's surgery at NYUHJD - The LONG story...

[Guest guest]

Now that I can talk and think more clearly, I can REALLY fill you

guys in. Apologies in advance for the length of this posting. The

best place to start is a couple of days before the surgery on Monday.

We did have a mix up, but not like Kathy did...

saw our GP on Monday for his pre-op physical. Dr. is a

honey and our biggest fan. He comes in to see with a pout on

his face, saying, " He has to do the surgery, right? " So we sat down

and discuss the whole thing. He applauds all we did for and

tells us that we did everything right, that we saved from a

whole lot of surgery by doing all we did with the French

physiotherapy method. He says, " You not only did the right thing, you

did the hard thing. " , referring to all the hours upon hours of

therapy and hard work as opposed to doing the " easy thing " , that many

would have done, casting and surgery from the get go. Then, he asked

us to act as his parent liaisons for any parents he meets in his

practice with children with clubfeet so that he can encourage them to

explore the same options we did. Of course we said we would be happy

to. Hopefully, we can be of help to others through having gone

through this whole thing with our little guy. Dr. did his best

to expediate having his report typed and faxed to Dr. Chorney for

first thing the next morning so the surgery could proceed as planned

and we said our goodbyes...

Tuesday am I called to verify that Dr. 's office had faxed the

info to Dr. Chorney. Now Dr. is a sweetheart, but he is low man

on the totem pole in a practice with an office staff that can use

more than just a little sensitivity training. Anyway, the office

staff was dragging it's feet with the report and, since it could have

held up the surgery, Ralph and I had to light a fire under them. They

finally said they were faxing it to Dr. Chorney's office. I call Dr.

Chorney's office to verify that it was received, but no one answers.

We heard nothing until 2:30pm, so until then we really didn't know if

all systems were go. Talk about anxiety...But everything turned out

just fine, and all systems were go...

We had no problem at the hospital. We received our instructions for

the surgery early that evening. Friends came over to be with us for

the evening and helped us keep happily occupied and tire him

out. He had a late dinner and slept right through until we had to

leave the house.

The hospital staff at NYUHJD is the best I have seen anywhere.

and Ralph and I were at all times treated with compassion, kindness,

and professionalism. remet friends he made touring the hospital

and was pretty calm for the most part. One of the doctors even gave

him some Beanie Baby Bears (He loves bears!) and he played

contentedly.

I went with him to OR for the anesthesia and he even put the mask on

himself. Then came the gas - AND HE FOUGHT IT LIKE A TIGER! He

disconnected the hose and the mask 2 or 3 times. It was awful. He

cried, I sang him to sleep and then I cried. The staff in OR was soo

kind. Dr. Pada, the anesthesiologist was just wonderful.

Waiting out the surgery was rough. A friend from our church and our

oldest boy, ph, were with us. Dr. Chorney was true to her word. A

little less than an hour and 15 minutes later we were called to

recovery. We didn't walk; Ralph and I BOLTED and ran for the door.

, little prince that he is, refused to ride in the gurney, so a

nurse carried him out of O.R. Dr. Chorney ended up having to do a

little more than we all originally thought she'd have to - a tenonomy

AND a capsillectomy (soft tissue release) on BOTH feet. The good news

was that the capsillectomies went very, very easily. Dr. Chorney said

that she just barely touched them and they released. She also

confirmed that will need no further surgery.

Recovery was a little rough at first, he cried and didn't look like

himself. He refused covers to warm him (typical ), so he had a

little oxygen and a warmer over us. He slept in my arms for an hour

or so with Daddy and big brother right there. We finally transferred

him to Daddy and then to the gurney. That woke him up and we were

able to take him to step down recovery...

Step down recovery was better. He nursed, took a bottle, and ate a

couple of crackers and napped. Then got up and started crawling up me!

Finally, he decided he was ready to go. We knew that when he

disconnected his own IV by yanking at the tube from one of the

connections! - LOL - Now THAT'S our !

From start to finish we were there 7 1/2 hours and were back home by

3:30. A couple of friends from our church stopped in with dinner for

us, bless them. never really needed any pain meds. I gave him

Motrin in only one bottle. By Thursday afternoon, he was crawling

around, with Dr. Chorney's approval.

goes back to Dr. Chorney to check the casts on Tuesday morning,

but everything looks great. We plan to discuss AFO's, DBB's, PT, and

other further steps for with her then. 's already up to

his old tricks and a couple of new ones besides. No ill effects from

the anesthesia and as speedy a recovery as anyone could hope for.

Praise the Lord for His goodness! This could only have come from Him!!

Thank all of you sooo much for all of your support and prayers. There

is no way we would have gotten so much info, found NYUHJD, or gotten

through the last few months without your support and encouragement.

You guys mean a lot to us and you are in our thoughts and prayers as

always...

Blessings,

Pam