Pain meds

We got home from the hospital this morning, and Addi was doing great! Until the pain meds wore off, then it was a whole different story. We gave her Motrin until she could have the good stuff, and made sure that the drugs were ready when the time came. Last time, when she had the expanders put in, Addi got to be so good about just taking the syringe and squirting it in her mouth, so I thought we would try it again this time. So, what happens when you give your kid a syringe full of medicine that she really doesn't want to take?

Yep, that's my ceiling in the kitchen. She squirted the whole syringe up in the air, and onto the ceiling, where it rained down onto Jocelyn and Kennedy, and then the floor, until Will could get on a chair and get it cleaned up. It was kind of funny, until I refilled the syringe and helped her get it into her mouth. At that point, she spit the whole thing down the front of her. Good thing she was naked already, in preparation for a sponge bath.

The offending syringes.

Third time's the charm, and I forced it down her throat. When the meds kicked in, it was quite obvious. She seranaded us for dinner instead of eating.

The Good news and the bad news...

August 21, 2009, post surgery:

Surgery is over. Generally, Addi did well, but the erupted expander in her chest compromised that patch of skin, and they were unable to use it. The expander in her leg was great, and because the weren't able to do a full skin graft, her healing time will be significantly reduced. She goes back in on Tuesday to get the drains pulled out of her incisions (two in her leg and one in her chest), and the bandage comes off. The bandages will come off at the same time, and she is good to go.


Her recovery is going smoothly so far. She wasn't crying at all when I went back to the post-op recovery, and only started crying when they weren't getting her popsicle fast enough. What a little trooper!

We are going to try a new synthetic skin grafting techinque in November to try and not use expanders anymore, so that we don't have the same problem as this time. Shorter process time, and will hopefully help her in the long run.

For tonight, we are staying in the hospital, and are looking forward to a speedy recovery.

Grafting round 2

Addi had her skin grafting surgery August 21, 2009:

The bubbles in her chest and leg are coming out! The expander in her chest has been causing a little concern over the last couple of weeks. It just didn't look right. The insicion where they put the expander in has become so thin...we knew that it needed to come out soon. Yesterday, Addi developed a little black spot just below the incision. If the surgery wasn't already scheduled, we would have taken pictures to email to the doctor, but we just waited until he came to see us pre-surgery.

He looked at it and said that the expander had ruptured through the skin...no big deal, it was coming out anyway, just in time. Other than that, we are hoping for minimal complications.

"I'll hold still"

From our family blog dated July 7, 2009:

Every Tuesday, Addison and I make the drive across the valley to PCMC for an expander fill. Last week was her first fill, and she was miserable afterward. She cried almost until we got home, then fell asleep. Even the M&Ms that I gave her when she was done didn't appease her. Needless to say, I was a little apprehensive for this week. Addison was very cooperative this morning, I told her where we were going, she got in the car (wearing her Lightening McQueen slippers) and we were on our way.


Although they have taken all of the toys out of the waiting room, due to the swine flu threat, Addi is able to find things to entertain her until they call us back to the exam room. Dr. Siddiqi's secretary, Lindsey, is so cute. She calls us back, makes small talk for a minute, then goes to get the "expansion kit." Addi has never cared about the kit before - possibly due to the fact that there is usually a child-life specialist playing with her, which was not the case today, and Addi was watching. As soon as Lindsey brought the kit in, Addi looked at me and this is the conversation that we had:

Addi: "Mom, will you hold me?"
Me: "Yes, you can sit on my lap, and I will hold you."

Addi proceeded to climb over the arm of the chair and into my lap. Still watching Lindsey, Addi continuted:

"It's going to hurt."
Me: "Yep, it will hurt for a minute."
Addi (with a big sigh): "Ok, I'll hold still."


What a brave little girl. Even Dr. Siddiqi is impressed with how well she is handling all of the pokes. I am sure that it has something to do with the M&Ms and Slurpees that I get her after each appointment.

No swimming for the summer

When Addi had the expander put in her leg, the doctor left us with strict instructions and restrictions. The hardest being being that she is not to swim, and because of the placement of the expander, no wading in a pool either - too much risk of infection. Well, it's summer time and we spend a good portion of the summer in the pool. We found this cute whale that we hope will appease her while the others are swimming.  Sometimes, you have to get creative.

Dealing with the insurance company

Those insurance companies can be sneaky sometimes.  After sailing through the billing process through the first surgery, we should have known our luck was limited.  The hospital billed them for Addi's second surgery, but because we were released so late, they billed for an overnight stay.  The insurance company first requested all of Addi's chart notes, no problem, then denied the procedure to insert the second round of expanders because she had had the same thing done less than a year previously. 

Well, I fixed that!  I made called the insurance company and made them call the hospital while I was on the phone.  Once the two entities actually talked to each other, they got the problem solved, and they paid the claim without any further hand holding from me. 

Good thing we pushed to have Addi released when we did.

Three days later

It took all of 3 days for Addi to be back up and around.  She was trying to help mop the floor, swing on the swing set, and just be a kid.  Fortunately, we took the trampoline ladder down, so that option was out for her, much to her chagrin. 

We are really glad that we made the decision to start her surgeries when she was so young.  She bounces back so fast.