Isa, but it was extremely hard to do. I was extremely scared of the anesthesia. Some how Jon and I kept it together and they explained to Isa that she was going to the O.R. and that her stuffed dog, Brownie would be going with her to take care of her. She started fearfully crying because she didn't quite understand. Jon and I walked away with our hearts in our hands.
We waited in the waiting room for what seemed forever but in reality took probably about an hour and a half. Jon and I decided that we wanted to wait in the general waiting room until we were able to pull ourselves together again before we faced Max and the rest of our family in the children's waiting room.
Finally, Dr. S came out to tell us that Isa's surgery was done and everything looked good. He also mentioned that Isa was a feisty little girl because she was punching and yelling at the nurses in the recovery area (a possible reaction from the anesthesia since she was confused). It was then that we heard Isa screaming and admittedly I felt very relieved to hear that my baby was OK. We waited about 5 minutes before they allowed Jon and I into the recovery area.
In the recovery area we found our sweet baby girl curled up in a ball sniffling with her eyes closed and shiny as if she had Vaseline on them. She was comforted by the sound of our voice but was still very disoriented. The nurse informed us that Isa needed to drink water before leaving the surgical center and that her IV still needed to taken out. I wish that they had been able to take it out while she was still asleep so that she wouldn't have to undergo that, but I guess that is just asking for too much!
Fortunately Isa had a spectacular recovery room nurse that was very patient and kind. It was kind of difficult to provide comfort to her since she was on the hospital bed still with her IV in and couldn't really be moved. The nurse patiently helped Isa calm down while she removed the IV in her hand. Within about forty minutes or so after we finally convinced her to take a drink she was discharged.
She kept her eyes closed on the way out to the car and we already had the car ready with black out towels in the back for her. It was about half an hour drive back home and within 15 minutes or so she felt nauseous and threw up very slightly. After that she fell back asleep and when we brought her into the house she woke up and felt very panicked because she couldn't see very well, she was experiencing blurry vision from surgery. She kept screaming, "I can't see, I can't see, it hurts!" It was heart breaking to hear her say that but we knew that things were going to get better because of the surgery. It was frightening to her because although we had already explained it to her, what can be expected from a four year old child? It was the first time she opened her eyes and just felt very scared and some slight pain. After a while of calming her down she took a VERY long nap, something she RARELY does even for half an hour!
Upon waking up it was like nothing had ever happened!!! The only signs of surgery were her bloodshot eyes but no symptoms that she could physically feel. We also made sure to cover the mirrors that were at her eye level because she normally panics at the slight sight of blood and we didn't want her to see her bloody eyes and panic. I do have to mention that in some of my research and the doctors post surgery what to expect paper, we expected her eyes would be far worse. However, her eyes were only moderatley boodshot and mostly just on the outer sides of her eyes.
We were so relieved that she seemed absolutely fine, she required no Tylenol or pain medication whatsoever. The only thing that we realized was when she turned her eyes all way to her sides it did feel as if she was pulling her eyes and it was uncomfortable not necessarily painful. This was a side effect that the doctor had explained but he said it posed no danger for her to do it. We had prefilled a prescription for an eye ointment that had to be given to her once in both eyes in the morning and once in the eveining. We initially thought it was going to be a nightmare to have to do this for a few weeks but surprisingly after a few days it wasn't bad since it posed no pain to her and was an ointment as opposed to a liquid eye drop.
The next day we had an appointment with Dr. S to check to see how things were. Isa was just fine that morning and again the only sign of any surgery was the bloodshot eyes and a bit of light sensitivity while outside. Dr. S gave us wonderful news that as of that moment everything seemed succesful and we could safely travel back out to our temporary home the very next day!
Two Years Into Exotropia Therapy...
Please keep in mind that I am not a doctor and have no medical background. I am
just writing based on my experiences and occasionally I may get things
wrong.
Isa spent two years wearing patches from at first half hour a day to an hour and a half a day. This was easy most days but every once in a while Isa would question why she had to, but in the end she would always do it. She was a real trooper about it. Some days I have to admit that we forgot to patch and yes I did feel guilty about it but I always tried my best. We did make sure to patch during sitting times, like watching tv, reading a story or coloring, never during active playing. We found out very early on that during her patching her depth perception wasn't very good and therefore causing a few falls.
I knew from my research that double vision was a very bad sign for Isa's condition and so when my sweet husband Jon mentioned Isa had, had it during a conversation, I freaked! I explained to him as best as I understood it, that once a person starts having double vision eventually the brain tells the eye to ignore vision from one eye in order to avoid confusion. With time the eye will lose vision in that the brain no longer recognizes the vision from that eye.
Immediately the next day (since the Dr. S's office was already closed) I called to find out what needed to be done. Dr. S's assistant said that since Isa had an upcoming appointment within two weeks we didn't need to make one earlier. Those two weeks were grueling!!! I didn't know what to expect. Besides the fact that she was experiencing the occasional double vision she also seemed to experience the drifting of at least one of her eye's for a minimum of once a day, usually when she was very tired.
Two weeks came after what seemed forever and again I had to make the trip by myself which made it all the more nerve wrecking. There I sat very nervous with Isa upset about having to get dilated and Max wanting to touch everything in the exam room. Dr. S took a few minutes to do all the examinations and there it was, SURGERY!!! Ahh, I knew it was coming but nonetheless it was hard to hear! I wanted to break down crying and although Dr. S said it was an easy outpatient surgery I couldn't help but worry. I also felt that although I was hearing that the surgery was going to be easy it was MY BABY that was having it and having to go under general anesthesia and no easy surgery was truly going to be easy to deal with.
We drove back to where we were living later that week and I couldn't help but feel a cloud over me. A cloud of mixed emotions, ranging from anger to sadness. I felt sad that Isa had exotropia to begin with but also sad that she now required surgery. I also felt anger at myself, was it something I did or didn't do? I know that it may sound silly all the emotions I went through for something that may seem fairly simple to some people, but that is how I felt, overall just scared. Luckily the feeling of blame and anger didn't last long and I was able to accept it. I felt thankful that that is the only thing Isa was dealing with.
Isa spent two years wearing patches from at first half hour a day to an hour and a half a day. This was easy most days but every once in a while Isa would question why she had to, but in the end she would always do it. She was a real trooper about it. Some days I have to admit that we forgot to patch and yes I did feel guilty about it but I always tried my best. We did make sure to patch during sitting times, like watching tv, reading a story or coloring, never during active playing. We found out very early on that during her patching her depth perception wasn't very good and therefore causing a few falls.
I knew from my research that double vision was a very bad sign for Isa's condition and so when my sweet husband Jon mentioned Isa had, had it during a conversation, I freaked! I explained to him as best as I understood it, that once a person starts having double vision eventually the brain tells the eye to ignore vision from one eye in order to avoid confusion. With time the eye will lose vision in that the brain no longer recognizes the vision from that eye.
Immediately the next day (since the Dr. S's office was already closed) I called to find out what needed to be done. Dr. S's assistant said that since Isa had an upcoming appointment within two weeks we didn't need to make one earlier. Those two weeks were grueling!!! I didn't know what to expect. Besides the fact that she was experiencing the occasional double vision she also seemed to experience the drifting of at least one of her eye's for a minimum of once a day, usually when she was very tired.
Two weeks came after what seemed forever and again I had to make the trip by myself which made it all the more nerve wrecking. There I sat very nervous with Isa upset about having to get dilated and Max wanting to touch everything in the exam room. Dr. S took a few minutes to do all the examinations and there it was, SURGERY!!! Ahh, I knew it was coming but nonetheless it was hard to hear! I wanted to break down crying and although Dr. S said it was an easy outpatient surgery I couldn't help but worry. I also felt that although I was hearing that the surgery was going to be easy it was MY BABY that was having it and having to go under general anesthesia and no easy surgery was truly going to be easy to deal with.
We drove back to where we were living later that week and I couldn't help but feel a cloud over me. A cloud of mixed emotions, ranging from anger to sadness. I felt sad that Isa had exotropia to begin with but also sad that she now required surgery. I also felt anger at myself, was it something I did or didn't do? I know that it may sound silly all the emotions I went through for something that may seem fairly simple to some people, but that is how I felt, overall just scared. Luckily the feeling of blame and anger didn't last long and I was able to accept it. I felt thankful that that is the only thing Isa was dealing with.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Exotropia
Please keep in mind that I am not a doctor and have no medical background. I am just writing based on my experiences and occasionally I may get things wrong.
My daughter Isa was diagnosed with exotropia at the age of 2. I started noticing a very slight outward wonder of her eyes when she was two. At first it was difficult for me to confirm it because each instance started initially with just a few seconds. I mentioned it to my husband, and he said he didn't notice anything and it was probably just me over worrying about her. However, he said to go ahead and get it checked out to be on the safe side. I made the appointment with the opthomologist hoping that it was me just over worrying but deep down I knew something was wrong.
The initial appointment was very nerve wrecking, I took both Isa and Max to the appointment by myself. My husband wasn't able to make it because he was on work orders somewhere else and although we were living with him too, I was traveling back home for our appointments. Isa's doctor referred us to a specialist and he didn't have any appointments available for at least two months so I decided to make the appointment with his partner.
Since the doctors specialize in children opthomology the office was very kid friendly. Little chairs, tables and cartoons. Isa felt comfortable in this environment. The appointment took an extremely long time. They dilated her eyes which was a nightmare, having to hold her down along with a medical assistant while another administered the eye drops. Not to mention that poor Max was also terrified of the situation seeing his older sister scream. Finally after a few hours I met with the doctor. He confirmed that she did in fact have exotropia (a eye misalignment that causes an outward drift of the eye) in both eyes. He said that the problem wasn't going to go away on it's own and that she would probably need surgery. He also said that she may need repeated surgery throughout her lifetime or she may never need it again.
I went home extremely discouraged and sad that my precious two year old daughter might need surgery and a bit confused because although now I had a name to the problem I wasn't quite sure what to expect or what alternatives there were. That same night I began my research. I was able to find a great deal of information on the condition itself but very limited information on therapy or surgery. Through research I learned that eye patching might be a good alternative and so I made another appointment for a second opinion.
We headed to our second opinion appointment this time with Grandma on board to take care of Max in the waiting area. This doctor was highly recommended by one of my husband's friends who also has a child with eye problems. The office was located in a big building with a hospital feel to it. This was a general medical building and quite truthfully I didn't feel very comfortable with it. The doctor was very jaded about our diagnosis of exotropia and I felt rushed, she did however suggest patching. I liked the alternative to surgery on my baby but truth be said I didn't like the hospital feel and I didn't like the doctor. On to our 3rd opinion...
Since I kept having to travel on my own with both my kiddos to these doctor appointments which was easily a 10 hour drive we decided to get a third appointment with a local doctor. I absolutely loved the doctor and although he didn't strictly specialize in children opthomology I liked the way him and his staff were so child friendly. At the end of the appointment Isa got to pick a toy from a treasure chest. She absolutely loved that and talked about it for the whole week. I did however get the same diagnosis of exotropia and he suggested surgery as soon as possible.
Although I really liked the doctor I didn't feel comfortable with the idea of my baby getting surgery somewhere far from home and truthfully the town didn't have a high reputation for their medical capabilities. So I traveled back home this time to see the doctor that Isa's pediatrician referred us to, one that is considered one of the best in town. This time my husband was able to travel back with us. We met Dr. S and felt so comfortable with him. He was personable and very caring. He said for starters she needed glasses and had astigmatism. He confirmed what everyone else had already told us, exotropia in both eyes but he thought that she could benefit from patching however surgery might be eminent.
The theory behind patching is to strengthen the eye muscles that cause the eye to drift outward. He recommended that we patch her stronger eye in hopes of strengthening her weaker eye.
Isa was so excited to pick out her first pair of glasses, Dora glasses and a patch which surprisingly come with cute designs. It was exciting that she would be able to see better but it was a bittersweet moment because I felt saddened that although I wore glasses that my little girl at the small age of two was getting her first pair :( I felt much more optimistic about her condition though and felt that if anything we could at least postpone the traumatizing event of a surgery to an age that she could at least understand why.
Here are some links that I found very informative
http://www.pedseye.com/Exotropia.htm
http://www.aapos.org/terms/conditions/49
My daughter Isa was diagnosed with exotropia at the age of 2. I started noticing a very slight outward wonder of her eyes when she was two. At first it was difficult for me to confirm it because each instance started initially with just a few seconds. I mentioned it to my husband, and he said he didn't notice anything and it was probably just me over worrying about her. However, he said to go ahead and get it checked out to be on the safe side. I made the appointment with the opthomologist hoping that it was me just over worrying but deep down I knew something was wrong.
The initial appointment was very nerve wrecking, I took both Isa and Max to the appointment by myself. My husband wasn't able to make it because he was on work orders somewhere else and although we were living with him too, I was traveling back home for our appointments. Isa's doctor referred us to a specialist and he didn't have any appointments available for at least two months so I decided to make the appointment with his partner.
Since the doctors specialize in children opthomology the office was very kid friendly. Little chairs, tables and cartoons. Isa felt comfortable in this environment. The appointment took an extremely long time. They dilated her eyes which was a nightmare, having to hold her down along with a medical assistant while another administered the eye drops. Not to mention that poor Max was also terrified of the situation seeing his older sister scream. Finally after a few hours I met with the doctor. He confirmed that she did in fact have exotropia (a eye misalignment that causes an outward drift of the eye) in both eyes. He said that the problem wasn't going to go away on it's own and that she would probably need surgery. He also said that she may need repeated surgery throughout her lifetime or she may never need it again.
I went home extremely discouraged and sad that my precious two year old daughter might need surgery and a bit confused because although now I had a name to the problem I wasn't quite sure what to expect or what alternatives there were. That same night I began my research. I was able to find a great deal of information on the condition itself but very limited information on therapy or surgery. Through research I learned that eye patching might be a good alternative and so I made another appointment for a second opinion.
We headed to our second opinion appointment this time with Grandma on board to take care of Max in the waiting area. This doctor was highly recommended by one of my husband's friends who also has a child with eye problems. The office was located in a big building with a hospital feel to it. This was a general medical building and quite truthfully I didn't feel very comfortable with it. The doctor was very jaded about our diagnosis of exotropia and I felt rushed, she did however suggest patching. I liked the alternative to surgery on my baby but truth be said I didn't like the hospital feel and I didn't like the doctor. On to our 3rd opinion...
Since I kept having to travel on my own with both my kiddos to these doctor appointments which was easily a 10 hour drive we decided to get a third appointment with a local doctor. I absolutely loved the doctor and although he didn't strictly specialize in children opthomology I liked the way him and his staff were so child friendly. At the end of the appointment Isa got to pick a toy from a treasure chest. She absolutely loved that and talked about it for the whole week. I did however get the same diagnosis of exotropia and he suggested surgery as soon as possible.
Although I really liked the doctor I didn't feel comfortable with the idea of my baby getting surgery somewhere far from home and truthfully the town didn't have a high reputation for their medical capabilities. So I traveled back home this time to see the doctor that Isa's pediatrician referred us to, one that is considered one of the best in town. This time my husband was able to travel back with us. We met Dr. S and felt so comfortable with him. He was personable and very caring. He said for starters she needed glasses and had astigmatism. He confirmed what everyone else had already told us, exotropia in both eyes but he thought that she could benefit from patching however surgery might be eminent.
The theory behind patching is to strengthen the eye muscles that cause the eye to drift outward. He recommended that we patch her stronger eye in hopes of strengthening her weaker eye.
Isa was so excited to pick out her first pair of glasses, Dora glasses and a patch which surprisingly come with cute designs. It was exciting that she would be able to see better but it was a bittersweet moment because I felt saddened that although I wore glasses that my little girl at the small age of two was getting her first pair :( I felt much more optimistic about her condition though and felt that if anything we could at least postpone the traumatizing event of a surgery to an age that she could at least understand why.
My baby Isa's first glasses and one of her many patches. She was constantly losing them ; - )
http://www.pedseye.com/Exotropia.htm
http://www.aapos.org/terms/conditions/49
Monday, July 30, 2012
Who am I?
I am a young happily married stay at home mother of two, therefore always busy! My oldest is a girl, Isa who is almost 6. Isa is a girly girl who brings rays of sunshine wherever she goes. I also have a boy, Max, who is almost 5. Max is a sweet troublemaker who loves to make people laugh.
I became pregnant with Isa immediately after trying and whose pregnancy was very eventful! Max's pregnancy came as a surprise just six months after Isa was born, it too was eventful!
I worked hard during my pregnancy with Isa to finish my degree and graduate. I worked full time in an office and although I had graduated from college and was working towards a career I chose to leave work after I had Isa. It was a difficult decision to make, I have much respect for working mothers but I felt it was the best decision for me and my family. I experienced a lot of criticism and praise for my decision, but mostly critisim. Many people especially women said the days of women staying home to raise children was over but on the other hand I got praised for wanting to stay home. Regardless of the criticism I am very happy almost six years after making my decision.
I live in Arizona and although it seems that it is always hot, I actually love it here. Although, I must admit I love to travel to cold places like Colorado. I am devoted to my family and enjoy every minute with my children, even when they are mischievous! All those crazy moments with my kids are what makes life rewarding and exciting for me. Like the time I stepped out of the room for a minute only to return to a room full of baby powder, on the floor, the furniture, the walls, my dogs, and yes of course my kids!
I decided to start this blog in part because I was looking for information and couldn't find it. Specifically information on surgeries that Isa was having. I wanted to know what to expect, what other parents thought and how they dealt with it but couldn't find anything on her specific surgeries, exotropia surgery and femoral anteversion surgery. I thought surely I must not be the only parent going through this. Secondly, I also decided to start this blog to share my thoughts on a variety of things that are going in my life. So I hope that this blog helps at least one other person.
Thanks for joining me!!!
Barbara
I became pregnant with Isa immediately after trying and whose pregnancy was very eventful! Max's pregnancy came as a surprise just six months after Isa was born, it too was eventful!
I worked hard during my pregnancy with Isa to finish my degree and graduate. I worked full time in an office and although I had graduated from college and was working towards a career I chose to leave work after I had Isa. It was a difficult decision to make, I have much respect for working mothers but I felt it was the best decision for me and my family. I experienced a lot of criticism and praise for my decision, but mostly critisim. Many people especially women said the days of women staying home to raise children was over but on the other hand I got praised for wanting to stay home. Regardless of the criticism I am very happy almost six years after making my decision.
I live in Arizona and although it seems that it is always hot, I actually love it here. Although, I must admit I love to travel to cold places like Colorado. I am devoted to my family and enjoy every minute with my children, even when they are mischievous! All those crazy moments with my kids are what makes life rewarding and exciting for me. Like the time I stepped out of the room for a minute only to return to a room full of baby powder, on the floor, the furniture, the walls, my dogs, and yes of course my kids!
I decided to start this blog in part because I was looking for information and couldn't find it. Specifically information on surgeries that Isa was having. I wanted to know what to expect, what other parents thought and how they dealt with it but couldn't find anything on her specific surgeries, exotropia surgery and femoral anteversion surgery. I thought surely I must not be the only parent going through this. Secondly, I also decided to start this blog to share my thoughts on a variety of things that are going in my life. So I hope that this blog helps at least one other person.
Thanks for joining me!!!
Barbara
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